Monday, December 14, 2015

In a Vase on Monday - the Poinsettia Challenge edition

Right up front let's acknowledge that I'm breaking the rules AGAIN. Poinsettia do not grow in my garden, and in order to participate in "in a vase on Monday" you're supposed to work with things from your garden. However everything else in the vase did come from my garden (or in the case of the conifer branches scavenged from the park just a block away) so hopefully since 4 of 5 elements are as intended that means I'm in...

So this is another post on the Poinsettia Challenge. For my attempt at a cut flower arrangement I wanted to work with a slightly garish poinsettia, just to see if I could deal. A quick trip to Target unexpectedly produced more hideousness than I was prepared for, purple with glitter?

Blue with glitter!

Or red with glitter? Oddly I'm not ashamed to admit that in a moment of Dorothy/Wizard of Oz fanaticism I actually considered working with the "ruby slippers" of poinsettia land. But since I don't live alone I just said no. I didn't want to send Andrew out crying into the streets because of a red glitter pointsettia.

This is what I settled on, it's a bit obnoxious, but also kinda cool. It reminds me of my grandma but I'm not sure why, I should ask my mom. Anyway, I found this treasure at Home Depot. My previous Poinsettia Post included plants from a small local nursery, time to turn the tables and go Big Box.

I spent quite awhile checking out the various plants at HD, and once I'd settled on the stripy variegated one I was looking it over - and that's when I realized one of the stems was broken. You couldn't tell by looking at the colorful bracts, they were as happy as could be. I bought it anyway, brought it home and stuck that stem in water, where it spent almost an entire week and never missed a beat. Still, when it came time to take cuttings from the plant I went ahead and seared the tips as recommended here. Probably just becasue I wanted a chance to use my fancy wooden Agave matches.

There were a few tiny blooms/bracts on the plant that I couldn't let go to waste. Those were used too, more on that later...in the meantime an aside: see how I'm wearing rubber gloves? I learned the hard way. DO NOT go scavenging fallen conifer branches and then answer your iPhone. Don't do it. Pitch is difficult to remove from your fingers - imagine removing it from your phone. It's not something you want to do, trust me.

Back to the vase: when putting together the mantle-scape I'd bought a silver teapot with simple lines which I didn't use. That's what I decided to use for this arrangement. A glass tumbler was placed inside so I didn't have to worry about leaching chemicals or water flowing out the spout.

I feared that our insane rains would make it impossible to cut things from the garden but inexplicably the morning I decided to put it all together the sky cleared and there was actually a little bit of sun. It was heavenly.

Besides the poinsettia stems the bouquet includes Brachyglottis greyi (aka Senecio greyi) and Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Atropurpureum'. The former included because I've always thought it to be a great winter foliage, the latter included because its mottled dark leaves seem to harmonize with some of the poinsettia leaves.

Around the bottom are the conifer branches picked up on walks around the neighborhood.

And Stachyurus salicifolius branches were included for their foliage, catkins, but mostly for the pink stems. They play so nicely with the colorful poinsettia bracts.

The mix makes me very happy.

Remember those tiny bracts I showed you early on? (in my gloved hand) Well I couldn't just toss them - so they went in a very small arrangement.

Along with another conifer branch. The whole thing is in a mercury glass votive holder...

Here's the pair, they're currently living on our dining table but it's impossible to take a clear detail photo there. This one is a bit antiseptic but at least you can see the overall look.

Here they are all mashed together on the table, sadly the color is dreadful in this photo, it's better in person, "In a Vase on Monday" is hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. I hope she doesn't permanently ban me for breaking the rules, again...

If you're inspired to participate in the Poinsettia Challenge just email me (spiky plants at gmail dot com) an image of your poinsettia creation. Others have been including a title and a one or two sentence backstory on what they've come up with so if you're so inclined please do!

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

20 comments:

  1. Went to a terrific holiday party on Sat. and the guys were wearing glitter in their beards. Clearly we are in a glitter moment. I think you do have a real knack for restraining these plants and creating something quite nice. Love the teapot, great shape and height.

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    1. Thank you! And now you've got me wondering if I could possibly get away with sprinkling a little glitter in my husband's beard...

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  2. I'm not a big poinsettia fan either and certainly not the garish ones, but that purple one? I actually kind of like that. :-O And the one you picked, I LOVE. That's just beautiful.

    You're inspiring me to go outside in our highly unseasonable warm weather (58° at the moment and almost 70° on Saturday and Sunday!) and seeing what I might gather for a vase. If I do it, I'll do my very first In a Vase on Monday post.

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    1. Do it Kylee! Especially if it's nice out side, it's fun!

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    2. Okay, I did! I've taken the photos, now to write the blog post...

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  3. You've weaved your magic again with these arrangements. They look great separately but especially nice together on black with the red flake! I'd not seen any of the dyed or glittered poinsettias. Hmm. The purple - there's a fine line between revulsion and being absolutely smitten.

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    1. You are kind Mr. Outlaw...and re: the purple, are you (omg) smitten?

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  4. What a clever idea....I like how the poinsettia was disassembled and added to your garden foliage....great arrangements.

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  5. When I saw that purple Poinsettia at the top of your post I was afraid you'd gone over to the dark side! They dyed those plants before covering them in glitter, didn't they? I actually looked at some red and white poinsettias here that I was quite taken with but, as I couldn't get over how bright red they were, I ultimately passed on them in favor of a peachy shade. I have 2 pots with poinsettia by the front door, which were meant to be identical but didn't turn out to be so now I need to decide which to send you. I may do a post on them first.

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    1. Yes, I believe the dye comes before the glitter. I am surprised how many people are loving the peachy poinsettia, and making it work! I look forward to seeing your post/pictures. Might the pair be situated in such a way that you could focus the camera on one, but get the other one in the background?

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  6. When it comes to Poinsettias, I'm Scrooge. You did a great job on the arrangements, though.

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    1. I understand the feeling, there seems to be only a very thin line between those who over-indulge and fuel the foil mania, and those that completely abstain.

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  7. Ha! "I wanted to work with a slightly garish poinsettia..." Be careful what you wish for! You could be visually assaulted by dyed plants covered in glitter. And remember, just say no to glitter.

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    1. Not even I am up for the challenge of the dyed and glittered, after all there is no point in trying to beautify something that's just so wrong.

      But glitter...surely you're not entirely anti-glitter? It definitely has an appeal...

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    2. I love things that glitter naturally, like rocks and minerals, many jewel orchids, and other plants, but glitter glitter? Nope. Never ever in my house. You bring it in and it never goes away.

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  8. Oh I so enjoyed reading your post, Loree - and I have to be honest and say that my poinsettia creation if I was going to create one would be a completely neglected one which if I could hurry it on to its timely death I would do!! But that's just me (and having a December birthday I ALWAYS get given one), although it is a relief that my quiet hatred of glittery/dyed blooms is more universal :)Despite my personal non-attraction to poinsettias I am happy to say that they do look most attractive when mixed with other material (have you seen Peter the Outlaw's?) and I loved your description of the process. A great outcome and thank you so much for sharing it with us

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    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed it Cathy, thank you for letting me take a few liberties. And I'm so sorry the poinsettia haunts you as a birthday gift - that's just wrong!

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  9. This is splendid - I'm impressed with your scrounging - you've come up with a unique holiday arrangement!

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  10. I love your vase full of flowers. I say yuck to purple and blue poinsettias, but I kinda like the stripey/spotty ones. I'm weird like that. Because arrangement.~~Dee

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