In A Vase On Monday-Vertical Challenge
Monday brings the chance to display cut flowers from the garden by participating in Cathy’s weekly invitation In A Vase On Monday.
Today’s arrangement of gladiolas and hydrangeas went together quickly, but I thought I might never get any pictures I could use to share them.
In A Vase On Monday-Vertical Challenge
Gladiolas, adorable old-fashioned favorites, this year are blooming straighter and taller than ever, setting off today’s vertical challenge.
Though I have the perfect vase to accommodate the gladiolas’ height, photographing such a tall arrangement has been a test. I much prefer landscape format for my images, but the vertical nature of these flowers forced me into four different picture-taking sessions of mostly portrait format. Finding a satisfactory background with adequate light and capturing the rich intensity of color among the gladiolas were tricky.
Almost 200 photos later, realizing I needed to chill, I finally chose a handful to represent my Monday vase. The very first image gives a good idea of the overall size, proportion and shape of the design. The colors are truer in this version below.
In A Vase On Monday-Vertical Challenge
Materials
Gladiolus
Hydrangea macrophylla
Glass vase (This glass vase is one I love using, especially as it commemorates last year’s visit from Christina almost 1 year ago.)
In A Vase On Monday-Vertical Challenge
This should be a long-lasting arrangement. I like the way it turned out and now that I am no longer photographing it, I know I will enjoy it this week.
In A Vase On Monday-Vertical Challenge
As always, thanks to Cathy for hosting this weekly flower obsession. Visit her at Rambling In The Garden to discover what she and other gardeners are placing In A Vase On Monday.
pbmGarden 
I’m so happy the vase is useful for the gorgeous gladioli. I would never have thought of putting them with hydrangeas, I learn something from you almost every week! I used gladiolus today too, but I’m not so keen on the colour of these and I might just remove them when they’ve finished flowering so that I can plant a better colour next year.
I like how the sides of the vase narrow at the top. At Art In Bloom this spring I saw lots of hydrangeas used as a starting point at the base of the vase. They provide a framework to help support the rest of the flowers. At the time I didn’t expect to have enough hydrangeas to be able to try that myself. I liked your glads and thought they worked well with the other flowers. These used today were planted last spring but didn’t bloom well last year.
Beautiful arrangement – flowers and vase. I planted twelve glads this year, but I’m only seeing about three coming up. I haven’t tried to grow any in years and was really excited. I think I’ll need to temper my anticipation. 🙂
Thank you Judy. Hope the rest of your glads tag along soon. These were planted last year but didn’t bloom well, so I was surprised to see them perform so well this year. It’s a difference in having good rains I think.
I love the rich colors again, and the flowers are perfect. Your efforts paid off!
I stopped buying glads once I realized I had too many years when I never got around to planting them on time. Fortunately a few have proven to be hardy, so if I can accept a much more limiting range of colors I can at least still enjoy them each summer.
Thank you. Glads are usually pretty reliable. I have a coral one that is probably 12 years old. I don’t think it’s too late to get those glads planted.
Your glads are way ahead of mine. They are up but no flowers yet. A lovely combination of colors and form in your vase.
Hope your glads do well John. I have a few more still coming up and some to plant for later. Can’t have too many.
You did gloriously well with a difficult assignment:
Background: perfect
height: accommodated brilliantly.
Oh, the anguish we go through for our art 🙂
And fancy, being able to grow such perfect glads.
Thank you, thank you. The glads are amazing this year so I had to use them while I could. Usually they’re toppled over and growing at odd angles. Will try to not worry about the photos quite so much next week.
A fabulous vase with those dynamic glads….such a statement with those bold colors….I love how you placed them above the hydrangea!
Thanks Donna. I’m enjoying the glads this summer.
Haute couture! A willowy runway model wearing the latest design. 🙂 I love the rich colors.
Thanks Eliza.
I get frustrated like that with the photo-taking process at times too, Susie. You finally get the right light but the colors are off. Or one flower is turned to a bad angle. Etcetera. I think you got some good images despite the height challenge. I especially like the one showing the vase on the table with the floral art in the background.
You’ve described it. One whole set of pictures was ruined because things had shifted when I moved the vase around in search of better light. How could I not have noticed that? Oh well, all better now. My son-in-law did the pastel drawing of a Siberian Iris from my garden.
My goodness – those gladioli are such dramatic colours and would convert any gladioli dislikers in an instant! I am not sure that I have seen such colours before and the hydrangea sften the edge between them and the vase perfectly. I am sorry they were such a pain to photograph 🙂
The glads are from a “blue” mix planted last year. It was so hot and dry they didn’t bloom very well, so I’m especially happy to be able to use them in a vase this year. Some weeks the light is just perfect and the flowers are easy to photograph, but guess it’s all a learning experience.
A lovely and unusual combination Susie. I love the rich colours of those Gladioli and am impressed with the photos – it is so difficult to get the right shot sometimes, but you have captured these perfectly. 🙂
Thanks Cathy. Don’t know why I let the photos stump me yesterday but am enjoying the flowers nevertheless.
Your vase is so special this week Susie – I love the combination and think that the low hydrangeas perfectly set off the sometimes awkward gladioli. I will have to wait until mid to late July to enjoy these blooms in my garden.
Thanks Julie, I appreciate your comments. Having enough hydrangeas this year for the first time to experiment with in vases has been so fun. They’re versatile flowers.
Very elegant with beautiful colours. I love gladioli and hydrangeas compliment them well.
Thank you. I love gladioli also and this batch of “Blue Shades” is special.
A very nice combination of flowers and colours!
Thanks Anca. They’ve made the house cheerful this week.
What colours – and one of the many achievements of this beautiful vase is that the stems look just as elegant under water as the flowers above it.
Thanks Joanna. There is one hydrangea stem that I wish I’d tucked in a different way, but I was happy the stems organized themselves very well. Usually I choose a ceramic vase to avoid the problem of stems.
Thank you, thank you for being so honest about the time and number of photographs! Given that your vases are always superb (and I always envy the lovely walls/settings in your home that you have at your disposal) you have encouraged me so much. Sometimes I feel life is too short, but I really enjoy the meme all the same! As to your vase – elegant and accomplished which is what I always expect from your vases, Susie. The colours of the gladioli are delicious – and what an interesting comment to Christina about using hydrangeas as a base to support other flowers. Do you leave your glads in the ground each year, or do you lift them? Thanks so much – and don’t worry, I think we would all enjoy your vases even if you spent a half hour on them!
Cathy, thanks for your kind and generous comments. I find preparing a vase on Monday is a nice exercise for my brain and I don’t mind spending time on it, but this week I obsessed too much. If I hadn’t had the time to spend I would have just picked out a couple of pictures and it would have been ok too. Some weeks the light is very good and I am satisfied with the first or second photo. Anyway, I’m glad you liked the vase and the gladioli themselves. I really like the range of deep colors. I do leave them in the ground to overwinter. Most return for many years unless I disturb the soil. Have a great week Cathy.
I will learn not to obsess as well – hopefully!
Your glads are a most appealing combination of colours Susie and I like the frilly hydrangea collar. I planted some glads at the allotment where unfortunately the stalks have been munched by a rabbit 😦 I’m hoping that they still go on to produce flowers.
Thanks Anna. Hope your gladioli recover from the rabbit’s nibbling. I have a rabbit this year too but so far he’s not been too noticeably destructive.
oh, I love the glads! i saw a couple of them blooming the other day but rarely see them here at all.
Hi! I love them too. Really don’t see glads anywhere around here either. I cut one coral glad this week that I think came with us from Wave Road.
Worthy challenge, well-met!
Appreciate the vote of confidence.