Within hours my Mom will be here from the cold and snow of Canada, and I’ve picked some Dahlias, Thalictrum, and Hydrangeas for her. The Dahlias haven’t done all that well so far this year – the early hot dry spell followed by rainy weather at Christmas has left them a little tattered, but there is plenty of time left for better blooms.
I’m really not sure why I grow ‘Glads’, as my Grandpa used to call them. I selected the subtlest of the available colours – 2 different softish pinks, and planted them around orange trees in a raised bed on the sunny side of the water tank. They have gone wild, shooting up in all directions, more every year, covering up the young orange trees and the runner beans behind them. I’m sure it’s the mixture of 3 manures (llama, chicken, and sheep) that made them go so mad – they are relatively normal where I’ve transplanted some to the other side of the water tank.
Well, we have gone from an extra rainy October to a dry and now hot November. It’s been like the middle of summer these last few weeks. Many of the rose blooms just wilted on the bush, and the Hydrangeas have burst into flower.
Continue reading “In a Vase on Monday – Hydrangeas”
I started with Abutilon, white and a rich strawberry colour, which have scrambled up into the trees and are flowering madly, but it all wilted before I could get it into the vase. Instead I picked Rose ‘Abraham Darby’ and Erysimum for scent, Penstemon ‘Hidcote Pink’, a few stems of Sisrinchium, Hydrangeas, Tree Dahlias, and a lot of the bright green chrysanthemums which have aged to an attractive orange – pink shading to green – yellow.
Continue reading “In a Vase on Monday – Abraham Darby and Friends”
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.
This is a very simple vase, and is again ‘found flowers’. They had to be cut as the hydrangea was smothering a small Nikau Palm, one which got eaten by cows last year around this time. And I don’t think these ones are attractive to bees. Having read that one bee hive visits about 225,000 flowers per day I am being careful to leave all I can for the bees.
Continue reading “Fading Hydrangeas on Daylight Savings Monday”
My vases this week are a repeat of the last couple weeks in some ways. Lillies, because they just go on being beautiful and hydrangeas because these fading hydrangeas exactly matched the dusty turquoise at the center of the lily. Dahlias because the Akita Dahlia is finally making a flower that looks like the picture that made me want to order it to begin with, and just because there are lots of them.
Continue reading “In a Vase on Monday More Lilies and Lovely Hydrangeas”
My lillies are all flowering. I grew them from the seed of a lily that popped up in a plant from a nursery so I’m not sure what they are. They have a light scent, unlike the single Tuberose which has such a strong perfume.
I haven’t grown Tuberose before – it’s growing in rich compost with enough water and sun so has had an easy time.
I finally have Astrantia this year, although it’s quite small, and the variegated ones quickly became un-variagated; it’s probably too shady where I have them.
Also in the vase There are more of the Gladiolus callianthus, a Belladonna Lily, Hydrangeas, Dahlias, Hebes, Jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’ and Scented Pelargonium leaves.
Cathy at Rambling in the Garden hosts this meme and and also had the help of the wind in rearranging her flowers this week. Here we are experiencing a bit of turbulence this week as an offshoot of some tropical storms which have luckily largely missed us.
My Mom arrives from Canada in a day or so, so I have collected lots of flowers for her arrival – Dahlias because she loves them, Sweet Peas because they need to be picked and enjoyed, and Hydrangeas because I couldn’t resist them.
Following on from Susan Rushton’s post about faded roses, I thought I would look for beauty in last week’s flowers. It’s been warm this week so they are following the path toward decay. The Japanese Iris has taken on marvellous marine blue stripes and intense veining.
Absent Gardener 