In A Vase On Monday – November Curiosities
Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase of materials gathered from our gardens.
With temperatures now below freezing at night the garden has receded considerably, yet it offered surprises this week. More of the white plicata bearded irises with their purple stitching and stippling that featured in last Monday’s vase have continued to form new flowers and Russian sage in the side garden suddenly is covered with fresh flowers.
In A Vase On Monday – November Curiosities
In A Vase On Monday – November Curiosities
Even as photographed in the weak light of late afternoon, these November oddities, nestled into a porcelain Ikebana vase, make an intriguing combination.
In A Vase On Monday – November Curiosities
Materials
Flowers
Tall bearded iris, reblooming
Salvia yangii, previously known as Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage)
Foliage
Container
Container Porcelain Ikebana vase, Georgetown Pottery, Maine. Rectangle Blue Zen (6.75L x 3.75W x 2H inches)
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 
Oh wow, unexpected and delightful! 👍
Thank you! These irises have been flowering for a month. It’s the first year the weather has been so cooperative during their rebloom.
Most unusual but delightful to see a bearded iris at this time of year. Your arrangement is beautiful
Thanks Annette. I’m surprised the irises have tolerated the cold weather so well. Have a good week.
Does your iris last well as a cut flower? When I still grew enough of them, I rarely cut them, and when I did, I merely put them in a vase alone. Since I did not expect them to last, I did not bother mixing them with other flowers. Goodness, I miss my iris. They are still here, but are in ‘storage’ between gardens. They needed to be dug from one spot, but the new spot is not ready for them. There were originally only about fourteen, but each one has some sort of significance. Since they got dug, three more got added to the herd, with a few more that could be added from work!
No, the iris doesn’t last well but the stems usually have several buds, some of which might open. It’s wonderful to have your special iris varieties. Hope you get a chance to grow them again soon.
Oh, I will. I am sending some to my niece, who will be the fifth generation to grow the Iris pallida from my great grandmother’s garden.
Between you, Cathy and I we seem to have found an oriental theme this week. The Iris and the Salvia make a perfect combo in your Ikebana Vase. The maturing of the Salvia flowering stem is open and full of movement.
Thanks Noelle. The salvia was hard to capture in photos so glad you can see the openness and movement. It was pretty by itself even before adding the iris.
Oh this is glorious Susie – I love the balance of the arrangement, and it is intriguing how well the two iris blooms at different heights work…I am looking at my chrysanthemums as I write and wondering whether it would have worked better or as well with two instead of 3?
Thanks Cathy. It might be fun to experiment with your chrysanthemums but three (or other odd number) is heralded as more pleasing than 2 (or even-numbers) in designs.
Yes, I intuitively try for odd numbers I suppose
Those flowers were made for one another, Susie. Thanks for notice that Perovskia has been reclassified – I hadn’t heard about that change but then I’ve never had much success growing the plant either and haven’t acquired one recently either. The botanical name changes are so frequent now they make one’s head spin!
I wanted to use this iris a couple weeks ago but it was the anniversary week when we used the dried materials. Last week my chrysanthemums were at their best. It’s sort of amazing the irises have kept going. Not sure when Perovskia got its new classification but it’s been a while. When I was writing the post I seemed to remember hearing something about it, so checked online.
Those irises are something else and look so great in your vase.
Thanks Judy. I do not remember buying this iris so it’s a bit of a mystery as to where it came from.
My only iris (which doesn’t bloom anymore) came in a mulch pile.
The contrast between the delicate Russian sage and the more substantial iris is, for some reason, very calming. Lovely.
Thank you. Yes I agree. Does feel calming.
The tracery on this is wonderful! Love it.
Thanks Amy!
Airy and light, delicately pretty but so unexpected to see iris in November!
Thanks Eliza. Maybe I can recreate it in April!
Simple but elegant works every time. 🙂
Thanks Judy. I agree, best to let these flowers just shine on their own.
Very pretty and all the more so when you consider how rare this combination must be. 😃
Thanks Cathy! Irises in November still seem strange to me but they’ve been a treat this year.