Having been entirely missing from the blog for several weeks, I return with the smallest of posies. It showcases the results from a few recent purchases; also it reveals (as if anyone who follows along with my garden adventures didn’t already know) that I am an incurable romantic.
Violas and Dianthus. There was also a lavender, but it’s not in bloom at present so didn’t find its way into today’s vase. I was smitten with this Viola ‘Primrose Picotee’. How could I not be?
And I was equally enamoured with Dianthus ‘Floral Lace Picotee’.
For additional foliage I slipped in a single stem of Eremophila glabra ‘Kalgoorlie Gold’.
This plant has become an enigma since I brought it home, as in ‘where in the world should I put this?’ For one thing, I would like to make use of its advertised capacity to grow in part shade. But the real sticking point is its growth habit. The tag on the pot (I have no experience with this one) gives a size of two feet tall by three feet wide. When I began to research it further, I found widths of six feet and even eight feet listed.
In my experience with desert-growing plants and their sometimes mystifying labels, I’ve learned to read eight-foot spread as ‘groundcover which will crawl on indefinitely, rooting as it goes.’ The fact that ‘Kalgoorlie Gold’s’ blooms look rather like E x ‘Outback Sunrise’ only enhances this idea.
So I’ve gone from thinking it’s a small shrub like E. hygrophana to suspecting I’ve got a tenacious spreader. As the latter can be hard to come by for desert planting, I’m not complaining. I am, however, recalculating!
One slender stem does not overwhelm a bud vase, at any rate. The leaves have a pleasant silvery colour with a slight sheen.
As I’ve used such small and dainty flowers, I put them in my smallest handthrown bud vase…
…which I could do because all the vases are finally unpacked!
So here at last is In a Vase on Monday from the small, sunny garden. I’m linking as always with Cathy’s blog, where there are many more lovely vases. I will need to write a more extensive update about the garden here, but for today I’m posting just a vase… and a poem.
Shortly before I planted the dianthus, I watched a gulf fritillary feasting on its delicate blooms. Though I have no pictures of the butterfly, I did write about it.
Copper wings over
white-frothed flowers. Go tiptoe,
velvet butterfly.
For more of my poetry, feel free to check out my other blog ACM Weekly, which also comes out on Mondays!
This really is sweet and it is heartwarming to know how much pleasure it gives you - making a garden from scratch is such an adventure!
What a dear little vase Amy! The dianthus is really pretty. Colour is so welcome here right now. Happy gardening!