This was going to be my vase this week.
This is pineapple sage which grows just outside my back door. The flowers really are this stinging red/pink colour and I've been eyeing them up for a vase. Of course, I've left it a bit late and they would have been better a couple of weeks ago!
Photographed on a frosty morning.
It's not really hardy but I've decided to leave it in and take cuttings. This plant is now 3 years old and is quite large so difficult to dig up and move. I've kept it in every winter but this year it will have to take it's chance. Cuttings root very easily just in water. I was just coming in when I saw these flowering away unseen:
This is 'Saratov Lilac' and it's an absolute stunner. Worth the wait and the wondering if it was going to flower. The petals are quilled.
Even the backs of the flowers are lovely.
I bought all these Chrysanthemums as rooted cuttings from Sarah Raven. I've grown them badly, they are probably too close together and not staked well but are producing the most wonderful blooms.
I'm carrying the vase around with me so I can appreciate them wherever I am.
Finally a bit of autumn colour:
For plenty of fun and fabulous vases visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden - In a vase on Monday.
Oh my, that chrysanthemum is glorious. I love everything about it, especially that it's blooming at this time of the year. Happy IAVOM!
ReplyDeleteExactly, that make is extra special.
DeleteThat chrysanthemum is lovely, quite graceful. Pineapple sage does grow quite large and shrub-like. A small cutting in my garden grew to 5' over the summer. I meant to take a cutting, but the frost beat me to it and the plant is no more!
ReplyDeleteOh, that's a shame. I try an take a few so I have chance and the same with my purple basil.
DeleteYour pineapple sage is so pretty and well done for overwintering it - I have a rooted cutting of it from Joanna of Edinburgh Garden Diary but will be keeping it inside! And what a stunning chrysanthemum that is! ps I have posted your book today (but 2nd class so it may take a few days)
ReplyDeleteYes, it's best inside but mine didn't get much protection and the roots survived. Thanks in anticipation!
DeleteThat is quite a Chrysanthemum bloom...and I would be most smitten with it if it were in my garden....2 lovely vases but I really like the Chrysanthemum bloom best.
ReplyDeleteSo do I, the pineapple sage is very much more subdued.
DeleteThat's a wonderful Chrysanthemum! If our local garden centers offered plants like that, it'd be worth it to grow them as expensive annuals here but such is not the case - the only mums offered locally are squat, dull little things. Your pineapple sage is doing much better than mine, which landed in the compost bin a month or more ago after the late summer-early fall heat left it looking pitiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I did buy them mail order, I don't think you'd find anything inspiring in our local outlets either.
DeleteBoth vases are lovely Alison. I just love the smell of Pineapple sage, and often have one as a summer container plant. Such a shame they are not hardy. And that Chrysanthemum is beautiful! I am slowly becoming a convert, having refused to even consider them in my garden in the past. There are so many lovely ones nowadays. Hope it lasts well in your vase for you! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think I'm the same and wouldn't have considered them a few years back. They truly last for weeks in a vase. I've just thrown away some from 3 weeks ago! Definitely recommend for vase life.
DeleteThat such a beautiful chrysanthemum.....can see you reading books on this specialist field.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to start growing for show, that is way to intense. I do need to find out what conditions they like though.
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