In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase of materials gathered from our gardens.
I am enjoying the garden’s daily transitions. Columbine is just about to open, as are the first bearded irises and peonies—all are caught in the almost stage.
Iris buds – Iris ‘Crimson King’
While scouting for today’s vase contents I found inspiration from a redbud tree, whose soaring branches are outfitted with ebullient flower clusters.
In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
For several weeks I have been tempted by a moth orchid that has been flowering (indoors) for several months. Its color is almost jarring against other flowers, enough so as to make it a feature today. I do not expect it to last more than a few days, but chose it for the way it pulls out the pink in the daffodil’s trumpet and the magenta of the rosebud.
In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
After photographing the flowers I went back and added a white daffodil and a grape hyacinth. The arrangement seemed to need the brightness of the white flower, but I am not satisfied with the placement. It was too late in the process to start fiddling.
In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
Materials
Flowers
Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud)
Helleborus x hybridus
Iris germanica (Tall bearded iris)
Muscari
Narcissus
Phalaenopsis (moth orchid)
Foliage
Aquilegia canadensis (Eastern red columbine)
Container
Black metal suiban. 4 x 9.5 x 6.5 inches. Japan. With floral pin holder.
In A Vase On Monday – Orchid With Redbud
Thanks to our host Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for encouraging us to share our vases. Visit her to discover what garden surprises she and others are enjoying this week.
pbmGarden 
The redbud is so pretty. I can’t understand why we never see it here. The arch of it above the orchid and narcissi is powerful and striking. The orchid is a lovely colour too. Beautifully photograohed too Susie! 😃
Thanks Cathy. Redbuds are native trees here and are having a banner year. I see them dotting the woods all along my reglar routes and they’re such nice trees. Lots of hybrids now too. Mine barely bloomed last year (as I recall) so it’s exciting to see it recover.
An absolutely beautiful arrangement. I went through your post several times.
Thanks, that’s so nice to hear Judy! Much appreciated.
Beautiful as always. Another week with a great start! Thanks, Jane
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Thank you Jane! Hope you have a happy week!
Western redbud was still blooming as I drove through the Siskiyou Mountains about a week and a half ago. Eastern redbud are blooming here now that I am in the Pacific Northwest. The season is delayed both by altitude and latitude.
Just looked up Western redbud. Very pretty tree.
Yes it is, but it is not as practical for landscape application as the Eastern redbud. The color is brighter pink, so can be a bit too garish. Branch structure is shrubby and low, rather than like a small tree. By the time they mature, and are spectacularly colorful (for those who appreciate garishly bright pink), they begin to decline. They live only a few years, and rarely last for ten years. It is not a problem for those who let a few of their seedlings grow up to replace them, but too many pull the seedlings and discard them as weeds, so that there is nothing to replace the older original shrubs. Also, because they are shrubby, the sometimes get shorn, which ruins their form and accelerates their deterioration.
However, I still really dig them! Seriously, for those who are willing to accommodate their innate ‘problems’, and like the color, they really are flashy.
The orchid does a beautiful job of pulling those colors together, Susie. I’ve never figured out how to use my own redbud (western) stems in an arrangement but then the flowers seem to be gone almost as soon as my brain processes that the trees are blooming.
Thanks Kris. Is it the heat that shortens the bloom time of the redbud?
Wow! Is that the back of a chair in the first and later photograph? No doubt something your daughter has made, I am sure – so stylish 😊 The redbud is brilliant at adding colour and form to the vase and the orchid is spot on for bringing out the colour of the pink-centred narcissus. Will the orchid not last in water? I often send my Mum orchids for Mother’s Day and they last a couple of weeks at least. Thanks for sharing, Susie.
Ooh, I hope this orchid will last as long as your Mother’s. Yes, our daughter made the chair. After years of living in an apartment in California, she and her husband are back in NC and are setting up a woodshop again! Excited to see what she’ll create.
Such graceful beauty, exquisite!
Thanks Eliza. Spring flowers have been so inspiring. Nice to have flowers again. You’ll see when that mud dries up.
Looking forward to it!
Loving the elegant tracery of the redbud branch..I like the three white flowers in the post fiddle! Do the redbuds last?
I don’t think the redbud is going to last past tomorrow truthfully. We’ll see.
Spring Ephemerals in the house!
Oh the redbud branches partner up so well with your orchid which has a luminous quality about it. I wish that redbuds dotted our landscape at this time of year Susie,
Thank you Anna. The redbuds are a welcome sight for sure.
Lovely flowers and color combination. The wooden sculpture piece certainly sets it off as well. You have a good eye!
Thanks Judy. The one tall branch was hard to photograph without getting way back and including a lot of bare wall. At the last minute I included a chair made by my daughter in the photos. I wish I’d done it sooner and I’d have changed a few things in the arrangement. Now the iris has opened.
The colors are stunning as is the mix of flowers….I absolutely adore redbud in bloom.
Donna, thanks. With your experience working with color, I really appreciate your comment. The redbuds have been glorious this spring and now dogwoods are getting a turn.
What a poised arrangement! And no one has mentioned the wood item to the side. Is it a hall chair? Its shape is sublime.
Noelle, thank you. The wood item is indeed a treasured chair, designed and built by my daughter when at university for industrial design. She’s an architect now and recently moved to a new home. She is setting up a new wood shop after some years of apartment living so we’re excited for her.