In A Vase On Monday – Pine And Flora
Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden encourages us to share a vase highlighting what is growing in our gardens.
January has been mild in temperature but wet, making the garden soggy. Carefully stepping into squishy soil yesterday morning I retrieved a small pine branch that had dropped into the border from the neighbor’s towering tree. The branch is the starting point for today’s vase.
To support the pine branch I reached into a treasure trove of florist pins donated to me by a friend and former coworker. She had inherited the collection from relatives and was kind to pass them on to me. There are various sizes and shapes, mostly metal pins, but a few made of glass. The one I reached for is metal, an extra-heavy 3.5 by 4.5-inch rectangular one whose pins are sharp and nicely spaced. It gripped the branch easily in place.
Florist Pin 3.5 By 4.5 Inches
In A Vase On Monday – Pine And Flora
This arrangement is a bit like a sketch or prototype. I like it much more in person than in the photographs. With more time I would have trimmed and shaped the pine branch more and would returned to the garden for some taller materials to support the design. Perhaps too I would bind some of the needles in green wire. Possibilities are endless.
In A Vase On Monday – Pine And Flora
The hellebore bud used last week opened after a day inside. It is included in today’s vase along with one other, cut Sunday, that opened the same way.
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten rose)
It is still possible to find a few camellias, so Yuletide is included again today. Daphne buds are reluctant to commit, but there are several stems with open flowers here and there. I caught the fragrance as I cut the daphne and now am longing for it.
Camellia sasanqua ‘Yuletide’ and Daphne
Materials
Flowers
Anthurium
Camellia sasanqua ‘Yuletide’
Daphne odora (Winter daphne)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten rose)
Foliage
Anthurium
Arum italicum
Pinus taeda (loblolly pine)
Container
Black square plastic dish
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower-filled vases across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.
pbmGarden 
I do like the pine branch with the red camellias. Perfect for winter.
The red and green feel a bit Christmasy. Grateful that Yuletide has been so giving this year.
I like the splay of the pine needles! I have a floral pin like that, but usually stab myself with them. Loving the Arum and Yuletide.
Amelia, those pins can be dangerous, right? While working on this I kept thinking the pine branch needed a good haircut.
The pine branch provides a great background against which to display the other elements, Susie. I think of you every time I pass my own Camellia sasanquas, wondering what you’d make of them. Mine don’t have as much personality as your ‘Yuletide’ but I also lack your skills and imagination.
Your vase combinations are always glorious, but oh I’d love to get to play with your camellias Kris! And the many other exotic lovelies you grow.
How kind of your friend to pass all those useful bits and pieces on to you – that big rectangular pin/frog will prove really useful for you, I am sure. I am amazed at how well your hellebore flowers have lasted in water, Susie – did you condition them in any way? Your collection of winter beauties reflects the season really well, so thanks for sharing it
Cathy, I simply placed the cut hellebore stems in cool water and returned to them the next day. The buds had opened. I have read about having to seer the stems in order to use them as cut flowers (and have tried that myself) but these have been fine.
I wonder if cutting them in bud makes a difference then…?
I wondered same thing.
Gorgeous Susie. I have my first flower on Yuletide and I am very thrilled with it. I look forward to my little plant being big enough to cut.
That is good news. Excited for you. Beware it’s aspirations. Mine is about 18 years old and 7-8 feet tall.
Still waiting for flowers to appear on recently planted camelias…yours give me hope.
Hope they’re there for you soon Ricki!
Good use of the windfall, Susie. A lot of my holiday decorations were gleanings from the ground, gifts from nature. 🙂
Lovely, but that rack of pins is a bit scary!
Courage!
So pretty, and you are so talented! I have serious Camellia-envy…
You’re so kind Beth. Thank you!
I love the pine – very creative!
It was fun to use the pine as a starting point. I like pines from afar nowadays. We once had 29 mature loblolly pines fall on our previous half-acre homesite during two consecutive weekends of ice storms. I can smell the pungent pine scent just thinking about it.
Loblolly pine! How compelling. I have worked with many pines, but have never met a loblolly pine. If I saw one in Oklahoma, I did not know what it was.
Pines are big commercial crop here. I only know about how they smell when they land on top of your house during ice storms.
Oh my! Think that the smell of anything that comes down on the house and is big enough to damage it would be bad.