Backyard Bouquet #8: Garden Clean-up in a Vase

This bouquet was made from a fallen glad and penstemon seedpods that needed trimming.

The peachy gladiolus had fallen face down in the dirt. Once rinsed off, the flower spike was still pretty.

I surrounded it with stems of ‘Dark Towers’ penstemon. The seedheads from this plant are interesting maroon beads, but they are starting to flop every which way outside. Besides that, I had planted colchicums all around the basal rosettes of the penstemons, intending that the purple foliage would complement the emerging colchicum flowers. I didn’t want the lanky stems of the former ‘Dark Towers’ blooms detracting from the pretty pairing about to take place, so I was cutting all the stems down to ground level anyway.

I have to admit I was inspired by Erin’s bouquet of hydrangeas and Russian sage. She had cut back her floppy Russian sage and combined it with some Limelight hydrangeas. The result was just stunning. You should go over there and take a look.

I’m a member of the Garden Appreciation Society: The idea is to appreciate our own gardens more this year. To have a daily reminder of the bounty that our gardens provide. To catch a glint of beautiful color out of the corner of our eye while standing in the kitchen, or the bedroom or the living room. Every week, go out in the garden and cut a few flowers or interesting foliage and bring it in your house to display. Take a photo of it and link it at The Impatient Gardener.

Don’t forget to take my reader survey if you haven’t already done so. It will help me decide what to write about in the next twelve months. The survey is limited to the first 99 respondents and will close on September 10th. I only have 37 respondents so far, so what are you waiting for? I really appreciate you helping me out.