Midsummer Wedding Flowers

 

In August I arranged flowers for a wedding reception.  I used purchased roses and garland, but the rest of the flowers came from my garden.  My dahlias were going strong and provided most of the color.  The photo above includes 'Cafe au Lait,' 'White Onesta,' 'Labyrinth' and 'Linda's Baby' dahlias.

In the small centerpieces I included roses, 'Labyrinth' dahlias, 'Ruffled Swan' anemones, 'Little Lime' hydrangeas, 'Dalmation Peach' foxgloves, peach hypericum berries, 'White Glitter' sea holly, 'Autumn Bride' heuchera, parsley seed heads, scented pelargonium leaves, mint stems and honeysuckle.

This vase for the guest sign-in table used most of the flowers listed above plus some 'Little Quick Fire' hydrangeas.  I was delighted with the dainty white anemone flowers.  I have 'White Swan,' 'Dreaming Swan,' and 'Ruffled Swan' anemones in my garden, and they are all vigorous bloomers from midsummer to frost.  'Ruffled Swan' flowers are the most substantial and my favorite for arranging.

I grew four 'Labyrinth' dahlia plants this year, and they were highly productive.  No wonder this dahlia is so popular with flower arrangers.  The twisting petals combine peach and rose shades so they blend well with many color schemes.

Here's another shot of the centerpieces en masse.  I ordered the glass cylinder vases in bulk from Amazon.

I made two of these large arrangements with a giant 'Penhill Watermelon' dahlia as the focal point of each.  

Here are the large arrangements next to the disassembled arch.  For the arch I used a garland of honeysuckle, salal and bear grass that was ordered from Costco.com, plus more flowers from my garden.  I had never created a floral arch before, so it was fun to stretch my skills.  I have no plans to become a professional wedding florist, but it has been enjoyable to help a friend or two with reception flowers each summer.

Dahlias in Red, Pink and Purple

 

Dahlias in red, pink and purple were fun to arrange back in September.  This vase includes large 'Cafe au Lait Rose,' 'Purple Haze,' and 'Arabian Night' as well as Japanese Anemone robustissima, dried 'Purple Candles' astilbe stalks, 'Royal Purple' smoke bush, honeysuckle and blackberry greenery.

This closer view includes a stem of 'Summerwine' yarrow and 'Medicine Bow' chrysanthemums.

'William Shakespeare 2000' David Austin roses had a nice fall flush and blended with the color scheme.

Here is 'Cafe au Lait Rose' in the garden.  I ordered the standard 'Cafe au Lait' and was disappointed to receive this color instead, but the plants were sturdy and they bloomed like crazy, so I made do.

This is another arrangement using most of the same ingredients, plus some Western sword fern fronds.

Here's yet another variation on the theme.  

'William Shakespeare 2000' had a great year in the garden.  So many of my David Austin roses are growing in too much shade now that trees have matured, or they have been transplanted recently to sunnier spots and are still recovering.  It was nice to have plenty of WS blooms while I'm waiting for 'Gertrude Jekyll,' 'Crocus Rose' and 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh' to recover and bloom heavily again.  Newly planted in 2020 were 'Emily Bronte' and 'Desdemona,' which I loved and can't wait to see mature.  In 2020 I also planted two 'Florentina' and two 'Plum Perfect' roses from Kordes, and I have 'Bolero' and 'Celestial Night' on order for next spring.  I'll probably order 'Eustacia Vye' from DA roses if it's available when their new catalog comes out.  Can you ever have enough roses?

I've got my dahlia tubers dug, cleaned and stored in wood shavings from the pet store in a large bin in our garage.  I've had to spritz them with water a couple of times as they started to soften, but I'm hoping they'll do better as the garage cools down with winter weather arriving.  Last month the garage was hovering about 55 degrees, which is a little too warm for dahlia tuber storage.  

Mmm, I sure love 'William Shakespeare 2000.'  This rose has disease problems in some areas but is perfectly healthy in my garden.

'Purple Haze' and 'Arabian Night' looked good out in the garden as well, shown here with 'April Night' salvia (which didn't bloom until May) and 'Millennium' allium.

Here they are again with 'Pagan Purple' delphinium and 'Mighty Chocolate Cherry' astilbe in the background.  'Arabian Night' started blooming before 'Purple Haze,' but once PH started, it outbloomed any of the other dahlias I've ever grown.  It's near-black leaves were a nice contrast in the garden as well.

'Purple Haze' almost looks like a coneflower, doesn't it?

The dahlia season came to an abrupt end when frost hit on October 23 and then we had 6 inches of snow on October 25, shown above.  But I've already got tiny flower buds on my 'Jacob' hellebores, so spring can't be that far away, right?

Late Summer White Vases

Recently I made these green and white arrangements with a mix of Costco.com flowers and materials from my garden.  At the center of the arrangement above, I used some of the 'White Glitter' sea holly (Eryngium) I grew from seed this year.  I love to mix something a bit unexpected with classics like hydrangeas, mums and alstroemeria.

This little guy features a homegrown 'White Onesta' dahlia with more of the sea holly plus a purchased rose, carnations and stock.  Leaves and seedpods from bronze fennel add tetxure.

This vase is made from mostly purchased materials with stiff stems, but I added some of my honeysuckle to soften the lines a little.

This is the back side of the same vase, with green Trachelium (described as Green Balls on the Costco website) mixed with white Limonium and roses.  The Trachelium reminds me of something from a Dr. Suess book.  I lean toward a 'meadowy' style and the Trachelium feels more modern, so it's not my favorite.  I also included a homegrown 'Annabelle' hydrangea, ripened to green, and some bronze fennel leaves.

This low pedestal vase was looking rather boring when it was just packed with white flowers, so I started adding greenery and may have gotten carried away.  I even trimmed some German ivy (Senecio mikanioides) from a houseplant and tucked it in.  

 A final tall vase includes my favorite contorted filbert branches as a base as well as some variegated pineapple mint at front.  I just love the softness added by the homegrown materials.

Dahlia Vases for September

 

My dahlias are still going strong, though the countdown is on until frost takes them out.  We often get frost in the first half of October, but meanwhile I'm enjoying the dahlias in the garden and in vases.  This arrangement features 'Arabian Night,' 'Great Silence' and 'Purple Haze' dahlias.  For foliage I used viburnum, yarrow leaves, purple smoke bush and honeysuckle.

I dug up most of my dahlia tubers from last year and tried to store them in the garage over the winter.  I was unsuccessful and they all dried up, but one 'Great Silence' tuber was forgotten in the ground.  We had a mild winter for Zone 6 and somehow it survived and sprouted this spring.  Here are its blooms at center, along with violet spikes from 'Blue Chip' butterfly bushes and hypericum berries that have matured from peach to black.

'Arabian Night' was my first dahlia to start blooming and it has been prolific.  I have five plants that are slowing down on blooms since I haven't been feeding them regularly, but I fertilized them this week and hopefully they'll flush out again.

This second vase includes more 'Purple Haze' plus some larger dahlias that were labeled 'Cafe au Lait' but are obviously not that.  The stems are short so I had to tuck them at the base.  I also used 'Miss Molly' butterfly bush spikes, German statice, purple smoke bush and viburnum stems.

Here's a closeup of 'Purple Haze.'  I have four of these this year and they started blooming after 'Arabian Night,' but they've been blooming machines ever since.  The leaves are nearly black and the plant is compact, so it's a nice addition to the garden.

Emily Bronte Rose Arrangement

Here is a midsummer vase of 'Emily Bronte' roses with 'Maya' dahlias, 'Invincibelle Spirit' hydrangeas, Ammi majus, flowering oregano, honeysuckle leaves and viburnum twigs.

I ordered 'Emily Bronte' from David Austin roses this spring and it has been a winner already this year.  The scent is lovely and strong, the color is perfect for blush color schemes, and it has been a quick repeater.  I've read that the color isn't as good in some other areas, perhaps where temperatures are higher than here.  I haven't seen any disease, but we don't have strong disease pressure here for roses anyway.

I added a few ripening blackberries for texture.  These are from a plant in increasing shade as trees mature, so the berries don't get enough sun to sweeten well.  Blackberry and raspberry stems make good fillers for arrangements, especially in late fall when other plants have dropped their leaves but the berry foliage is still green.

I grew several Ammi majus (false Queen Anne's lace) from seed this spring.  They're beautiful in arrangements but they make a mess as the hundreds of tiny petals ripen and drop all over the table.  This vase also includes several 'Maya' dahlias which blend perfectly with the colors of the 'Emily Bronte' rose.  

 

Sweet Spring Vase With Tulips and Hellebores

Yesterday I put together this vase of spring flowers for a friend's birthday.  Due to social distancing, I set it on her doorstep and stepped far back before she could come to the door.  After being stuck mostly at home for over a month, she seemed especially happy to receive a visit and flowers on her special day.  I was especially happy to finally have my garden producing enough flowers for arrangements.

The double tulip at center is 'Verona,' and it should open wider over the next few days to become an even better focal point for this softly colored design.  In this arrangement I also used dormant contorted filbert branches (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') and greenery from my German ivy houseplant (Senecio mikanioides).

Double white Mt. Tacoma tulips are still green in this photo, but they'll soon unfurl and fluff out to white.  'Valerie Finnis' muscari add a touch of sky blue and Korean spice viburnum buds add a bit of coral-peach.

'Molly's White' hellebore flowers are greenish white with touches of pale pink on the back.  I planted three of this type of hellebore last spring.  The plants are still small, but this hybrid is supposed to be especially vigorous, so I'm looking forward to enjoying large floral displays from them in coming years.

'Pink Tea Cup' hellebores and 'Salmon Impression' tulips round out the floral list.  Flowers don't fix problems, but they often make things better somehow.  I hope these sweet little flowers cheer up your day!

Spring Centerpieces with Tulips and Hellebores

My garden is buried in snow right now, but spring is slowly getting closer.  I have pored over catalogs, placed orders for new perennials and am looking forward to another exciting growing season.  Here are some photos of centerpieces I created from garden and grocery store flowers last April.  We held dinner for my son's prom group, so I had fun setting a fancy table.

All of the tulips came out of my garden and include this double pink (name forgotten) and double white Mount Tacoma.

Along with the tulips, I added hellebore flowers like this lovely black one.  I'm pretty sure this is Madame Lemonnier, which starts pink then deepens into this interesting shade as it matures.

A couple of stems of Queen Anne's lace were leftover from a previous arrangement, so I tucked them in even though the blooms were on their last legs.

White alstromeria and mums were also salvaged from the aging grocery store bunch.

I wasn't sure if these stems of variegated white Aubrietia would make good cut flowers, but they held up well for a couple of days.  Twigs from my contorted filbert added wildness to the arrangements.

These hellebores are Double Queen, which open cream and age to green.  Greenery includes boxwood, honeywuckle, Biokovo geranium and Otto Luyken laurel.

All the ingredients combined to make delicate and feminine centerpieces.  I'm not sure if my son and his buddies really cared much about the flowers, but their dates enjoyed them.

Ah, can't wait for spring!

Soon we'll see greenery like this outside the dining room window instead of the snow that's on view now.