Today I was focused.
I wanted to set off these Acidanthera so I chose the Cotinus foliage to go with them. They are growing together in my pink, white, silver and dark red bed. Newly created this year. I hadn't planned initially to restrict the colours but it's working well. It will need some tweaking, of course!
This really didn't want to be photographed. It looks better than this in real life. I chose the Cotinus to match the centres of the Acidanthera.
In the vase:
Acidanthera murielae (syn. Gladiolus) I'm thrilled as I've never got them to flower before. They smell of the seaside.
Scabioius
Ammi majus
Cotinus coggygria foliage
Stachys byzantina
I also wanted some of these Dahlias. They are Mignon series. I have them to survey the bees. Blooms for Bees are trying to acertain which colours they bees prefer. However there are plenty for everyone so I've borrowed a few. I have white, red and purple in the garden and the bees seem happy to visit all of them. There is some variation in the shades within the colour groups but they are lovely plants with velvety blooms.
Dahlia Mignon Red
Dill flowers wcich I only seem to be able to grow by accident
Wigelia foliage
Knautia macedonica
Then it looked rather tame so I popped in a few crocosmia flowers.
For inventive and inspiring vases visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden - In a Vase on Monday
Lovely. The limited colors give the Acidanthera room to shine.
ReplyDeleteThank you. They really do shine and I have several clumps in the garden too.
DeleteBoth the vases have perfect blooms...I love the square one with the dahlias the best..that centre is to peered into..and love the foliage and dill. Must work on getting more foliage for the garden.
ReplyDeleteIt really does help support the flowers and we were very lucky to have plenty of shrubs and hedges here when we arrived.
DeleteI love your color choices for each vase. Your new garden sounds beautiful! I never seem to get acidanthera in the ground early enough to get them to bloom. Fingers crossed for this year if we don't have an early frost. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'd meant to add a photo of it but maybe another time! Perhaps that was my problem last year, I don't know when I planted them. This year I started them in pots and planted them out when they were quite well grown.
DeleteBoth vases are lovely, Alison, but the first is my favorite. I've tried growing the Acidanthera but, regrettably, it wasn't happy here. You selected excellent companions for it.
ReplyDeleteThat is a shame but it's a waste of time trying to make things happy when they are not.
DeleteWow, the color echo of your first arrangement is stunning and I love the bold cheeriness of the second!
ReplyDeleteThank you, I can't remember if I planted them together on purpose or not. Let's say I did!
DeleteYour first vase is stunning and elegant - the second so very cheerful; both vases brilliantly put together to show off the contributors!
ReplyDeleteWhy, thank you. :)
DeleteI especially love that first vase Alison! The centres of the Acidanthera are a perfect match to the Cotinus, and the Scabious goes really well too. I think that colour theme is quite stunning and I don't think I have seen it before! Acidanthera are new to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you. They are some form of Gladiolus which have had their name changed.
DeleteLove the way the petals fold on that red dahlia in the last couple of shots, and the match of acidanthera and cotinus works really well - great choice!
ReplyDelete