In A Vase On Monday – Gardenia With Red Lily
In A Vase On Monday – Red Lilies
Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase of materials gathered from our gardens. I prepared two vases this week.
Vase 1 – Gardenia With Red Lily
This week’s first vase holds two standouts from the garden. Gardenias are having a stellar year. The shrubs are covered with flowers. This arrangement was made Thursday as I rescued the flowers from the week’s series of extremely hot days.
In A Vase On Monday – Gardenia With Red Lily
Lilium ‘Black Out’ was first planted in 2016 and never fails to thrill.
In A Vase On Monday – Gardenia With Red Lily
The flowers were pristine and fresh but I found the lilies less impactful and the gardenias more difficult to arrange than expected. Eventually the vase sort of took shape and I lost interest in fiddling any further. Supporting florals are Oakleaf Hydrangea and a (rather too small) Snapdragon.
In A Vase On Monday – Gardenia With Red Lily
The gardenia fragrance, divine at first, became overpowering and I had to move the arrangement outdoors.
In A Vase On Monday – Gardenia With Red Lily
In A Vase On Monday – Gardenia With Red Lily
In A Vase On Monday – Gardenia With Red Lily
In A Vase On Monday – Gardenia With Red Lily
Materials
Flowers
Antirrhinum majus ‘Speedy Sonnet Bronze’ (Snapdragon)
Gardenia jasminoides ‘August Beauty’ (Gardenia)
Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’ (Lil’ Ruby dwarf Oakleaf Hydrangea)
Lilium ‘Black Out’ (Asiatic lily)
Foliage
Gardenia jasminoides ‘August Beauty’ (Gardenia)
Container
Textured, incised ceramic pedestal vase, rice or bone color. 5×6-inches.
I’m not usually sensitive but definitely reacted to the flowers. I saved the lilies from the vase and tossed the gardenias.
Vase 2 – Red Lilies
In A Vase On Monday – Red Lilies
By Saturday the majority of L. ‘Black Out’ had opened fully so I gathered them and made a second arrangement using the same vase as the first. There were 15 red lilies but many more would have been nice.
In A Vase On Monday – Red Lilies
It was challenging to find enough material in flower to complete the design. I recycled the fading Royal Sunset lily from last week to help fill in and cut the available stems of Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’ and a few sprigs of Angelonia.
In A Vase On Monday – Red Lilies
In A Vase On Monday – Red Lilies
There are not many Bachelor’s Buttons in the garden but I am thrilled to see any. They probably won’t last much longer in this weather so I cut most of them to provide an airy contrast in color and texture.
In A Vase On Monday – Red Lilies
In A Vase On Monday – Red Lilies
Materials
Flowers
Angelonia
Centaurea cyanus ‘Blue Diadem’ (Bachelor’s Buttons)
Dahlia Anemone ‘Totally Tangerine’
Lilium ‘Black Out’ (Asiatic lily)
Lily ‘Royal Sunset’
Foliage
Container
Textured, incised ceramic pedestal vase, rice or bone color. 5×6-inches.
Thanks to our host Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for encouraging us to create and share our vases. Visit her to discover what garden surprises she and others are enjoying this week.
pbmGarden 
They’re both beautiful! The bachelor button blue really makes the reds and oranges more vibrant, somehow.
Thanks Chris. Adding the bachelor buttons did liven up the 2nd vase I think.
You certainly captured my attention with these beautiful blooms.
Glad you stopped by, Judy. The gardenias and these red lilies have garnered most of my attention this week.
They are both lovely. Lucky you to have such an abundance of gardenia blooms! The red lilies and snap dragons in the first vase are a bold and unexpected splash of colour – they really draw you in – cleverly done. And I love the perfect star shapes of the lilies and little pops of blue in the second arrangement. I really enjoy looking at your arrangements every Monday as they are always so original (and beautiful).
Thanks so much Horticat! I appreciate you stopping by each Monday. Your camellias were spectacular today and I forgot to mention how much I admired your special containers.
I am thinking about the scent of the gardenias being too strong.
Before this weekend I wouldn’t have thought it possible! They are still gorgeous outside.
Both are beautiful, Susie. How nice to have such an abundance of lilies. (Hope the beetles aren’t a problem.) And I can imagine all those gardenias would have overpowered the atmosphere! 😀
Thanks Eliza. The gardenias were surprisingly strong smelling but outdoors they’ve been great this year. No further sign on lily beetles but perhaps they’re lurking. I hope they moved on.
Thanks again for starting my week with beauty and creativity! Jane
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It’s such a pleasure to share my flowers and wonderful to hear from you, Jane. Hope you’re having a good (almost) summer.
Both are lovely – I can’t pick a favorite!
Thanks Su. The first one is a little fussy but I like each style.
You deal so well with abundance as well as austerity, Susie, and my goodness we have abundance today! Although I have Asiatic lilies they are only in 5s and in pots, so never enough to spare for cutting. I suppose I could buy more and have them in a bigger pot although I am not sure I have space for bigger pots! I think I prefer the second vase today, although the mass of gardenias is a sight to behold, and one day I will establish what their fragrance is like and how strong it really is!
These lilies are in a large pot. Am reluctant to plant them in the ground because of rabbits. I think you’ll find gardenia is usually a very nice fragrance. Billy Holiday wore them in her hair.
Lilies must like it hot, Susie – what a display! I’m imagining a lily field tucked in a corner of your garden somewhere. I have more lily plants than I’ve ever had before but only those included in a pot I received as a gift have bloomed thus far and many of the rest have been “trimmed” (some down to a stick) by the resident rabbits 😦 I’m sorry you had a blast of heat like that so early in the year – I hope that was a one-off event in your area.
These red lilies are growing in a large pot and they come back every yet. Originally there were probably one or two but they’ve multiplied. I think they’d be large and multi-stemmed if allowed to grow in ground but rabbits–grrr. Nicer temps this week. 84F
I think that the gardenias would overwhelm me too Susie and that I would have to enjoy them from a distance 😂 They are beautiful flowers though and rest so nicely in that well chosen container. Have given up on lilies – the dreaded lily beetle!
Anna, I found lily beetle eggs this week and destroyed them but don’t know what the future will bring. Everyone says they’re terrible.
Both are lush statements of garden abundance. I like the Bachelor’s Buttons with the Lilies, such a nice pop of contrast.It amazes me how many flowers it takes sometimes. Was the fragrance from the Gardenias overwhelming?
Amy, the Bachelor’s Buttons are a great blue, aren’t they? I’ve never been able to grow them from seeds so “invested” in plants. The gardenia scent was way too overpowering for me this year. I guess I usually just bring in two or three.
I can’t grow them either. But I love the color. Don’t think I have seen plants for sale, though I would buy some. A little Gardenia goes a long way. When I was in high school Jungle Gardenia was my signature scent…way too much.
😀
Wow! I am impressed by both vases, but mostly by the fact that you had fifteen lilies to cut! 😃 They are beauties. I love the use of blue Centaurea. I didn’t know they are also known as Bachelor’s Buttons. We always used that name for Feverfew in my Mum’s garden. 😃 Did the lilies also have a scent? I can’t bear lilies indoors as they are so overpowering.
Or perhaps the ‘Bachelors Buttons’ in my Mum’s garden were small Chrysanthemums! Now you have got me thinking!
Hmm…were they blue?
Thanks Cathy. I was surprised too that Centaurea is Bachelor’s Button, but that’s what the label had. The lilies don’t have fragrance that I can detect. I think the Oriental lilies are the ones that smell really strong.
Those red lilies certainly make gorgeous vases. I loved the contrast with the white gardenia. Can you believe I have never seen one up close. And then the mix of blue and red with the dahlia was stunning. You really out did yourself!!
Thanks Donna. Hope you have the opportunity to get close to a gardenia one day.
Me too. I hear they are amazing
THAT is a MAJOR abundance of gardenias! I know they prefer humidity, which is why I rarely see more than a few at a time. I might plant at least one small one this autumn, but I do not expect much from it.
Gardenias seem to be having a banner year around here.