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

Today’s vase title comes from a flower description I happened upon by the late garden writer Henry Mitchell.

The fattest and most scrumptious of all flowers, a rare fusion of fluff and majesty, the peony is now coming into bloom.

Paeonia ‘Festiva Maxima’ opened last week and it easily lives up to that characterization. I knew it would find a place of honor in this week’s design.

Another majestic flower, regal and dramatic, is a black-bud-opening-to-dark-purple ruffled iris, a wonderful pass-along from a former neighbor.

Less dramatic than the darker iris, the yellow iris is also a pass-along, circa 1976, and was brought from my former garden to this one in 2001. The older irises in my collection are more demure and understated.

Baptisia ‘Purple Smoke’ which grows along the Southern side path is having an exceptional year.

Its smoky lavender hue is echoed in the speckled portion of the iris falls, just under the beard.

Drifts of Verbena bonariensis are starting to accent the borders. In the vase today it adds height and reinforces the color theme.

The arrangement was designed with the peony facing the front. I like the subtle change to the arrangement brought by rotating the vase slightly so the peony is viewed more to the side.

Materials

Flowers
Baptisia ‘Purple Smoke’
Iris germanica (Tall bearded iris)
Paeonia ‘Festiva Maxima’
Verbena bonariensis (Tall Verbena)

Vase
Porcelain triangle Ikebana Blue Wave (6.5 W x 6.5 L x 2H)

A peek from above…

and a couple more views for my records.

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us a chance to express our flower arranging passion. Visit her to discover what she and others found this week in their gardens to place In A Vase On Monday.