I made this for myself.
I started with the Dahlia ' Apricot Star' and walked round cutting things to go with her.
I chose Sweet Pea 'Heaven Scent', Phlox 'Cherry Caramel', Amaranthus 'Velvet Curtains', Scabious 'Which one is that again?', Perilla, Antirrhinum 'Dark Monarch' and a couple of trails of Love in a Puff.
I'm testing the Perilla - red/green large leaves, as a foliage plant. It has grown huge in my poly tunnel, perhaps to big to use and I think it might flop. Perhaps better outside but I think it would probably get eaten there. Hmm.
I think it's a little tight and squashed in and I should have left more gaps but I love the colours.
10 min to make and 20 min to photograph!
Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday to see what everyone has chosen this week.
That Dahlia is quite unusual, isn't it? The petal shaoe? Beautiful colour and vase for 10 minutes!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes it's a cactus type. I've tried to get a variety of colour and shapes.
DeleteWhat an intriguing vase, Alison, with lots of unusual things. I had to read the 'ingredients' several times to convince myself that was the dahlia - it's very sea urchin like, isn't it? I had to look up love in a puff and get a closer look at that amaranthus - have you found it worth grwoing the latter. I grew A Foxtails (?) last year but wasn't impressed. What is the barbed wire thingy at the left of the vase?
ReplyDeleteYes it is. It's one I substituted in my order when another wasn't available but I'm very pleased with it. Amaranthus does very well for me. This is my first year with the upright one but I always have the trailing kind and it makes a real statement. It does need to be pinched out. The 'barbed wire' is a sweet pea tendril.
DeleteAt what point do you pinch out your amaranthus?
DeleteI love that dahlia and will add it to my wish list for next year's prospects. The color mix is wonderful too with the dark-colored flowers providing emphasis, like exclamation points. I've used Perilla on occasion in lieu of coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides) but the plants are less commonly available here (and I've never seen seeds in local garden centers).
ReplyDeleteThank you. I've had perilla before but not inside I don't think. I don't think it's widely available here so I grew it from seed.
DeleteVery pretty, Alison! I love the old-fashioned look and your lighting adds to the feeling. Love the Dahlia and Phlox especially.
ReplyDeletePerilla grew here for years, self-sowing from a seedling I prised from a gravel parking lot one year. Last year they were sparse and this year there is only one left, alas. I love the iridescent leaves and anise scent, but I never ate it as the Asians do.
That's a shame. A lot of responsibility for one seedling. I doubt mine will seed here but I might try eating it!
DeleteFabulous colours Alison. That oh so pretty dahlia deserved the best companions you could find. I've never gown a cactus type - must do so. I grew perilla outside in a container a couple of years ago or so and it was reasonably unscathed and made for quite big plants by the end of the summer. I've grown it again this year. I originally came across it in a Vietnamese restaurant in Germany and asked what it was but the waiter could not tell me. It took me a year or so to identify it. It has a most distinct taste. I've just checked my blog and I used both perilla leaf and flower in a vase in the third week of October 2016 😃
ReplyDeleteThe dahlia is indeed a star, what a gorgeous shape and colour! The arrangement is lovely.
ReplyDelete