In a Vase on Monday; Roses & Ivy & other lovely stuff
Honestly, I never would have thought I could produce so many varied arrangements from materials gathered in my own garden! I am so glad to have been challenged to look at everything in the garden as potential “In a Vase on Monday” material.
A single pink Hydrangea flower is just barely visible in the centre
I do have to say that I make my arrangements on the weekend. My life is way too crazy to do it on a Monday (do you know that feeling???). I’ve been lucky so far, always having some form of sun to photograph with. Can I just say that I love the sun? I’ve lived in some cities where the sun didn’t always come out as often as I would like. Let’s just say that those cities aren’t known as sunny locations: Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Dublin, Zurich, even Poughkeepsie where I’m originally from. All are great places to live and probably the reasons why I so appreciate seeing the sun when I do!
Ivy. Isn’t it lovely?
I digress. Back to flowers. I had it in my head that I wanted to use my ivy. This is the same ivy that I have spent countless hours removing from my hawthorne trees and ditch wall! It is completely invasive! I do remember that when I lived in Zurich I noted the greens used by florists were so lovely. It was indeed this very same type of ivy that was used to make the most amazing arrangements. So I might just keep a little bit of it. I’m sure the ivy itself will have more say about it staying than my actually doing something about it. 🙂
Ivy, roses, snapdragon, schizostylis (or rather: Hesperantha), Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage)
What to add to the greens? The snapdragons have had a good run. Those in the arrangement are a lovely fuchsia colour, although they are very near the end of their lives. I’m still a little shy of cutting fully beautiful flowers when they can be enjoyed outside. I feel less guilty if they are nearly done anyway.
Snapdragon in the late afternoon sunlight
an awkward view of the roses
The roses are my climbing roses. I don’t have the variety, since I was sent the wrong type when I originally ordererd them. It was a dead giveaway since these guys have thorns and I ordered thornless… Nevertheless, their blooms are lovely from June through until late fall.
Schizostylis (new name Hesperantha) members of the Iris family
O.K., so I posted a picture of these guys, see pink flowers above and below, on my Facebook page (have you clicked on my Facebook “LIKE” button yet? 🙂 ) and someone commented that this plant has just had their name changed. What? Really? Seems there was some confusion about Hesperantha having corms versus Schizostylis having a short rhizome. Honestly, I read the article and I still think mine are Schizostylis. I might just use both names to cover all of the bases.
Schizostylis (new name Hesperantha)
It is a banner year for wild blackberries in our yard! They are everywhere. Those brambles live in the same area as the ivy, and I have also spent countless hours trying to get rid of them! They are unruly, have terrible thorns, and are invasive. Ah well, but while they are still here we at least get to enjoy their fruit. I do like having some fruit in the arrangement. Just something different.
blackberries galore..
What I really liked about this arrangement was all the different items, just a few of each, that worked together. Well, they do in my eyes! It is a rather messy, maybe I’ll say free flowing (?), arrangement.
a little messy looking
I’m sure I mentioned in an earlier post that my father-in-law grew my snapdragon from seed for me. This one variety, which has a really nice multi-tone colour, has variegated leaves. It didn’t make the main vase, but is sitting nicely in its own Irish pottery vase.
snapdragon with variegated leaves
Snapdragon
One last view
Thank you, Cathy, of Rambling in the Garden, for hosting “In a Vase on Monday”! You can visit her vase, and many links to others by visiting her page here: http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/in-a-vase-on-monday-stars-from-another-galaxy/ (that one isn’t working, so please try here: http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com)
Have you thought about making a vase yet? 🙂
Dana
Mom in the Garden 
Oh my Dana you lived in Syracuse. I live just North of the city in the suburbs and have since 1968. We are coming into our gray time soon. But I adore your vase…so much this and that comes together to make a gorgeous vase of pink….maybe using my very thorny blackberries in a vase would be great but the birds eat them all. I love the little snapdragon too!!!
Hi Donna! ‘Tis a small world, isn’t it??? I have to say we *loved* living in Syracuse (Manlius). Wonderful place to raise a family. If only the sun would shine a little more 😉 I think the birds here have so much variety that they leave most of the blackberries for us! Thanks for visiting Donna!
You have moved about a bit – are you staying put now?! Your enthusiasm for the meme shines through your post, so thanks so much for joining in and sharing your thoughts and your vase with us. I love ivy flowers, and our garden is the sort where there are lots of areas where I can let ivy do its own thing, which is great. Some name changes I am happier about than others – and hesperantha is one of them, being much easier to pronounce and spell! Your pink one is beautiful, as are your pink roses and the antirrhinums – and the overall effect of your vase is very informal and countrified. Lovely!
Cathy, thanks for the lovely words. I am quite weak on knowing the proper names, never mind keeping up with name changes! I’ll keep plugging away at it. I forgot to say in my note on your vase that I loved how you didn’t just go for “easy”. It is nice to go that bit further to see what we can create! Thank you for visiting my vase, too! 🙂 As for moving, I’ve learned to just go with the flow when it comes to where we live/when we move. It all works out in the end.
I find it hard to keep up with all these name changes, plus they are frequently harder to spell than the old ones. I am sticking to “aster”, for instance! I am kicking myself for not remembering how good ivy is in a vase, thank you for the reminder…
Asters have a new name too? I guess I need to pay better attention to this! I am glad you liked my ivy, Janet. Thank you for visiting 🙂
Your vase is beautiful Dana. I like the informality of it and the wonderful combination of flower, foliage and fruit. I cut back on our blackberries out back because they are too thuggish for such a small garden, but I did leave one patch in the front garden to flower and fruit providing us with a breakfast treat for a few days. Unfortunately, my husband considers ivy enemy number one so his first job when we moved in last November was to hack down all he could find growing. Or so he thought … I’ve spotted a small leaved variegated one and a larger leaved green one, both recovering well at the base of a couple of rose bushes … I’m saying nothing because I’m looking forward to being able to use it in a vase on Monday sometime next year 🙂
Thank you for the compliment Elizabeth. Oh I think you’ll still have ivy next year! I cannot believe how resilient it is! I’ve read that as I pull it out every year, it becomes easier and easier to remove. But quite frustrating to see it growing where I spent so much time clearing it… The good news is that it does look lovely in arrangements! Thank you for stopping by! Dana
This vase is lovely and WILD! I love the blackberries and ivy flowers in there with your rose. I know what you mean about looking at the garden with new eyes when trying to envisage next week’s vase contents! 🙂
Hi Cathy, oh yes, WILD! I’m having fun letting go of what I would usually try to make, and trying to be a bit more creative. Thank you for visiting, Cathy!
So lovely, Dana.
Thank you Cynthia! I do appreciate your compliment! Dana