In A Vase On Monday
Monday morning is time 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.
After watering the garden Sunday morning I gathered flowers for a vase. Choosing as many Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ as I could find, I clustered them together in the center of my grandmother’s glass floral frog as the starting point for an arrangement. The container is a hand-thrown ceramic glazed picece, about 9 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches tall.
Cluster stems of Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ in center of glass frog
I added a few stems of Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage) to help define the outer edges of design.
Add Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage) to help define outer edge of design
For filler flowers I used a stem of Alstroemeria and different colors of Angelonia.
Add Angelonia to fill in design toward outer edge
Next I deconstructed a gladiolus to use the individual blooms around the base of the arrangement.
Descontruct Gladiolus. Use to add color and hide mechanics.
A single Dahlia ‘Firepot’ and an Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed) were used as focal flowers.
Dahlia ‘Firepot’, Gladiolus
Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed), Gladiolus
In A Vase On Monday
I can quibble with the design proportions—the materials need to be extended out wider and the shape is uneven. As I rotate the vase I realize the arrangement looks very different from front to back and from overhead it is askew.
In A Vase On Monday. View From Above
And yet, I love this vase of flowers. The flowers are fresh, the textures are interesting together.
The rich vibrant hues in this assortment speak to me of summer itself. At first the colors contrast and shock, then they blend and meld.
In A Vase On Monday
Dahlia ‘Firepot’, Gladiolus
Materials
Alstroemeria x ‘Tesmach’ (Inticancha® Machu Peruvian Lily)
Angelonia ‘Alonia Big Indigo’
Angelonia ‘Raspberry’
Angelonia ’Serena White’
Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed)
Dahlia ‘Firepot’
Gladiolus sp.
Gomphrena globosa (Globe amaranth)
Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage)
Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’
Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ and Gladiolus
Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed)
Angelonia ’Serena White’
Angelonia ‘Raspberry’
Gomphrena, Angelonia ‘Raspberry’, Gladiolus
Thank you to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for welcoming everyone to join her 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 
Would love a summer dress with these colours.
They’re rich, strong colors, aren’t they.
Lovely! So nice to see how you put it all together.
Thanks. I wanted that blue salvia to make a big impact so thought starting out with them in the center would lead somewhere.
Thank you for showing how the vase came together Susie; I find that really helpful. You’ve given me an idea of how to use the gladioli that are flowering – too many all at once, de-constructing them might mean I can use more of them. I love how you’ve so successfully put all the colours together.
Thanks Christina. I’m enjoying this arrangement with al the colors shouting out. I’ve never tried using gladioli this way and am not sure how well they’ll last. Of course the ones from the bottom of the stem always go first anyway, but I think they’d be pretty in little shot glass size vases.
Wow! Wow! WOW! Love it!
Cathy L. Burnham
kudzuchick@gmail.com
Hey there. Glad you like it Cathy. Pretty bold for me…
Your vase is beautiful. The blue of your salvia is quite spectacular and carries the whole vase. It goes so well with the orange gladioli and butterfly weed.
Thank you Annette. The Black and Blue salvia is something I look forward to every summer.
Wow! This is such a sunny tropical looking vase. Beautiful. What a good idea to include all the correct plant names too.
Thanks Gillian. I have a hard time actually remembering the names of plants but I try to keep a list of them for reference.
I love how different this one looks from each side, Susie. I also love the mix of bright blue and orange – it’s always an attention-grabbing combination. And I’m now bemoaning the fact that I haven’t plant’s more Angelonia this year as all I have are a few scrappy plants that have come back from last year’s planting. Thanks too for showing how you put the arrangement together – for someone who more often plunks rather than arranges flowers, that’s a good tutorial.
Thanks Kris. Blue and orange may not work in every case but this salvia seems to call for something dramatic. Wish Angelonia would return here but it doesn’t survive our winter. Maybe you can cut yours back by half and see if they’ll rejuvenate.
Definitely a summer spectrum, Susie! That salvia is amazing but you have built up the other colours brilliantly around them – and no doubt we will all be thinking about deconstructing blooms for a vase!! I am not surprised you love it – thanks for sharing.
Thanks Cathy. I can’t guarantee the deconstructing will provide long-lived blooms but it does seem to work with the glads so far. I saw a Japanese floral design that used orchids that way. (I’d love to have orchids to experiment with!)
I think this is a stunning vase Susie, and even though you saw it as askew, I am glad you like it….a perfect vase is that vase that stirs something magical within us when we see it.
I adored how you deconstructed a gladiolus. I love this meme because I learn so much….now I can use glads in such a different way!
Thanks for your kind words Donna. I too am always learning from seeing everyone’s vases each week.
I never thought of using glads that way. Usually I pull dying lower parts and cut them down day by day, until they are mere stubs. Nice to add a new technique to the arsenal. If your arrangement were perfectly symmetrical, it would project a formality that would be at odds with the riot of color. In other words, I think it’s perfect as is.
Thank you so much! I am really enjoying the bright explosive color of this week’s vase. (I have some of those gladiola stubs too! Just hate to throw them out if there’s still a bloom.)
a good looking vase and photo’s this week, thanks for sharing.
Thank you. Glad to have you stop by.
Absolutely stunning! I love the tightness of the layers of colors and your close-ups show the exquisite details of each. You really outdid yourself this week ~ A++!
I wanted to mention how interesting it is that the buds of Asclepias look so much like the eggs of monarch butterflies, which rely solely on them in the larval stage – nature is endlessly fascinating, isn’t it?
Thanks for the A++ Eliza. You made my day! I do hope the asclepius is hosting some monarchs this summer. I usually see a handful in late September when they are migrating I assume.
Your vase is lovely 🙂 the blue of the salvia is so intense and I love the vibrant colours. Thank you for showing how youve put it together too. Ive not tried flower arranging using oasis for this meme yet ?- as I wouldnt really know where to start – mine you my chap works in the wholesale florist industry (not flowrrs) so I really should give it a go… have a lovely week love bec xx
Thanks Bec. This is a fun opportunity to try out new ideas with flowers.
It’s like summer has been condensed and encapsulated in your vase. I agree that a dress in the design would look wonderful.
Thanks. Maybe we should design some fabric that represents summer.
Definitely a ‘Summer Spectrum’. After scrolling up and down at your photos, it makes me think that I should grow more annual flowers.
I go through phases when I don’t use many annuals. They do help fill in some otherwise empty spots.
Is that lovely orange plant really called butterfly weed? It deserves better.
Isn’t it beautiful? Aclepias is a genus known as the milkweeds. Some of them may be weedy but not this one. I find it hard to keep established in my garden.