In A Vase On Monday – Abundance Of Autumn
Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase of materials gathered from our gardens.
With temperatures forecast to fall below freezing Sunday morning I cut flowers on Saturday for today’s vase.
My pass-along button chrysanthemums are having a banner year. Held on tall plant the fluffy pale yellow flowers lighten as they age, fading gracefully toward white with hints of pink.
Button Chrysanthemum
Button Chrysanthemum
Button Chrysanthemum (Passalong from Virgie)
A blogging friend suggested this reblooming iris might be ‘Autumn Circus.’ I read there are so many irises with this pattern they are very hard to be certain of unless you grow one of known variety next to yours. Our fall weather in central North Carolina has been so agreeable (except for lack of rain) that irises have been blooming for over a month. I was compelled to include one in today’s last pre-frost vase.
Tall bearded iris
Leaves of the Eastern Redbud glimmered in the afternoon sun while I was planting bulbs the other day. Up close they are marked by the aging cycle and the effect of cold weather but still I find them beautiful. I cut a long branch that initially rose above the iris but eventually I cut it down.
Cercis Leaf With chrysanthemums and iris
The red vase and black vase is a mismatch in color but was the perfect height and shape to hold the flowers without the assistance of mechanics. I wish I’d kept looking to find the right vase but life has been busy and there was no time to second-guess. Often things like this are exaggerated in photographs but really look fine in person, but actually the red looks odd in person also. A few more handfuls of chrysanthemums cascading over the lip of the vase could hide that red and possibly make the entire design more interesting. I trust you to picture it in your mind’s eye.
Materials
Flowers
Button chrysanthemum
Tall bearded iris
Foliage
Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud)
Hellebore
Container
Raku vase, Charles Chrisco, Chrisco’s Pottery
In A Vase On Monday – Abundance Of Autumn
Thanks to our host Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for providing this opportunity to share our vases. Visit her to discover what garden surprises she and others are offering this week.
pbmGarden 
I was surprised to see an iris blooming so late.
Some years the reblooming ones get killed off early by a cold snap but this year has given them a long opportunity to flower. I’m happy to have it but Irises in spring, azaleas in spring, etc., seem more appealing.
Lovely. I do love your chrysanthemum, I wonder what it is called. And how amazing having an iris in November.
Oh I wish I knew the name of the chrysanthemum. As true with many pass-alongs they came with love but not names. I’ve had it for over 25 years and this is its best year so far.
What intriguing chrysanthemums – they look yellow in your vase but white in your garden. And such abundance! A late iris is a real bonus for you and your vase 😊
Thanks Cathy. The chrysanthemums start out yellow and as they age they get much paler. The indoor lighting probably accounts for the strong yellow in the photos. The irises have had a good run this year.
Your floral display is beautiful and I enjoyed the story behind each bloom. Thank you for stopping by my blog (A Guide to Northeastern Gardening) to say hello!
Thank you Lee. I enjoyed your autumn tour.
I’ve been wishing that my Iris ‘Autumn Circus” would bloom again this fall and the photo of your Iris that might be ‘AC’ has moved my hope up another notch but the truth is it didn’t even bloom earlier this year and a single rainstorm probably isn’t enough to push it in the right direction.
Hope your iris performs its magic again Kris. We have had so little rain this entire summer and mine are doing great–maybe yours won’t mind lack of rain.
It always startles me to see bearded iris outside their usual spring bloom time, but I guess the gene is getting passed around, as there are more repeat bloomers being introduced every year. I like the idea!
The weather was just perfect to give those reblooming iris enough time to do their thing this fall. Some years they turn to mush if we have a cold snap.
Gorgeous vase of flowers! Irises in autumn would be magical. 🙂
Beth, I bet you could have had time this year for a few of those reblooming irises to open. I want turn down an iris at any time, but they feel more appropriate in spring!
I always love seeing your late blooming Iris. It quickens my gardening pulse!
Glad I went ahead and harvested the iris when I did. Others that remained outside didn’t fare well.
Oh, I remember this iris. I probably mentioned before that it looks just like ‘Blueberry Ice’ to me, but ‘Blueberry Ice’ does not likely bloom again in autumn like ‘Autumn Circus’ does. I just got a bunch from my mother’s garden, where it was one of her three favorites. It is one of the more vigorous sorts, and develops more vigorous foliage than the others, particularly the common Iris pallida, which is my favorite.
I was trying to ID the iris (a very hard thing to do without growing the one in question with a known variety) and I read there are so many Plicata irises identifying them is very hard. So nice you were able to gather some irises that your mother had enjoyed.
I do not even try to identify iris. Some of mine were acquired from old gardens, so may be rather old cultivars. ‘Blueberry Ice’ is likely the most modern of the cultivars I grow, and is one of only a few that I know the identity of. It was a gift from an Iris Society in San Jose, after I wrote an article about their iris show and sale in local newspapers. I initially declined their gift when I took my mother to the show, but they insisted. I had my mother select one she liked. My first iris is not a bearded iris, but is Iris pallida. I got it when I was very young. It grew in the garden of my great grandmother. https://tonytomeo.com/2017/09/10/roots/
Such a gorgeous combination Susie. The Chrysanthemum is really lovely, and the leaf is so pretty too.
Thanks Cathy. The redbud tree has had spectacular moments this fall with sunlight streaming through.
I like the red in the vase! Zingy. That Iris is spectacular, a friend in Cincinnati sent me some pictures of hers recently, fabulous, never seen these before. Not sure how I missed them. The Chrysanthemums are marvelous, do you think the drier fall gave you the spectacular flowers?
Once the iris faded this week and I removed it, the red in the vase was less distracting. The iris type is Plicata-stippled, dotted, or stiched margin colors on falls of a lighter color. There are lots of them apparently. I like them. I do think the dry summer and fall helped the chrysanthemums.