The cuttings beds continue to provide me with enough material each week to fill several vases, so I am again able to join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden where she asks us to share a vase we have picked from our own gardens.
Today I am a little short on time so with no further comment, here are my vases today.
Sunflowers and Tithonia in an olive wood vase
Although I was assured that the vase wouldn’t leak, I didn’t take the risk and chose to use a glass vase inside the olive wood.
Sunflowers and Tithonia in an olive wood vase
Sunflowers and Tithonia in an olive wood vase
Every week I think it is the end of the sunflowers but they keep surprising me with new blooms.
Zinnias, Orange Cosmos and Tithonoia in the large cream vase I used last week
There’s also a white Dahlia in there, these flowers definitely work well together
This small arrangement is in the kitchen
Alstroemerias from last week’s vase, they do last longer than most other flowers.
Do visit Cathy to see her vintage arrangement and rather beautiful prop!
Have a great week!
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
Beautiful flowers as always Christina. Have a great week yourself.
thanks Gillian, I edited the mistake in my name.
Sorry!
Very easily done, don’t worry.
Splendid flowers and the olive vase is very striking.
I was buying olive wood items for a friend’s wedding when I saw the vase and couldn’t resist it.
I wouldn’t have been able to either. I turned an olive wood bowl some years ago and seem to remember that it smelled quite strongly of olive oil. Does your vase?
It did when I first bought it, it was also oozing oil so I had to be careful where I put it.
Stunning flowers, stunning colours great vase.
Glad you liked it Susan.
Seeing your flowers has reminded me to add Alstromeria to my list for next year. I had a nice clump, tried to move it and now it has not performed. They are real doers. Lovelyvases and good idea about the glass liner.
I bought the Alstromeria last year a a plant in full flower, I didn’t really expect it to survive the winter but now this one has I am certainly going to look for more to plant. I’ve always liked their delicacy in a vase and there are a lot of different colours available. Where do you buy yours?
Each vase is gorgeous Christina and such eye-popping colors….a bit of orange in each which is fabulous. I love that olive wood vase with those orangey blooms as they work well with the wood. Sunflowers just keep coming here too! And I have many just getting buds…I need to pick a few of the bigger ones for another vase.
All my large sunflowers are long gone, but actually I find the smaller ones easier to arrange. I never knew I liked orange and crimson so much!
Beautiful arrangements, Christina! I’m crazy about the zinnia, cosmos & tithonia in the white vase – it reminds me of a skirt I had in the late 60s – wild-colored florals were such the rage. Your vase brings back the happiness I felt wearing it. 🙂
Wow! that makes me feel very happy and humble too; thanks for sharing your happy memory.
Beautiful, one and all, Christina! I LOVE that olive wood vase but the bright flowers are also nicely offset by the white vases. All your vases are the very essence of cheerful.
It is good to have such bright colours to use in August when the sun is bright, although today has been cloudy and it tried to rain, not successfully.
Really lovely fresh daisy like blooms, they look like Summer in a vase. 🙂
Yes, you’re right – summer in a vase!
Love the vase in your first photos; the color combinations are just stunning.
you wouldn’t believe that I didn’t used to like bright colours.
The shape of the vase with the Alstromeria is fetching, as is the olive wood vase (I wouldn’t chance it with water directly in that one either). Such happy vases this week!
I like the shape of that vase too, the narrow neck means it helps the flowers to stand up even when just displaying a few stems, I have three like this so I like to use them in a line in the centre of the table.
Beautiful colours. I can see that I am going to be choosing new plants for my garden with future vases in mind. A ‘flower arranger’s garden’ like yours Christina. Your backdrops and vases always show your flowers off well too, something else I need to pay attention to.
I prefer to photograph the vases outside if I can, the colours are always a little unnatural when using a flash. As it is too hot and dry to have flowers during summer in the garden, having beds in the vegetable garden (which are irrigated) dedicated to flowers for cuttings has given me so much pleasure.
I love the olive wood vase. The zinnias and tithonias look wonderful together and I love your sunflowers. My alstroemeria are long gone, I am surprised yours are still blooming. How pretty they look with the zinnias. This the first year I have grown zinnias, I am surprised how long lasting the flowers are.
It is my first year growing Zinnias too and I’m thrilled with them – their wonderfully rich colours and as you say the length of time the flowers last, on the plant and in a vase. they seem to thrive in the heat as long as they have enough water so they have aleady become on of my favourites for the cuttings garden.
August in a vase, you have picked beautiful colours, Christina!
They picked themselves, that is what there is!
Fabulous vases one and all Christina. At first glance I thought that the olive wood vase was bronze. It certainly enhances the warm tones of the flowers within.
I don’t have any metal vases, perhaps I need? some.
P.S. Bronze or copper I meant to say. I’m still not quite awake and must be in need of another coffee to be fully functioning 🙂
It is early with you; I only get up very early because of the heat later in the day; but it is cooling down a little now and it is still dark at 5.30 now, that’s a bit sad, I love the longer days.
The Olive wood positively glows with the bright flower colors, I wouldn’t have thought of that. The red and oranges look great together too, I’m growing sunflowers for the seeds but will have to think about growing them for cutting next year. It’s good to hear that the Alstroemeria is long- lasting in the vase, the subtle pinks and browns make a very sophisticated arrangement.
I wasn’t sure about the olive-wood vase either until I actually put the flowers in it; I’d imagined using it more for dried grass arrangements.
Hello Christina,
Thank you for commenting on my blog, which is how I found yours. I’m so glad we’ve been introduced and look forward to visiting your blog often to share in your gardening adventures.
Your arrangements here scream summer – I adore the colors, especially the burnt oranges and russets. Heaven! You have a good eye for color it seems.
I’m glad I found your blog too, it is always great to discover new people. glad you liked the bright colours in my vases this week; I’m enjoying stronger colours more and more although I also adore white flowers in the garden and in a vase.
Hi Christina! Everyone seems to be in agreement about the beautiful olive wood vase. Really is unique and lovely on its own, but is set off to new heights with your Sunflowers and Tithonia. Just a perfect match. Also like the summery hues in the cream vase, especially like the white dahlia. I bought an Alstroemeria this spring but it finally died back completely. Not sure if it is gone for good. They do make amazing cut flowers.
I think the roots of Alstroemeria are almost like rhizomes so yours will probably come back next year. I will definitely grow more. The ones from last week’s vase are only just begining to drop now and the petals stay beautiful right up until they drop, they don’t become discoloured.
I also like the vase and wouldn’t have noticed the glass inside had you not mentioned it. Interesting that it was giving off oil when you first got it, that olive oil is everywhere!
I love all the oranges, they really go well together and make for a perfect match with the richness of the wood. The second arrangement with the daisies is great as well, zinnias are nice aren’t they? and single or double they all seem to work.
I imagine the vase had been rubbed with oil to bring out the colour and to help it be water proof. I just LOVE Zinnias, it is so strange that I’ve never been aware of them before!
so pretty, especially the pure white dahlia! I also use that trick of putting a vase inside a vase as I have one that I love, but which leaks!
Using one vase inside another can also be a way of using short and tall stemmed flowers together in one arrangement.