In A Vase On Monday–Gladiolus
A great beginning to my week is to join Cathy for In A Vase On Monday, a weekly invitation to fill and share a vase using materials gathered from one’s garden. We finally had several nice rains—not enough to be underwater, but I am celebrating today with a submerged arrangement.
My new glass vase I used last week can support a design using a large quantity of flowers or perhaps one with a few very tall, strong stemmed ones, but what if neither is easily available. I decided to experiment to see what other possibilities I could find for using it.
Vaguely I remembered a garden club meeting once with a demonstration of a floral design where the blooms were placed under the water. This seemed like a fun place to start and I found some examples online. With this technique I learned it is feasible to combine a large vase and a single flower with dramatic effect.
I gathered my materials in the dining room so the arrangement would not have to be moved once the vase was filled. Here are a simple materials list and the steps I followed.
Materials
Gladiolus
Floral pin frog
Tall glass vase
Beach glass
Gather materials
Fill the vase half full with water. Carefully add decorative beach glass or other stones, optional.
Add water and decorative beach glass
Measure the height of the flower against the vase. I wanted it to be almost as tall as the vase itself, but this will depend upon the type of flower one is using. Trim excess stem straight across. Insert the gladiolus firmly into a floral pin. This pin is about 3/4 inch diameter.
Insert flower firmly into floral pin
Lower the flower into the water. Use a chopstick or other tool to settle the flower into position and gently adjust the beach glass to hide the mechanics.
Use beach glass to hide the floral pin
Finish filling the vase all the way to the top. Some bubbles will form on the flowers. I read distilled water can prevent this but it was not important to me.
Air bubbles form on the flowers at first but will clear after an hour or two.
Apparently, submerged arrangements will not last very long, perhaps a day or two. Nevertheless, do try this at home. Other waxy flowers such as roses and orchids can be used. Delicate flowers that fall apart easily will cloud the water.
The arrangement was easy to assemble but I think the result is elegant and sophisticated.
Submerged Gladiolus
Thank you to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for welcoming everyone to join in this opportunity to share a vase each week. Please visit her to see what she and others are placing In A Vase On Monday.
pbmGarden 
That’s beautiful. I hope you don’t feel I have set you a horrible challenge with the large vase, Susie. I’ve seen this method too so perhaps if there are any gladioli still flowering I’ll be able to try this too.
Hey there. Are you back home? Don’t worry, I’m enjoying the vase immensely. It’s so different from my others I am finding it stimulating to experiment with it and turns out to be extremely versatile. I’ll be curious to see your rendition if you get a chance to try this technique.
Just arrived home now! The holiday was great but a LOT of travelling and just one or two nights in each place so I feel like I need a rest!
An old word came to mind – cool. And, I like the bubbles. 🙂
Thanks Judy, I love your word choice, but if it’s so old, wonder how I remember it too! The bubbles have mostly settled out now.
Dramatic effect for sure! Dramatic, elegant and sophisticated, I so agree. What a wonderful idea, thank you for sharing the instructions, I’m definitely going to try this one.
Thanks. Hope you’ll enjoy trying it. I thought it was fun to make.
🙂
It’s very classy – and I actually like the bubbles!
Thanks Ann. Alas, the bubbles have almost disappeared. You could try this with a red flower too!
Besides this lovely presentation, which I love, I think the instructions in making the arrangement add a dimension to this whole idea that is worth building on in your particular Monday posts. Your containers are always important to me, because they add to your considerable arranging talents. Today is a dose of June sunshine.
Hi Stepheny. Thanks, Glad you like the vase today. I seldom start out with a concept that ends up matching the result.
Very dramatic and what’s more it’s my favourite colour.
Gillian, glad you like the effect. I like this salmon/coral color too–I seem to have more of them than other glads.
Clever! The opaque beach pebbles and the bubbles are nice touches too.
Hi Kris, I thought those beach pebbles would come in handy someday.
I planted quite a few glads, but they seem to bloom one-at-a-time. This is a unique and classy way to feature a single stem, something I’ve been doing a lot of lately. It is easier to appreciate the form and color of a single, and you have just shown how it can be just as WOWSA as a big, showy bouquet.
Hi Rickii, the glass vase has a magnification effect so the flower takes on a larger importance. My glads are opening up solo also, so (how’s that for repeating the syllable “so”?) wonder why they would do that? Mine were all planted same day.
Wow, an underwater vase! I’m going to try this. It looks so stylish and fun!
I warn you, it’s addictive. All day I’ve been wanting to plunge another unsuspecting flower underwater.
😉 looking for a likely candidate as I type!
You and Christina will be able to tease each other about this vase for years, Susie! What an intriguing idea though, not one I have come across – is it suggested for any other type of blooms? The end result, particularly with that amazing colour of gladiolus, is stunning!
In a couple of videos I found they used gerber daisy, rose, orchid. Lilies would work but first remove the stamens. One suggestion was to put a rose in a small glass vase and place at each table setting. I don’t have the roses to try that, but wouldn’t it be special. Thanks for hosting.
Hmm… thanks Susie – watch this space…!
What an interesting idea, thanks for sharing, Susie!
Glad you liked it Anca. Have a good week.
That is such a lovely idea Susie! It looks so effective – a real eye-catcher. 🙂
Thanks Cathy. It would make a good conversation piece and very simple to do.
I have also read about submerging flowers Susie, but have never tried it. Your vase looks spectacular and I will certainly be giving this a go – the humble gladioli has been elevated to a flower of great style & elegance in your hands!
Thank you very much Julie. You have so many flowers in your cutting garden, it would be fun to try some different ones. When browsing online there seemed to be a lot of wedding receptions where this technique is used. Also often the flowers were accented by using little submersible LED lights. Endless possibilities.
Submersible LED lights! now you’re talking – must look out for some of those!
Susie I was blown away to see this idea and how lovely it looks….leave it to you and your creative arrangements to bring us this beautiful vase idea….and a versatile vase indeed.
Thanks Donna. The vase is indeed versatile. This idea of submerging the flowers is apparently used often, judging by the number of photos I found, but I personally haven’t seen it much. So glad you enjoyed it.
Very clever of you – brilliant! I’m wondering if I used a ball vase if the flower would appear magnified…I’ll have to try it. Thanks for the idea. 🙂
Thank you. Eliza, this vase magnifies, so I expect the ball vase would do great.
Oh yes, I think the Glads are the perfect flowers for that project! That would be a great idea for a wedding or a shower or something. Very nice!
Thanks Beth. It would be perfect for those occasions and wouldn’t require a huge quantity of flowers to achieve the impact.
A stunning vase this week, well done!
Thanks very much. This was a fun vase to create.
What a great idea and a good choice of bloom. It is a bit like a changeable glass paper weight.
That’s a great description. The gladiolus was easy to work with and they’re such happy flowers.
I think the vase looks very elegant – and it’s a really clever idea – thank you for including the instructions – I’ve got a vase similar to this and my chap works in the wholesale florist industry (not flowers) so I’ll have to ask him about the flower pin… and I’ve got a couple of gladioli that flower in my front garden…
the only problem is i’m very clumsy so I think the chap might need to supervise…
I’ve got got orange and yellow flowers in my vase this week but nothing as sophisticated as yours….
thank you for the inspiration 🙂 love bec
Bec, hope you’ll enjoy giving this a try. By filling the vase partially the stones float down into the vase bottom gently. Wholesale florist industry–lucky you. I’d have a new shopping list for him every day!
ah thank you for the advice 🙂 well let’s just say I’ve got alot of vases (mostly bigger ones as he often brings me flowers) and the warehouse is like an Aladdin’s cave. He knows alot about flower arranging too….much more than me…
I’ve bought quite a few smaller vases/jugs for my in a vase on monday from their selection 🙂
So simple, yet very elegant. Glad you got some rain.
Thanks Stephi! The rain was wonderful, but I need to water again soon. An enormous storm passed us by again last night. Hope your rains have moderated some.
Absolutely fascinating. Thanks for sharing such an interesting idea.
Glad you enjoyed it John. Although your callas wouldn’t last nearly as long underwater, I bet they would be a good candidate for this type of arrangement.
Inspiring!!
Thanks Bev. It was quick and fun to try this.
Interesting look. Never heard of doing this. I wonder how many flowers would work with this approach.
Jason, I’ve read that roses work well and flowers with thick waxy petals, such as orchids, seem especially adaptable.
What a great idea, I’m glad you thought to give it a try! I didn’t realize it was underwater until later, and I bet it would work out nicely even without the water. -almost like a flower arrangement in a terrarium
That’s a good idea to try without submerging. The flower might last longer–it does deteriorate quickly in the water.
This is cool. The bubbles make the arrangement even more interesting. I will try this new trick.
Great. Have fun with it. My gladiola lasted about 3 days. The bubbles dissipate eventually.