Monday, October 30, 2017

In a Vase on Monday; a new week, a few changes

Looks a lot like the intro to last week's "in a vase" post eh? Ya, I pretty much left everything the same and just changed out the flowers and foliage that had gone bad.

The tall vase, on the left of the mantle, now holds a couple of Cotinus ‘Royal Purple' stems, along with Chasmanthium latifolium (aka Northern Sea Oats)...

Plus a few (nearly impossible to see) expired stems of Anigozanthos (kangaroo paw), because they are to cool to just toss, even when dried up.

The golden Tetrapanax leaf has been replaced with a fresh one.

And I purchased a bundle of "pumpkins on a stick" to freshen up a vase of foliage that's been hanging out here for months.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but I'd never actually stopped to wonder what exactly these things are. Turns out they're Ethiopian eggplant, aka Solanum aethiopicum, aka the bitter tomato — a fruiting plant in the genus Solanum which is found mainly in Asia and Tropical Africa.

It's eaten both raw and cooked, and in Nigeria is sometimes used to make a tomato based sauce eaten with yams (source). If I were an adventurous, seedy, type I might try to harvest the seeds and grow them myself.

Last year's black flowers got put to use...

And I've changed up the little urn arrangement on the dining table, plus added the first Magnolia macrophylla seed-cone of the year.

Included here are Sedum flowers, Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' (black mondo grass) seeds, Callistemon and Canna seed pods (plus reused Albizia julibrissin ‘Summer Chocolate’ pods) and Artemisia versicolor 'Sea Foam' cuttings.

The Amsonia hubrichtii from last week is still going strong and even more golden.

To wrap up this post there is something completely different, I'm attempting to root cuttings from a friend's (this friend) Passiflora. This is the scene on top of my refrigerator...

I cut off most of the buds before I stuck them in water — most — but clearly not all.

Funny (okay not really) there were no passion flower blooms in my garden this year...just foliage from my plants. Yet this is the second bloom in my kitchen!

I believe this is Passiflora 'Blue Velvet' — a little washed out in color because it's blooming indoors.

Click on over to Rambling in the Garden for links to all of today's "in a vase" posts!

Weather Diary, Oct 29: Hi 59, Low 49/ Precip T

All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

14 comments:

  1. The back-lit vase is literally glowing with my favorite Autumn colors. I also love the collection of seed pods, first and foremost, that spectacular Magnolia seed-cone.
    The semi repeat of last weeks' mantel display reminds me to ask: does Andrew have a website where I can see his art?

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    1. Thanks for asking chavliness, not yet. There are images on the internet from his days of showing in galleries, but that's all older work. We're working on putting together an Instagram page...coming soon!

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  2. I don't think I realized just how enormous those magnolia seedcones are. That thing looks huge! Something fabulous to look forward to from my own. Mine has flowered but hasn't produced anything like that yet.

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    1. They vary of course but yes, that one is HUGE! I heard it to crash to the ground and was thankful Lila wasn't laying anywhere nearby.

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  3. That Magnolia seedpod is otherworldly. What a statement.

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    1. It's nice this year that they're mainly dry...usually they're so wet from rain they start molding as soon as I bring them indoors.

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  4. Ooh, that first shot of the glowing orange cotinus arrangement breathes warmth. Thanks for the ID on the pumpkins on a stick. I've seen those in the store before and wondered what they were. When you ebrace autumn, you do it in the most beautiful way!

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  5. Your refreshed mantle and dining table arrangements are wonderful but I'm obsessed with the passionflowers on top of the fridge and those pumpkins-on-a-stick, which I've never seen before. My own magnolia seedpods, like my unfortunate pumpkin, belong to the squirrels who put almost as much effort into collecting and mining the seedpods as they put into carving the pumpkin.

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    1. I usually leave a couple of seed cones out for the squirrels to enjoy, it's interesting to see just how long it takes them to break it down.

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  6. I was wondering about those "pumpkins" on a stick. Thanks for the ID.

    Here the squirrels and rats eat the red seeds out of the Magnolia cones. That red is intense.

    The Cotinus and Tetrapanax foliage turns such lovely colors.

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    1. Hopefully it's just the squirrels doing so here. I don't want to think about rats...

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  7. So much to look at in your post, Loree, with all your intriguing displays - the backlit vase is so striking and the egg plant and magnolia cone are amazing. Thanks for introducing all these 'novelties' to us

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  8. Your use of multiple 'fruits' in your displays celebrates harvest time so well. Esp. love the Cotinus vase arrangement with the various colored grasses!

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