About my garden

Monday 11 September 2017

A touch of Autumn In a vase on Monday

OK, I admit it, Autumn is here. I was in denial but there is no getting away from it. 
I've swept up leaves two weeks in a row, the mornings are cool and damp and in the evenings the temperature drops quickly. Three seed catalogues have arrived this week with luscious things to tempt and thoughts turn to how to do even better next year.
I am making mental lists but will try and be sensible about how many seeds I can really manage.
There are still plenty of summer flowers and the garden looks colourful and lush but some things are going over gracefully. Others look dreadful after lots of rain. 

I found these rose hips growing in a hedge. The attack our long suffering postman when I forget to prune around the post box. I thought I'd use them in an autumn themed arrangement. 
This looks better in real life but I'm going to stop wasting time trying to get a better picture. 
I found some Atriplex looking very brown. I'm sure this will seed so I won't have to nurture it next year, in fact I'll probably be pulling it up in handfuls. Then I chose some Echinacea flowers. These are not the newest but some which have faded to a soft pink to add the autumnal look. 
I've also been collecting a few things to dry. I'm not a huge fan of dried flowers but it's nice to have a few hangovers from summer.

I found my Caryopteris is finally flowering so I picked a couple of sprigs. I am taken with small arrangements since making my buttonhole show entry a few weeks ago. While googling how to make them I found many tiny but perfect flower arrangements. This one is not tiny but it's quite small at about 15cm.

I added:
Caryopteris 'White Surprise' which has varigated leaves.
Salvia 'Violette de Loire'
Some kind of double achillea 
Tiny white geranium grown from seed
Artemesia 'Powis Castle

It was going to be blue and white but then I couldn't resist the purple salvia. It came through the last winter but I've just taken some cuttings as insurance. 

Just a couple of notes:
These have lasted very well, opened more and look as good as they did last week.











This went on getting better and fuller and the roses opened right out. I kept it for a week. 











Sadly the acidanthera didn't last long in water but I still have some in the garden. I'll (probably) leave them there next year. 









For colourful and creative vases visit Cathy at Rambling in the garden for In a vase on Monday. 

9 comments:

  1. Those rose hips are a wonderful addition and I love Caryopteris! Great vases.

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  2. I wish I could grow Caryopteris! You did well with both arrangements, Alison, and your vases from last week, or at least the first 2, fared better than mine. I expect I may be moving on to tiny vases next week - or succulent creations - but then the garden may yet surprise me. Summer has a stronger hold on us here, where we dream of autumn when the temperatures cool and plants spring back (literally, as fall is often referred to here as out second spring).

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    1. We, on the other hand, wish the summer would last a few more weeks. We often get lovely warm days in September but I'm not sure if we will this year. I hope your garden surprises you with things to share with us.

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  3. Both very pretty Alison. Making a little arrangement is such a lovely idea and I love Caryopteris too. It never survives our winters so I have given up on it. There are so many good things about autumn, like rose hips for example. :)

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    1. Autumn is lovely but rather sad too to say good bye to summer.

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  4. Caryopteris is lovely and that purple salvia makes a great addition. The rose hips are lovely.

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  5. I wonder what happened to the much hyped September heatwave. I'm with you Alison. Autumn is here maybe slightly prematurely but definitely here, especially after last night's wind and rain. I like the echinacea in your vase and your dinky vase arrangement too.

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