Monday, March 7, 2016

In a Vase on Monday; they can't all be winners...

I bought that little orange (painted) glass vase at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, in the Vintage Market...which after 3 years I decided to go ahead and drop my boycott and shop at (the boycott was in place because I believe that floor space would be better suited to plant vendors, it is a GARDEN SHOW after all).

I stuck it up on top of the refrigerator with the other vases because I didn't really have any other place for it. Then I realized what a nice trio they made, and decided to fill them for a little grouping on the kitchen counter.

Working with the colors of the vases I thought a few Grevillea victoriae 'Murray Valley Queen' branches in the creamy Fiestaware bud vase would be nice.

And maybe a couple leaves from Astelia nivicola 'Red Gem' worked in...

The collection needed a dramatic backdrop so I cut a Fatsia polycarpa ‘Needhams Lace' leaf, or two.

For the small green vase I decided a sprig of Brachyglottis greyi (Senecio greyi) would work well.

And as you can see the new orange vase got a bit of Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow'...

Inside though, I did not like what I'd created. Too big, too dark...didn't work.

I moved them around but couldn't find a space where they all looked good together until I put them on this small shelf. That's better...

Especially with my wheel-barrow man added to the mix.

The dining table needed something new too, and I'd spotted this old bowl thing when moving some storage in the basement.

My thought was I'd float some Hellebore blooms in the big side and do something with moss on the small side. Once I had the blooms in place though (sorry, I didn't take a photo) I had a visual of my husband moving the container to the side of the table when we eat dinner. Water and flowers everywhere. Not a great idea.

So they went in this smaller container...

And I went back to the moss plan...

Hmmm, moss and Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop', ya...

And a few cuttings of Sedum confusum...along with gravel to hold what bit of soil came with the moss and a little moisture for the Sedum and Ajuga to (hopefully) root into.

This combination was incredible hard to photograph, but really fabulous "in real life"...

However I still wasn't loving the flat bowl thing so much, it needed some height. So I grabbed a vase I had that matched the bowl (same black paint/shiny silver combo) and cut some Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Atropurpureum'.

And since the Azara microphylla is blooming with it's chocolaty scented flowers I cut a few bits of that too.

And a couple Euphorbia amygdaloides var. Robbiae flowers to round it out.

Here's the whole thing on the dining table. I think it's kind of a "fail"...

But I still enjoyed putting it together!

And it smells good!

As I said in the title, they can't all be winners – and even when something isn't fabulous we still learn from the process, right?

So get out there in your garden and cut a few things! See what you can create.

Then post about it (and if you don't have a blog...start one!) and then join up with Cathy and the rest of us by sharing your post on her blog Rambling in the Garden!

All material © 2009-2016 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

26 comments:

  1. You make so beautiful arrangements!! and you´ve got really good material. Your decoration should be in a magazine.

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    1. Well thank you Lisa, but you're right...it's all about the material. I'm rich with cool plants!

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  2. Wheelbarrow man was just the right touch!

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  3. Effortlessly stylish as always! And the wheelbarrow man made me smile :)

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  4. I prefer the bowl without the vase set in it. Also love the moss with its spore caps. I saw some pictures of golden spike moss/Selaginella aurea with "Black Scallop' Ajuga from the NWFGS, and now I'm on the lookout for that.

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    1. Oh that sounds like a great combination, although I would have thought their different sun/shade requirements would preclude a happy marriage.

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  5. Love this post!!! The anticipation made me giddy with delight - :) oft overlooked on the inter webs

    congratulations to the lucky winner

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  6. I can't believe you have room for a light on your counter! Love the trio especially with the wheelbarrow man. Nothing like moss when it is in this growing stage. I was just looking at it in the garden and thinking about whether I wanted to get down on my stomach to photograph it. Instead, I am just going to enjoy yours!

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    1. You'd be even more amazed if you saw just how little counter space we have! Seriously though the set-up of the kitchen has the person working at the counter blocking the overheard fixture (creating a shadow) and, at times, the task lighting over the sink. The small Chase desk lamp was my solution.

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  7. Look at you with three arrangements! They're fab and your wheelbarrow man is quite a hunk!

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  8. I hope you're keeping all these photos in a file entitled "my future book." You can call it (the book) "Bringing the Outside In" or "Nature Knocks at the Door" or "Why Should Nature Stop at the Door?, A Guide to Nature-inspired Interior Design" or...

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    1. You're very kind Kris, and funny I spend some time looking for an older photo last night and discovered that Picasa (my default photo storage) seems to have lost a few of my photos. They're still showing up on the blog but not in my albums. Odd.

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  9. I guess it doesn't quite rise to your very high standards, but most of us would hardly call it a fail. Love the idea of moss in a low container. Low arrangements are best if you want to look into the eyes of your dining companion, don't you think? I always wonder about dinner parties with elaborate, tall arrangements bisecting the table.

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    1. Thanks Ricki, and you're right about the height thing. I love tall arrangements at the end of a table, too bad out table/dining room/house isn't large enough for a long table.

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    2. But you can do it outdoors, right?

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    3. Hmm...yes, our next patio table!

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  10. Loree, what a fascinating post. I so enjoyed reading it and following your thought processes. Your trio of vases were perfect on the shelf and I was trying to get a closer look at your wheelbarrow man to see if was one of the Britains Floral Garden pieces that I used to collect in the 60s (and my Mum has the original lead version) - is it? And your yin yang moss tray is lovely - forget the vase on it, but just have the tray

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    1. Thank you for sharing that name! (Britains Floral Garden) I did some searching and while I didn't find our exact figure he certainly looks to be a part of that group. What fun! Ours came from a local antique shop. My husband bought him as part of a anniversary card diorama he put together one year.

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  11. These are so creative. Very inspiring!

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    1. Thank you, and thanks for stopping by!

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  12. Thanks for sharing your beautiful creations. I often struggle to find just the right place to put things so that they look their best. I love your little red vase from the markets.

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  13. So many interesting things in this post Loree! I loved the first vase (and the wheelbarrow man!), and I really love the second arrangement too. Maybe standing the vase separately would make you like it more? They are both so creative and inspiring!

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