Wordless Wednesday – Blooming Globe Artichokes

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Mominthegarden

Artichoke plant covered with artichokes

I always have a struggle with “Wordless Wednesday” postings. I think it is perfect for showing some pictures that really don’t need much explanation. O.K., so there is my problem; I love chatting about my plants and the pictures I take of them!

Entire Globe Artichoke Plant

Take the above picture, for example. What a horrible looking creature my globe artichoke plant became! It is much taller than last year. In fact, it is taller than me. Well, I do realize that a person who is five feet, three and three quarter inches tall is not a tall person. But for a plant, that is a different story. The winds really picked up this summer and down came part of the plant. That oh so beautiful orange rope was dutifully tied by my hubby to keep the plant upright. He is correct, it is doing the job! (but maybe a less obvious/ugly rope could have been used???)

A bee enjoying the globe artichoke flower

Never the less, the plant survived and is thriving with loads of blooms on the artichokes. The artichokes were quite small when it would have been appropriate to harvest them to eat. I decided to use them for flowers instead. Maybe next year I will venture and actually eat them!

vegetables in a vase…

A blog I like to read ( http://wordsandherbs.wordpress.com/2014/08/11/in-a-vase-on-monday-a-summer-breeze/ ) has a Monday post of ‘Flowers in a vase from the garden’. I don’t think I have enough flowers to do this, but I was thinking maybe my vegetable arrangement would do? 🙂

Kitty joining in the photo shoot

While I was trying to get a good shot, our kitty decided he wanted to be a part of it. This happens quite a lot! He really likes being with me when I’m in the garden, especially if I have my camera.

I think I got the shot.

Globe Artichokes in bloom… and my last picture.

Happy Wordless Wednesday!
Dana

Peony in a very special Vase

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Mominthegarden

In the beginning…

I started this post as a “Wordless Wednesday” idea. But I just have a really hard time not adding text! So I am going to forget about the wordless Wednesday part, and I’m just going to tell you about my peony. My father-in-law divided his peony plant for me a couple of years ago. Peony are fussy, so the first year nothing happened with my plant. The second year we had (maybe) a couple of flowers. Finally, this year we have a full shrub of flowers. Good things come to those who wait! 🙂

Peony flowers

I had enough blooms on the shrub that I didn’t mind cutting some. I actually waited a bit to cut them, so they were nearing the end of their lives anyway.

Peony in a water jug

My parents live in New York, so while Skyping with my mom I showed her my peony arrangement. Maybe you heard her gasp??? You see she gave me that beautiful vase. Well, I think it is a water jug but I used it as a vase. There are two to the set. But never would she imagine that I’d actually *use* it! They are quite special to her (and now to me), and beautiful, and more than 100 years old. Honestly, they’ve sat up high on my bookshelves for way too long. It was time to bring some of that beauty into our living space. I love it. And I think the peony flowers look lovely in it.

My special (water jug?) vase

I promised my mom I’d be careful with it. The peony flowers have since faded and the vase is back up high in its safe place again…

Peony in the garden at the front gate

I still have a few peony just barely hanging on to life in the garden. Even now they are providing a lovely splash of color.

Peony with rain in mid May

I tend to take lots and lots of pictures of individual flowers and close-ups. I like to be able to really focus in on one thing! But I actually have a picture of the area around our front gates as I had been working on one of the beds this past weekend. I hate taking pictures when weeds get in the way! (that explains why so few full bed pictures…) So this is a current picture of the peony flowers. Very, very, very near the end of their lives. But oh so beautiful even still.

Peony at the gate

I wonder what flowers I will put in the special vase next?

Thanks for visiting!
Dana

A grand arrangement with eucalyptus, hydrangea & artichokes

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Mominthegarden

Kitty playing with eucalyptus leaves and hydrangea leaves

I have had four great big branches of eucalyptus hanging in my utility room (laundry room/bathroom/cat room/where coats, boots, shoes live room) for the past month. I know, that is really shameful. Truthfully, there wasn’t even enough room for it there. My husband is quite the patient man when it comes to some of my projects! I think the kids were starting to get annoyed with the branches and having to maneuver around them. Kitty, on the other hand, rather enjoyed them. It was great fun to jump on them and see how many leaves could fall to the floor during the night! I knew that I wanted to use those lovely smelling leaves, I just wasn’t sure exactly what to do with them.

Finally, inspiration struck. I stepped away from my inclination to make a wreath, and I went for using quite a large vase to create an arrangement.

Starting out

Hmm, I wonder if I should comment on the state of my kitchen? 🙂 Nah. It was a busy day… I started out with red tissue paper because Valentine’s Day is coming up. My friend Louise mentioned that it was also a good color to help celebrate Chinese New Year! Perfect timing! After filling the bottom with the tissue paper, I then cut the branches to fit the vase and fill it out. It should be noted that I’m one to save just about everything. So I still had some dried Annabelle hydrangea, and three dried artichoke plants left from this past summer, as well as two branches of contorted hazel. I was going to find a way to put it all in!

Close up of artichoke plant inside the vase

close up of two artichokes with their purple color

close up of artichoke

close up of two artichokes with their purple color

I didn’t want just eucalyptus. I wanted another element to the arrangement, that is why I put the flowers down inside the vase. The poor Annabelles didn’t fare well while being squished and squashed into the vase… after the eucalyptus was in of course! But I think it wasn’t too detrimental to their beauty.

Kitty. Posing.

You would seriously think my cat loves the camera. He doesn’t. He just really wanted to play with all of the “stuff” I was working with! He is a lovely cat, though.

A lovely blue-ish color!

I tried the vase in a couple of different places. My hallways are bright and airy and I just wanted to fill that space.

Kitty not leaving the arrangement alone…

I’ve finally decided on where to leave it, and the hallway really does smell lovely now.

I think I just might work best under pressure: I made this in 20 minutes. Because that is how much time I had before I had to go and collect my daughter from school. Done. Finished. Everything cleaned up and put away.

Boy is there a lot of extra room in our utility room now! Time to set up my seeds 🙂

This arrangement was brought to you by the generosity of my neighbors Margaret & James who gave me all of the lovely eucalyptus and contorted hazel, and by my friend Susan who’s hydrangea gave the finishing touches. Thank you my friends!

Happy Chinese New Year!
Dana

Mom in the Garden

Enjoying life. In Ireland. With my family.

Category Archives: Flower arranging

Wordless Wednesday – Blooming Globe Artichokes

Peony in a very special Vase

A grand arrangement with eucalyptus, hydrangea & artichokes