Yard to vase - spring 2009 series

Well, I took a hike out to the daff line....looks like the leaves are a tad nipped, but they should make a recovery. No pickens today though.

Meant to post more photos here last week, but I misplaced my camera. This particular species of cymbidium has been sending up spikes for the last two months, but the earlier ones have been snail bitten. I finally got a couple of decent spikes. This particular plant is in a pot, but I have transferred about 4 plants into the ground last year, and a few of them have bloomed. Those, however, have been fair game for the snails and slugs.

And here it is in a vase. The ginger plants are starting to sprout new leaves, so I added a couple to the arrangement.

Tree peonies are one of my favorite flowers, and I love that they are early spring bloomers. This is a red single that I got about 5 years ago.

Here is an overview shot. The California poppies are lovely, but they wilt soon after cutting and are not good candidates for arrangements. The tulips are the remnants of a patch that I planted 10 years ago, and these few come back every year. I don't have enough to cut, so they are just "yard" specimens.

And here are the tree peonies in a vase. They are huge, so it doesn't take many blooms to make a statement. Tree peony blooms are very ephemeral; they open up very quickly and each bloom lasts only about three days. But, I think they are worth it. And the plants last for years.

I like the way you arranged the orchids, at an angle like that Dianne, love the ginger leaves too!
Beautiful tree peony, I want one LOL! The flowers are so pretty and look stunning in the vase.
Thanks for the eye candy this morning, I'm off to dig!!

BEA_U_TI_FUL!! Well done!

Thanks Terri and Blossom.

There are lots in my garden, and I am so thrilled to have found my camera. It was of course, in the van like I thought, but not in an obvious spot.

White calla lilies are in their prime now.

Along with the Dutch Irises.

Combining them together in one of my recent thrift store buys. I added a couple of white/yellow Dutch Iris and a few sprays from a white azalea.

Nice combination Dianne and I think the vase is just the thing to finish that one off. Looks like they were made for that vase!

Thanks, Candee. I love thrift store buys.
The next tree peony to bloom is my pink one.

As lovely as they are, the bloom period for tree peonies is only about one week. I waited too long and missed picking the blooms at their prime, so here is a vase photo from a prior year of the pink TP with some of my other TPs.

Stunning Dianne, mine are just budding now and the white one I have has huge blooms. You are so right though they are short lived and seems to never fail that when they get really opened up we get strong winds.

Lovely arrangements Dianne. Nice vase from the thrift store, looks good with the callas and Iris.

Another pink plant blooming now is my dogwood - Cornus florida. I bought in on Mother's day about 10 years ago as a present for myself. One of my favorite gifts LoL.

I like this shot because it really shows the warm pink coloring.

This is the first year I have ever cut any branches for an arrangement. Not sure how long the flowers lasts, but I had to trim the tree anyways so I figure, what the heck.

Beautiful!!

A great present to yourself and us!!! Thanks Dianne, so glad you bought the dogwood.
Pretty arrangement, almost immitating the shape of the tree, lovely!

I meant to ask, what are those yellow flowers next to the callas in the picture of post 125?

Thanks, Planti. Welcome to this forum! I hope you'll show some of your plants on this thread when your flowers bloom.

Terri - those yellow flowers are more freesias. They tend to end up all over the place.

Welcome Panti ! Hope to see your plants and flowers on this wonderful thread!!!

Dianne, nice to have the freesias all over the place.... LoL!

Since I cut so many of the dogwood branches, I made a more horizontal arrangement just because I could- LoL.

I planted some scillas last year and this is the first year to bloom. They should multiply over the years - I got them at a local plant club sale at a fairly cheap price so I figure that they are good multipliers.

whoops - forgot to rotate the photo. No, I don't have plants that defy gravity.....

I waited about a week from the yard photo before I picked them for a bouquet today. I added some white azalea and white Dutch Iris.

I have ranuculus scattered over several places in my yard. The bloom period is somewhat staggered, but since they bloom for about three weeks, I do get some overlap. Here are some red ones.

I really like the deep color of this gold one.

Here are some lemony yellow ones, a few white, and partially hidden is some coral/salmon one

And mixing them all together. This is the second of my 4 thrift store vases.

Oh soooo jealous!! you do good work! C'mon over to the swamp and play! As usual, we are still getting rain...I am growing webbed feet and not sure if its quills or gills yet!



Ribbet

Oh Dianne, I am so enthralled with your ranunculus they are spectacular, so wish I had luck with them. Am curious how long your dogwoods last as cuttings, I have never cut mine either - will still be a bit before mine open, as always my gardens are about 2 weeks behind even others in the same neighborhood. My neighbors have azaleas and rhods blooming like crazy and mine are way behind!
Welcom to you there planti, do you have some beauties to share with us?
Hey blossom, when we get past all this rain we may catch up to these gals!

I dont mind riding drag, we just extend the season!!!

Catch ya back at my GPS!

Nice airy arrangement with the dogwood, I LOVE that vase!
The Scilla look very pretty with the white flowers, mine have leaves now!
Jolly colourful Rananculus! another great vase. Thanks Dianne for sharing all your lovelies!
Your garden is Bloomin' gorgeous my dear!

Not much happening yet. Too few blooms to pick :( I have one solitary daff blooming...now come on! I know I planted more than that!! I am planning a cutting garden in my backyard this year so hopefully I'll have lots of pics to share...

Thanks for the warm welcome :)

HI Planti! They are starting to call me Daff-nee! Mine seem to thrive in my poor soil and wet ground. Now tulips and hyacynths.. no can do. For some reason they are not fond of that! But I kid you not, it is like a sponge here lately. We are fully saturated. And it is sand here.

Haighr, that rain is on a lazy Susan.. it keeps sitting and spinning in the same place.. jeez, do ya think we best start building an ark? It does however beat snow hands down. Just nice and gentle does it, no wind, no lightning, no hail and for Peteys sake no toad twisters. PLEEEZ!

Well, guys, next we will be crabbing or bragging about the humidity and heat.. If it is not one thing it surely is another! Guess we all just should be counting our blessings.

Just a few more days and my yard is gonna be looking like dandelion wine! Actually, We love it. The aroma of all those dandelions is fantastic and the bees, holy cow they have a feast... that is ifn we get any bees. I dont know really what so many folks got against the lowly dandy anyway! We need the bees, they need the dandlions.

Thanks, all.

Candee - the dogwood only lasts about 4 days. I did cut the branches a little past their prime, so maybe if I cut them last week, they may have stayed fresher a bit longer. Is your yellow tree peony blooming yet? You had a great photo of it last year.

Daff-nee - send me some rain. sweltering in the heat here LoL.

Planti - it took me about 8 years before I got my garden planted with enough varieties of flowers with different bloom times and mature enough to give out enough blooms for arrangements. It is a work in progress, but you'll have a lot of fun doing it.

Terri - I have to stop myself from going to more thrift stores - running out of room here to store the great buys.

Soils from the looks of the radar, you should be getting some right now!

Please keep it there for a while ok though!


abracadabra! RAIN! Got it here today too...

Took a walk in the yard.. hmmmm you really want this stuff huh, soils?