In A Vase On Monday – Resilience
Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase of materials gathered from our gardens. Summer in North Carolina is always hot and humid but this past week felt like summer was being served deep fried. Dahlias buds are drying up or developing malformed flowers, but zinnias are just getting started and enjoy the heat.
Oppressive humidity, temperatures above 100 and heat index warnings several days amplified the severe drought conditions. For weeks while some areas nearby were getting severe storms with plenty of precipitation, we had none. Then Friday night, at last, a strong steady rain poured out from the clouds. Although I have hand watered frequently the results of my efforts cannot compare to the refreshment this rainfall brought. Early Saturday morning I relished in the garden’s rehydrated state. Nice rain fell again on Saturday evening and all through the day on Sunday, a soft watering. Ahh!
Today’s flowers were prepared Friday prior to the nourishing rainfall, thus the title Resilience to emphasize respect for those garden stalwarts that carry on under dire hot, dry conditions. I’m curious what you count on to carry the garden through tough times.
In A Vase On Monday – Resilience
In A Vase On Monday – Resilience: Clusters of tiny yellow Tansy flowers and fernlike foliage with cactus zinnia
In A Vase On Monday – Resilience
In A Vase On Monday – Resilience
Materials
Flowers
Buddleja davidii ‘Adokeep’ (Adonis blue Butterfly Bush)
Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’
Gladiolus ‘Purple Flora ‘
Leucanthemum x superbum (Shasta Daisy)
Rudbeckia laciniata (Green-Headed Coneflower)
Tanacetum vulgare (Tansy)
Zinnia -Cactus Flowered Mix
Foliage
Tanacetum vulgare (Tansy)
Container
Dark blue matte ceramic jar
Thanks to our host Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for encouraging us to create and share our vases. Visit her to discover what is blooming in her UK garden and across the globe this week.
pbmGarden 
I love your colour combination this week, Susie – the orange, yellow and purple hues combined are totally 1960’s flower power! Glad you and your garden got some refreshing rain after all that heat.
It’s hard to imagine being in the peak of summer when we are in the depths of winter here! Stalwarts in my summer garden during heatwaves are Agastache ‘Sweet Lili’, Salvia discolor, Geranium sideoides, zinnias, succulents and heat loving tropical plants such as bromeliads.
Ah, those flower power days! 😀 It’s cool here this morning with lower humidity. Such a nice break. I looked up your Agastache ‘Sweet Lili’ and it’s lovely. I tried agastache once but probably planted it in the wrong place–must try it again.
I think agastache might prefer drier heat to humidity – perhaps your summer is too humid for it?
Ah, good to know. Thanks.
Wonderful grouping! We are quite used to heat from July through August every year, so I know the misery it brings to gardeners.
Jayne, we probably have similar summer heat and humidity experience. I think it used to be worse in August, but it comes earlier here and lasts longer. More manageable when there’s decent rainfall. The garden looks much happier this morning.
As Horticat said, a lovely colour combination, and how lovely to have these in your garden. Your summer is also very challenging, harder that ours I think. There has been such a change to hotter summers with a lot less rain here that it is a shock both to the garden and oneself.
Thanks Noelle. I’m drawn to purple and sometimes orange–yellow not so much, but yellows and pinks seem to tolerate many conditions and have staying power in my garden. I used to never imagine having to water my garden except for new plantings, but this summer I’ve had to. Take care.
Despite the heat, your flowers are lovely. I feel your pain, as we have been asked to cut back on our electricity use.
I’m so sorry, Judy! My husband was just telling me it was 110 in TX.
Dramatic and elegant! Congratulations on the rain, Susie. We remain horribly dry here. That’s not unusual for us this time of year but, without much rain during our earlier so-call rainy season, the garden was already struggling. However, we haven’t had the scorching temperatures so many areas are experiencing – we haven’t even hit 100F yet but our humidity is running higher than is generally the case in a part of the country known for its “dry heat.” My ruffled Shasta daisies have had their worst year ever and many of my daylilies are no-shows. I’ve had some distorted dahlias too but I think the ants and their aphid partners may be responsible for the damage here.
I had assumed the heat was damaging my dahlias but just googled malformed dahlias and it’s like looking up medical information online. Scary! 😀
I had written my reply but then had to log in and lost it! I certainly have rain envy, and can see how relieved both you and your garden must be! I am glad you have have some heat and drought resistant plants though, and the colours of them really make a statement. Here, nothing is too badly affected by the weather yet, although I think some annuals are 2 or 3 weeks behind and I am not sure if the sweet peas will take much more of it!
Glad the weather hasn’t been too damaging for you at least, but hope rain finds you soon.
WE may have a sprinkling on Weds, but more likely not, Susie!!
We’re in the likely not seeing rain category too. Good luck.
If these are all drought and heat resilient plants, then I must buy some for next year (except the tansy perhaps)! The vase looks vibrant and the flowers really healthy. Do the flowers go over really quickly in the heat though?
The tansy was a pass-along I accepted without knowing better! The flowers don’t really last well outdoors in the heat. I think drought-resistant just means they might die back this year but come back next. In my experience they don’t look great for long without water.
I can’t imagine repeated temps in the 100s–especially without rain! We’ve been hotter than normal, too, cycling with cooler than normal…like a roller coaster. More fluctuation than usual this time of year. We tend to be in the low to mid-80s this time of year, which I love. Fortunately, we’ve had just enough rain so far this season. Your arrangement is so lovely!
Thank you. Your weather sounds unusual, Beth, but mid 80s and enough rain: pretty good!
Love the boldly colored cactus zinnias and rich, purple glads. Nice to see tansy in an arrangement, too. I love its pungent scent.
We are in desperate need of rain and I’m envious of your prolonged soaking. We could use a day or two of steady rainfall. Even the trees are beginning to look stressed. I’ve had to supplement water most things.
Tansy isn’t something I see anywhere else. A coworker gave me this years ago. After seeing how it spread I tried to remove it but it seems here to stay. I do hope you’ll get some good rains Eliza. I’m losing two shrubs in front of the house, including my daphne which is a shame.
Flowers last better with oppressive humidity. We got plenty of bloom also, but some of it would prefer to be there. You know though, our (common hybrid) gladiolus are still blooming! I can not explain what got into them. I do not count on anything in particular, but take what I can get each season.
Yay for the glads!
!!!
It’s always a challenge when the heat sets in mid-summer and the rain just passes you by all the time. We know it well! But the plants that just go on regardelss here are also buddleia and then the Heliopsis, Heleniums and sunflowers. Love your dahlia Susie!
I should get sunflowers. For some reason I forget to plant them but especially with the new colors choices they would be great.
Very pretty and a wonderful color combination well suited to the vase. I am glad to see the Zinnias happy faces! I saw the agastache comment above, it is recommended for here! I haven’t tried it yet. I laughed at the southern fried summer statement. I guess my garden is tropical fried!
Lovely arrangement. Our temps haven’t been quite that high, but we are as dry as a bone out there. We have a small chance of a shower this evening, and I’ve got my fingers crossed. I’ve dragged the water hose around every other day trying to keep up, but you’re right in that tap water doesn’t remotely compare to a nice natural rain.
Party colors.
Summer deep fried. Great way to put it.
It felt pretty crispy in the garden for a while. Since then we’ve had several rains and the garden is much happier.
Much rain in Statesville. The amphibians are ecstatic.