Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase of materials gathered from our gardens.
The colors of today’s feature flowers, gladiolus and cally lily, inspired today’s title.
In an online catalog I saw my deep purple Odessa Cally lily described, “dark as a moonless night.” This is my first year growing Odessa and am enjoying its exotic shape, rich hue and long vase life. I cut a few new stems this week but am happily reusing some from last week also.
The gladiolus is a no-ID whose petals are a mix of peachy pinks and golden glow. I had gathered glads in many colors for today’s vase but pared the presentation down eventually.
The anthurium are also recycled from last week.
Chloris of The Blooming Garden recently asked if ever I had grown irises from seeds, but I have not. Her inquiry though reminded me a good number of bearded iris have developed large seedpods this year, so I decided to incorporate them into this Ikebana.
Materials
Flowers
Anthurium
Gladiolus
Zantedeschia rehmannii violacea ‘Odessa’ (Odessa Calla Lily)
Foliage
Tall Bearded Iris Seedpod
Container
Porcelain Ikebana vase, Georgetown Pottery, Maine. Rectangle Blue Zen (6.75L x 3.75W x 2H inches)
As always thanks to our host Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for providing this opportunity to to share our vases. Visit her to discover what garden surprises she and others are offering this week.
This arrangement may be small in number of flowers, but it is certainly mighty in its impact. Stunning.
Thanks Judy. I”m drawn to the strong form and color of that lily.
What a lovely poetic title and vase. Everything about your creations is so artful and considered whereas I mostly “throw” some flowers in a vase. 🙈 Hope all is well with you and your husband, wishing you a good week x
Thank you, I did reflect on that title a bit. You instinctively know how to “throw” flowers together Annette! Appreciate the good wishes-we’re doing okay recently. He’s not able to get out much so I love seeing you and yours getting outside and enjoying nature and all her beauty.
Sorry to hear that but being surrounded by your beautiful garden certainly helps. What I love about all our blogs and vases is the diversity – we’re all so different and yet the same in a way but why should we suppress the differences? They make life so much more interesting. Take care xx
The flower colours perfectly match the title! I love the Iris seedpods – they really pull together the whole look. Beautiful!
Thanks Chris, I changed the title 3 times! The seedpods are pretty interesting, some are actually a lot bigger than what I could use in this size vase.
I do like your dramatic colors.
Thanks Judy. It seems like that Calla lily sets the tone for drama. I used it once in a mixed arrangement and it just got lost.
An amazing arrangement Susie. The dark lily is very striking. And I love the colour of the gladioli next to it.
Glad you like it Cathy. I had oodles of that color gladiolus once, but tired of it for a while. Was happy to see it return this year.
Such a simple and elegant vase, Susie, something you do so well. Thanks for sharing it
Thanks Cathy!
Oooh, artistic!
A neighbor got me to put yellow and orange gladiolus out along the driveway. (I would not have done so, but I know that my neighbors know more about color than I do.) I got the cheap bagged bulbs from Home Depot, because I do not expect them to be perennial here. You know, they were SO worth it. They seemed to bloom just as well as the fancier hybrids, although the yellow ones were shorter than the big tall yellow sorts. The color of the orange was just like that of the fancy hybrids. For all I know, they could have been the same thing. It is a weirdly alluring orange. I mean, it is not too bright, but demands attention anyway.
Thanks Tony. Most of my glads have been like yours, the big box store offerings. They’re fairly inexpensive and reliable. Glad yours made a good show.
By reliable, do you mean that they perform well as an annual, or do they regenerate perennially? They are not reliably perennial here, perhaps because of the minimal chill. However, there are a few at work that have been perennial for several years. It makes no sense, they were a few that remained out of larger batches of the same thing.
Annual.
That’s a wonderful combination, Susie. The dark callas add drama! I planted some orange-ish gladiola corms 6-8 weeks ago and the leaves are already more than a foot tall as fortunately the bunnies didn’t find this particular “crop.” I’m looking forward to the flowers.
That orange color will be beautiful Kris. Glad the rabbits spared them. I apparently am running a bunny nursery in my yard, holes everywhere. Each day I spot a smaller-sized one.
Lovely arrangement, Susie, and a perfect title for this solstice time of year!
Love the orange Gladioli.
Yes, good coloring. That glad just showed up this year. I can’t remember exactly when I bought it but it was some years ago.
Now, isn’t that graceful and perfect?! How nice to have glads so early in the season. I used to grow them almost every summer, but stopped because they didn’t seem to like my garden conditions anymore. I’ll have to try them again one of these years, because they’re amazing cut flowers, as you show. Beautiful!
Amazing! I love that the seed heads echo the shape of the calla lily too.