Monday, October 2, 2017

In a Vase on Monday: On the Road in Oregon

Andrew, Lila, and I spent most of last week traveling through Central and Eastern Oregon. Knowing our days would largely consist of car-time, with small bursts allotted to exploring, I thought it would be an interesting challenge to see what sort of material I could collect along the way to fill a vase.

Our first night was spent in Pendleton — home to the woolen mill and the round-up. The open fields behind our hotel provided the perfect place to forage...

I cut a little of this...

And a little of that...

I was surprised to find Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) growing here, but suppose I shouldn't have been. Tempting as it was to cut some of this I left it alone, after all I would be playing with these weeds in the hotel room...with a curious dog who wants to eat everything.

Once my hands were full I returned to our room to see what I could come up with...

But had to wait until the next morning to get a good photo of the finished arrangement.

The vase was a birthday gift Andrew bought at the Hirshhorn Museum in D.C., when we were there for the Garden Bloggers Fling. It's basically a plastic pouch, that folds flat, but when filled with water sands upright as a vase, naturally Amazon has them too (here).

I do love me some thistle...

Our next two nights were spent in Burns, as a jumping off point for travel south around the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, Steens Mountain, and the Alvord Desert (I'll share a few photos from those travels later in the week). I collected cuttings on the outskirts of town...

The golden hour really is golden in this part of the state...

The Burns arrangement...

I couldn't resist a photo in front of the hotel artwork, thanks to Andrew for playing along...

Our final night was spent in Bend, which felt like a big city when compared to where we'd been. Gathering became a little more challenging since I didn't want to cut anywhere that might get me in trouble.

Luckily I found a few things to snip while walking Lila.

We were closely watched however.

The Bend arrangement definitely has more of an urban feel...

Less "weedy"...

I did sneak in a couple of purchased Gomphrena (G. haageana 'Strawberry Fields' perhaps?) that I spied in the floral case of a nursery I visited, while Andrew poked around a bookstore.

This was a fun experiment and a great excuse to get up close and personal with the local flora at each town we stayed in. Plus it put a nature focal point in our hotel rooms, always a good thing! For more "Blogger vases" visit our meme host Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

Weather Diary, Oct 1: Hi 65, Low 50/ Precip .01"

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

28 comments:

  1. What a great present from Andrew! I haven't seen anything like it. And nothing would make a hotel room more personal than a bouquet you put together yourself. Fabulous landscapes and you are certainly right about the golden light. But I would find it hard to pick one place to go if the choices were a nursery vs a bookstore. Tough decision.

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    1. I have so many books I've yet to read! I'm trying to restrict new books coming into my collection until I've managed to knock down the pile a bit...

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  2. What a great idea and a great vase!

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  3. A packable vase! What a perfect gift for an IaVoM contributor on the road. You made great use of the materials on hand in each location. I like the Burns arrangement best but then I love lupine in all its incarnations. Do you know what the dark brown/burgundy element in that arrangement was?

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    1. Yes, it's Rumex, aka "Dock"...I have a great book "Weeds of the West" that I was going to use to identify all the different contents of the vase...but didn't end up having time to do it.

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  4. Love the pop-up vase and all three arrangements. Burns with the hoetl artwork is my fave. The landscape pictures are gorgeous!

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  5. I have a vase like this but not such a pretty colour and it has still not made it to IAVOM. It was fascinating reading your post and seeing the difefrent landscapes and local flora - and DEFINITELY a good idea to have a bvase for evry hotel room! Thanks for sharing them

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    1. It was great fun to do, I really enjoyed the excuse to explore.

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  6. I also love the pop up vase....and wow you certainly can make a vase gathering material from anywhere around you...these were amazing. I won't pick a fav as each has elements from a different area and each is so unique.

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    1. Not only was it fun to put them together, but then looking at all three side by side — when putting together this post — was interesting too.

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  7. I couldn't be more impressed with the three incredible vases you made from snipping in the wild from plants that most people would walk straight past without seeing. Love the pop-up vase too!

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    1. Thank you, there is such beauty in the weeds!

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  8. What a brilliant idea, Loree and I love the collapsible vase. Often, when I've travelled I've itched to create from the local palette. Your Burns arrangement is my favorite, as I love the wild look. Your 'golden hour' photos are lovely, I esp. like the view of the plains and the sunlit grasses.

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    1. Thanks Eliza, the open sky and setting sun were magical combination!

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  9. What a cool idea, doing floral arrangement on the road!

    Your photos reminded me of how much I love sagebrush country!

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  10. This might be my favorite vase post! Grabbing a bit of this and a bit of that--especially while travelling--and somehow using your magic to create beautiful, artful arrangements. Also, wow--I missed out by not attending the Fling for so many reasons, not the least of which is that awesome vase!

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    1. Thanks Beth, and you can order your own on Amazon! (link above)

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  11. Cool way to get a feel for the locals. :)

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    1. Woke up with a sliver in my foot one night. That's what I get for collecting in flip-flops...

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  12. Oh, I wouldn't call any of these weedy! I like the second one a lot, I'd describe it as wildflowers. That's a cool vase, what a great idea to do these while traveling with bits and pieces scrounged up from wherever you could find them.

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  13. Nice exercise. Searching and collecting must have been fun. You have the most arrangements made on different days and presented in a single IAVOM.

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    1. Technically cheating as none of them were done on a Monday...

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  14. Love those wild shapes. While you've tamed them, I would tend to call them weeds. But I like weeds in arrangements and use them all the time. I should challenge myself to do the Monday thing! Yours are always interesting.

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    1. Do it! I bet you'd come up with some lovely creations.

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