Purples and blue

A few of the blues and purples around at the moment. 

I've got Scabious, Aster, Salvia, White Achillea, Flax, Catanache, Verbena bonariensis and Daucus carota. 

The funniest thing I've used is Elaeagnus ebbingei flowers. We pruned a hedge and have a huge pile of prunings. I think some will be useful for weaving into wreaths. The flowers are tiny and white and smell delicious (at the front and far right of the vase). I cut off all the leaves and popped in the stems. 

As usual I'm joining in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday. 

This is a bouquet I made for a friend's 50th on Saturday. Luckily some of my dahlias survived the storm. I should have cut them on Friday but there were enough still upright, amazingly. 

Her partner threw a surprise party with balloons, cake, a band, food and then finished the evening by proposing! Quite an evening, happy faces all around. 

Dahlia's are Karma Lagoon (front) and Karma Naomi. I think Thomas A Edison is peeping out from the back. 

For Noelle - In a Vase on Monday

To make up for my lack of posting this summer, I have a couple of vases today. 
Noelle (Stasher) visited on Friday bringing a gardener friend and a date and walnut cake. We had a lovely morning looking around and eating cake. 
While looking around Noelle pulled up a Shepherd's Purse seed head and challenged my to include it in my vase this week. It is a lovely looking stem (the only weed in my garden, you understand!) and has very interesting shaped seed pods. 
I decided to go round and make a collection of seed pods and put them all together. This is the result. 

Included: Allium cernuum, Scabious, Nicandra, Didiscus, Coriander, Panicum, Dill, Amaranthus, Atriplex, Echinacea and probably other things. I'm pleased that it has a bit of colour to it. 
I think it will last a while. Most of it is already dried. I know lots of growers dry things for winter but I was very slow to think about it and also was not thinking of drying at midsummer when you need to be planning it. Next year I'll be growing Helichrysum for the first time in many years. And Statice. They have gone so far out of fashion they are back in. 

My other vase is Dahlia 'Honka Pink'. 

Still flowering away prolifically. I can't remember if I've posted them this year already. They will last a few days in a vase if cut when they have just opened. The quantity more than makes up for that, though. I think I have three plants now, all about 5 feet tall.
 I divided some tubers last year and that worked so I will have a go again. I did it in spring after watching videos (on You Tube) about how to do it. I think it's more common to divide in Autumn. 
Top tip - label your dahlias now while you can see what they are!

Cathy has had trouble with photographs today. I had trouble too. I don't think these are shown in their best colours. It's difficult to find a plain background in good light and I want to be able to set it up quickly.
 I recently bought a couple of A2 mount boards but have yet to work out where best to put them. I think they'll work well for small vases and single flowers but need more effort for bigger vases. The boards come in different colours. I bought black and burgundy. They are both white on the reverse side and I'm planning to paint one grey so I'll have 4 choices. 
Do share your best photo tips! 
Do, also, join in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday. 

Cups and saucers In a Vase on Monday

Here is a success story. For several years my Mum has given me a seedling of Cobea scandens. I duly plant it but have never got one to flower. This year I planted it In The Right Place and Watered It. 
It was next to my sweet peas and they got the water emptied from our duck pond (paddling pool) once or twice a week (with extra nutrients!).

It grew to a beautiful and very large vine. It must be 12' long and makes a bit of feature in what is a very flat garden. You can see my brassicas caged in behind and what is left of this row of sweet peas waiting to be cleared. 

I was very excited to get the first flower in August and from then on it has produced many blooms. They last a few days each, opening in green then darkening to purple before the centre falls out. They will open from a bud too. 
The stems are not very long and the flowers grow along the vine so if you cut a longer length of stem you would also cut the developing flowers. 

I added some of the vine to this vase, sacrificing any flowers it might produce but I would think it's days are numbered anyway. I like the twirling tendrils. Also tucked in is some Phacelia foliage to test out how it stands up in a vase. Very well, is the answer. 

I had to go back and take an extra picture when I saw the light coming through like this.

I was away early last week and heard reports of frost. The dahlias are still going, however, so hopefully they'll last a few more weeks as some of them have only just got into their stride. We are getting chilly mornings and evenings with warm days. Let's hope that continues and we can get our autumn tasks done. The weeds are making up for time lost during the summer heat. 

Call over to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what joys people have found to put In a Vase on Monday.