Well, I ran out of light tonight, which I thought might happen so I took a few photos in the bright morning sun before leaving the coast. After years of carrying flowers back in jars and buckets and milk bottles, I finally realised the chilly bin (esky) is an obvious solution to keep them cool and prevent spills in the car. So I emptied all the feijoas and peppers into a box and packed in the flowers.
They arrived home in perfect condition, and I even managed to make a 2 sided vase tonight, although the light was gone by the time I photographed it.
The little green disks are the buds of my green chrysanthemums. I hope they will open over the week. The tall knobby thing is a kniphofia going to seed. Dahlias are Chat Noir, Unknown White, and Eveline. There are a few Hydrangeas, Phormium leaves and a Euphorbia (maybe Great Dixter), Anemones, Sysrinchium, and the copper coloured Chrysanthemums.
We had flooding this week from the end of Cyclone Debbie. The rain guage showed 135 mm of rain over the week, almost 6 inches. Our water tanks are almost full when at this time of year they are often empty.
Hop on over (sorry) to Cathy’s Rambling in the Garden to see all the beautiful Spring flowers.
Absent Gardener 
Beautiful floral feast. Hope you can quickly recover from all that rain.
Thanks Susie, we were lucky we didn’t have any damage, and the land slips blocking the road had been cleaned up by the time we passed by. It looks like another one is coming this way in a couple days but it may pass by. They are mostly just heavy rain by the time they get here but there is always somewhere where a river or stream overflows and floods land and houses.
What an intriguing mixture in your vase, Cath – the spent kniphofia is such an intriguing thing to add and those unknown dahlias are lovely, so pure. I guess it’s a relief to have full tanks of water but hope the rain didn’t do any damage
Thanks Cathy, so far so good on the rain front. We will fill the hot tub this weekend and enjoy some of that water.
Beautiful, I love Phormium but it melts here. Interesting your colors are similar to Cathy’s in England.
Interesting – Phormium do seem to need ventilation, in fact wind is fine. I guess they don’t like extreme heat combined with humidity?
Not sure, I kept trying to find one and was told they melt in the summer. There is plenty of wind here though.
Beautiful flowers and a perfect solution to the transport problem – I’ll have to follow your example there. I love the white anemones, which struggle here. The dahlias are gorgeous too – I just planted a dozen tubers in the hope I’ll also have some of those wonderful flowers later this year.
Thank you, my anemones have really taken off after these last 2 wet summers, prior to that they didn’t increase at all. Now they have spread to cover about 5 meters. It’s a damp bank and they seem to look good most of the year, so I’m OK with that.
Gorgeous as usual, Cath! Love the rich burgundy dahlia and the bright white eyes of anemone. Phormium makes a nice accent.
Glad you benefited from the storm without suffering damage.
Thanks Eliza, I am really enjoying this week’s vase, it seems to have more variation than some, and all of the flowers are lasting well so far.
Stunning! The Phormium leaves make such a great impact, even with all those grogeous flowers to compete with. Hope those Chrysanths open up for you Cath!
You have more than the usual problems to get over in presenting your flowers! The chill bin is an excellent idea, Cath. What a voluptious vase … those sweet little green chrysanths are probably fully open now! The phormium leaves are very striking, adding a lot of ‘decision’ to the arrangement.
With all the Debbie damage, you did well to keep calm and carry on. I love the esky plan and it looks as if it worked well as your vase looks fresh.
Chat Noir is gorgeous! Clever to think of carrying the flowers back in a cool box; I’m sure I should know but how far do you live from where the garden is? It must be very hard leaving what you have so lovingly created. All the flowers look great! Sorry I’ve been so long getting to read your post; this week has just been one long rush with a day out with food poisoning!