Tag Archives: angelonia angustifolia

In A Vase On Monday – October Plum

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In A Vase On Monday – October Plum

Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share an arrangement composed of materials collected from our gardens.

The inspiration for today’s vase is a large piece of the kitchen aloe I keep handy at all times. I intended to let the aloe be the focal point, but I kept filling in with other cuttings from the autumn garden until the design veered drastically from my initial idea.

Aloe

An overgrown section of aloe was positioned upright into a florist’s pin resembling spokes of a wagon wheel. As more materials were added the aloe became more horizontal without me realizing it.

In A Vase On Monday – October Plum

Plum-tinged by the weather, Aquilegia foliage is featured front and center, its soft hue echoed and reenforced by surrounding spires of purple angelonia.

In A Vase On Monday – October Plum

Richly colored salvia and bright zinnias add zesty accents.

Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’

Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Zinnia elegant pumila)

Materials
Aloe
Angelonia ’Purple’ (summer snapdragon)
Aquilegia canadensis (Eastern red columbine)
Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ (Wormwood)
Dahlia ‘Fireworks’
Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’
Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Zinnia elegant pumila)
Vase
Ceramic bowl, black matte exterior, red glazed interior

In A Vase On Monday – October Plum

In A Vase On Monday – October Plum

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower designs across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.

In A Vase On Monday – Blue And White In Autumn

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In A Vase On Monday – Blue And White In Autumn

Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share an arrangement composed of materials collected from our gardens.

In A Vase On Monday – Blue And White In Autumn

With the autumn season officially upon us, my garden is overgrown and in need of some tough love. Even the zinnias are fading. Today’s vase is fitted with a few rebloomers and lingerers, beginning with several lusciously fragrant gardenias. Of the the few zinnias that remain most are coming in with very tiny blooms. I spotted several diminutive white ones to include. There are also a couple of pristine Shasta daisies making a surprising appearance for this time of year.

In A Vase On Monday – Blue And White In Autumn

The title of this vase would more accurately be “purple, blue and white in autumn,” with Angelonia from the meditation circle providing purple hues and Blue Sky salvia offering up a true blue.

In A Vase On Monday – Blue And White In Autumn

In A Vase On Monday – Blue And White In Autumn

Materials
Flowers
Angelonia ‘Purple’
Gardenia jasminoides
Leucanthemum x superbum (Shasta Daisy)
Salvia uliginosa ‘Blue Sky’ (Bog sage)
Zinnia ‘Cut and Come Again’ (Zinnia elegant pumila), Botanical Interests.

Vase
Small matte-glazed blue ceramic vase

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower designs across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.

In A Vase On Monday – Duality

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In A Vase On Monday – Duality

Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share an arrangement every Monday using materials collected from our gardens. After very little rain recently an impending hurricane lurks in the Atlantic.

The inspiration for my vase this week is the foliage of my favorite indoor plant, Begonia ‘Erythrophylla’ or Beefsteak Begonia, with its rich forest green leaves that somehow are richly red on the underside.  I have been watching this begonia overflow its pot this summer and so decided to remove a section to use today. Then I will allow it to root in water and pass it along.

Begonia ‘Erythrophylla’ (Beefsteak Begonia)

Begonia ‘Erythrophylla’ (Beefsteak Begonia)

I wanted also to feature a garden phlox, perhaps it is ‘Robert Poore,’ that has been quietly blooming for many weeks in the southwestern part of the garden. Once clippers were in hand I discovered there was not as much flowering as it had seemed.

Phlox paniculata (Garden Phlox)

Phlox then has been overshadowed by strong spires and deep color of my next choice, Angelonia, which is dominating the meditation circle with its vigor.

Once all the materials were chosen their colors seemed incompatible. (With apologies to Elizabeth Warren) I persisted. The shock of a bright orange zinnia was used to offset the weight of the red and green foliage in the lower half, to keep drawing the eye back up toward the purple-blue flowers in the upper half of the design.

Staging the Ikebana vase on top of an iron candleholder gave the begonia leaves space to drop and flow with grace, rather than be compressed at the base.

In A Vase On Monday – Duality

Materials
Flowers
Angelonia angustifolia ‘Blue’ (Summer Snapdragon)
Angelonia angustifolia ‘Purple’ (Summer Snapdragon)
Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Zinnia elegant pumila)
Phlox paniculata (Garden Phlox)
Foliage
Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ (Wormwood)
Begonia ‘Erythrophylla’ (Beefsteak Begonia)
Vase
Porcelain Ikebana vase, Georgetown Pottery, Maine. Triangle Black Wave (6.5 W x 6.5 L x 2H)

Zinnia and Angelonia

In A Vase On Monday – Duality

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower designs across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.

In A Vase On Monday – Gold Dust And Angelonia

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In A Vase On Monday – Gold Dust And Angelonia

Cathy at Rambling In The Garden generously invites us to share an arrangement every Monday using materials collected from our gardens.

From the Zinnia Cut and Come Again collection I picked dozens of colorful blooms yesterday, but only one zinnia found its way toward the back of today’s design, a rare white one.

Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Zinnia elegant pumila)

Having planned to focus on foliage this week I collected a large piece of Gold Dust Aucuba and an arching stem of Sarcococca.

For color there are Angelonia and everlasting sweet pea.

Angelonia angustifolia ‘PAC – Angelos Bicolor’

Lathyrus latifolius (Perennial Sweet Pea)

Materials
Flowers
Angelonia angustifolia ‘PAC – Angelos Bicolor’
Angelonia angustifolia ‘Purple’ (Summer Snapdragon)
Angelonia angustifolia ‘White’ (Summer Snapdragon)
Lathyrus latifolius (Perennial Sweet Pea)
Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Zinnia elegant pumila)
Foliage
Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’ (Gold Dust Aucuba)
Sarcococca ruscifolia (Fragrant Sweet Box)
Container
Porcelain Ikebana vase, Georgetown Pottery, Maine. Triangle Black Wave (6.5 W x 6.5 L x 2H)

In A Vase On Monday – Gold Dust And Angelonia

Hope your late summer garden is bringing you joy.

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower designs across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.

In A Vase On Monday – Two Vases, One Bouquet

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In A Vase On Monday – Two Vases, One Bouquet

Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share an arrangement every Monday using materials collected from our gardens.

For today’s vase I chose a Raku pot purchased at our local Apple Chill street fair one autumn long ago, when five dollars was a significant investment.

Reliable and trouble-free, Angelonia ‘Purple’ caught my eye as I looked around the garden yesterday for flowers to feature. Also I included Dahlia ‘Fireworks’ because it is finally beginning to flower a bit more, though it remains rather lackluster. The three ‘Fireworks’ plants are the only dahlias in my garden this summer (my friend Libby’s mom’s red dahlia did not make it through our harsh winter).

In A Vase On Monday – Two Vases, One Bouquet

Zinnia Cut and Come Again continue to color the garden with fresh and long-lasting flowers, drawing hummingbirds, butterflies and other various insects. There is sign of powdery mildew on some of the leaves but the flowers power on. I used most of the zinnias I cut yesterday in a secondary arrangement, but several of the deep orange ones found their way into Monday’s vase, nestling among the purples of Angelonia and one stem of instensely blue-violet salvia.

In A Vase On Monday – Two Vases, One Bouquet

Two clusters of bright yellow Tansy flowers add a final touch.

In A Vase On Monday – Two Vases, One Bouquet

Many of my designs are viewed only from the front, but this one is meant to be seen from all directions.

In A Vase On Monday – Two Vases, One Bouquet

The asymmetry of this view looks more formal, yet gives a touch of personality.

In A Vase On Monday – Two Vases, One Bouquet

Some of the stems in today’s bouquet, especially part of the Angelonia and the dahlias, were not as long as I would have liked.  Concerned they may end of out of water at some point during the week, I decided after the photo shoot to trim all the stems evenly and place them into a different container.  Looking freer in this casual soup mug, the flowers will provide a cheery presence this week.

In A Vase On Monday – Two Vases, One Bouquet

Materials
Flowers
Angelonia ‘Purple’
Dahlia ‘Fireworks’
Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’
Tanacetum vulgare (Tansy)
Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Zinnia elegant pumila)
Containers
Lime green soup mug
Raku ware, unknown artist, circa 1978.

It is fun to share vases with others across the world. Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting each week. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.

In A Vase On Monday – Orange And White

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In A Vase On Monday – Orange And White

Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share an arrangement every Monday using materials collected from our gardens.

Zinnia Cut and Come Again are reliable for a profusion of summer blooms. Jason mentioned his were mainly white and orange and coincidentally those are the two colors I had selected for today’s vase. I seem to have a balanced mixture of colors this year, but the white is rare among the reds, pinks and yellows.

Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Zinnia elegant pumila

There are more oranges this year in the mix.

Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Zinnia elegant pumila

Heuchera villosa ‘Big Top Bronze’ is beginning to bloom in a dark corner behind other plants so I decided to bring a stem indoors.

Heuchera villosa ‘Big Top Bronze’ (Coral Bells)

For natural accents I reused a piece of bark from a previous arrangement, along with a seed pod from Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Plant) from a few weeks ago. The pod has transformed and burst open.

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Plant)

A bunch of zinnias make a great summer bouquet, but even in small number they have great presence.

In A Vase On Monday – Orange And White

Materials
Flowers
Heuchera villosa ‘Big Top Bronze’ (Coral Bells)
Zinnia Cut and Come Again (Zinnia elegant pumila)
Other
Bark: Lagerstroemia (Crape Myrtle)
Pod: Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Plant)
Container
Porcelain Ikebana vase. Rectangle Blue Zen (6.75L x 3.75W x 2H inches)

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower designs across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.

In A Vase On Monday – July Complementary

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In A Vase On Monday – July Complementary

Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share an arrangement every Monday using materials collected from our gardens.

Before thinking consciously of today’s vase in terms of complementary yellow and purple, I had in mind tall stems of fading sunny Rudbeckia, the green cone-heads featured prominently, and backed by a large purply patterned Canna leaf. I also wanted to use pieces of bark saved from a Lagerstroemia (Crape Myrtle), especially this lichen-covered section.

Lichen and Lagerstroemia (Crape Myrtle) Bark

Using two floral pins or frogs I began by inserting the bark.  Next the rudbeckia and canna went in as planned.

Before long I had rescued a stem of Tansy from last week’s vase for more yellow and more texture.

In A Vase On Monday – July Complementary

More purples slipped in—Angelonia and Euphorbia ‘Blackbird.’ Much of the bark which was expected to provide a strong impact receded in favor of the angelonia.

Euphorbia ‘Blackbird’ (Spurge)

Dahlia ‘Fireworks’ has disappointed this year, giving only one or two blooms at a time, but the flowers called out when I was cutting materials and found their way into the design.

Dahlia ‘Fireworks’

Materials
Flowers
Angelonia ‘Purple
Dahlia ‘Fireworks’
Euphorbia ‘Blackbird’ (Spurge)
Rudbeckia laciniata (Green-Headed Coneflower)
Tanacetum vulgare (Tansy)
Foliage
Canna
Lagerstroemia (Crape Myrtle) Bark with Lichen
Container
Oasis Lomey 11″ Designer Dish, black, round
Two Three-inch floral pins (frog)
Black Stones

In A Vase On Monday – July Complementary

In A Vase On Monday – July Complementary

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower designs across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.