On Monday Cathy at Rambling in the Garden challenges us to find material from our gardens to pick and bring into the house to enjoy, thanks to her I’ve had flowers in vases for every week I’ve been at home this year – how much pleasure is that?!!!
In my cuttings garden post for October I showed you some orange Chrysanthemums as all tightly closed buds with just a hint of colour, today they were all open and demanded to be picked.
I mentioned last week that after ‘The Day of the Dead’, or All Saints day as it is more commonly referred to here, all the supermarkets would be selling potted Chrysanthemums at bargain prices. While shopping last Friday I checked out what was on offer and found the perfect match to the small flowered variety I had found last year. Today I picked all the flowers for today’s vase and at the same time found 10 small off shoots suitable for cuttings. I immediately put them into a couple of pots and put them on the heated propagating tray, so hopefully next year I’ll have a few plants growing in the garden. One thing you can’t be sure of when buying plants in this way is what their natural height will be as they are treated to produce a balanced height in the container for sale.
Bright and cheerful
Chrysanthemums, Tithonia, Leonastris and Chiosya ternata and a bee!
An autumn vase
I used a wide, round, glass vase with pebbles to hold the stems.
As you can see it is a bright sunny day here in Italy; the weekend was perfect, really warm, with blue, blue skies; we were able to eat almost all our meals outside, this is the time of year I love best – lots of jobs were completed too.
Thanks for hosting Cathy; do visit to see what others have found for their vases today, or why not join in yourself, go on! Have a great gardening week, Christina
As you may remember, orange is one of my favourite colours and I just adore this vase of yours! Also like the clever vase with the pebbles, very creative 🙂
I often use pebbles to support the flower stems. I used to think you had to use Oasis but now I rarely do.
This speaks of autumn! I like your orange Chrysanthemums, the Tithonia for accents and the way the stones pick up the colors of the flowers to unify the arrangement. Your weather sounds so nice Christina. Glad you’ve been able to be outdoors annoying sunshine.
Auto-correct thinks you’re annoying the sun. I intended that you were enjoying it!
This past week has been amazing weather; I’ve been planting bulbs and doing other jobs outside, the kind of weather I love.
Bello come il sole di questi giorni!
Sì, è stata una meraviglia!
A great warm arrangement…and a generous one too. Thanks for the tip about stones…I shall try this.
I often use pebbles to support stems in a vase it works for all plants that have quite strong stems but isn’t so good for very delicate ones.
Beautiful, and so lovely to see you have a sunny day and can enjoy spending quality time in your garden in November.
November isn’t always as good as this past week has been but I’m enjoying it while I can.
That’s a lovely combination Christina. Good for you for taking some cuttings!
I can’t buy Chrysanthemum plants in spring to grow so I have to grow them from cuttings taken in autumn when I can buy plants sold in flower to put on graves.
Wow! Fiery or what?! These look stunning and this shallow vase with the pebbles is the perfect way to display them. Do keep us informed about your cuttings and perhaps in time I will give it a go as well. Thank you for your support and enthusiasm right from the start Christina – the meme wouldn’t be the same without the support from fellow bloggers. Long may it continue 🙂
All the Chrysanthemums I showed in the cuttings bed were from cuttings taken last year; I must take more cuttings from the plants that are in the ground before there is any frost to kill them. I like the acid green ones I used lasted week with the Zinnias the best but the white ones have lasted almost 2 weeks in their vase. I meant what I said I am very grateful to you for coming up with the idea of this meme; I think everyone really enjoys it.
So do you keep the original chrysanthemum plants if you can, or just replace them with the cuttings?
Do you know I don’t remember what I did last year, I imagine that I kept the mother plants too.
The mums are beautiful, Christina, and a perfect color for the season. I hope the cuttings take for you. Although you can find mums in the garden centers here, they don’t do well in the garden so I’ve given up on planting them. It’s too bad as they’re splendid in vases.
The ‘mums’ last so long in a vase, probably twice as long as anything else I grow!
Very autumnal Christina & I love the pebbles! It is amazing to think how far we have come in growing and using our own flowers in the last two years isn’t it! I will go and have a look at your Cutting Garden post now – I have so much to catch up with.
I’m glad your knee is improving and that you are home safe and sound after a difficult journey. You’re right it is amazing how everyone has taken this meme to their hearts.
What a gorgeous orange arrangement Christina. I love it, it positively glows. I love the use of pebbles too.
The orange and yellow centres of the Chrysanthemums glow like a fire Liz, would warm you up on a gloomy afternoon in November.
That is soooo lovely! It looks really autumny with those rich colours, and the vase with pebbles that you’ve used is just right. Enjoy this fair weather spell Christina!
I’m been planting bulbs wearing a T-shirt, it was been wonderful.
I’ve been enjoying reading by the fire on nippy evenings. Your bouquet generates almost as much heat.
It would be ideal in the hearth, wouldn’t it? But in the evenings it is cool enough for a fire!
Fabulous shades of orange and burnt umber Christina which the pebbles pick up on and reflect. I hope that your cuttings soon take root providing you with new plants for next year all at a bargain price. You must be relishing the relatively cooler days which sound positively balmy to me.
The weather is perfect at the moment Anna, the sun still has warmth, I’ve been wearing just a T-shirt in the last few days, but it doesn’t oppress as it does in summer.
I’m envious of your vase and sunshine Christina, we have grey damp and wind. So its a treat to see your sunshine filled vase. Hope you have a lovely week.
The weather we are experiencing at the moment is why I love living here – summer, is a different matter it is to be endured not enjoyed!
I love the vibrant orange colors, the Tithonia is a great accent. I have a little orange mum cutting I neglected too long in water so no flowers, but hopefully it will bloom next year. I really like the effect of the pebbles in the water, adding some hints of orange and hiding the stems.
The pebbles do a great job of supporting the stems as well as hiding them. I think the yellow centres of the Chrysanthemums make the orange more vibrant.
Love this Christina…it all goes together perfectly especially those pebbles. I used to have part of an orange mum from my mother-in-law but Chrysanthemums don’t last in my garden. But I must have a few especially an orange one.
They don’t last in the garden here unless they are irrigated, so something else that is only worth it in the cuttings beds.
Cathy is right, that’s a ‘I stand amazed – wow’. Good luck with your cuttings. I’ve just risked doing some more salvia and I hope the weather is kind for a little longer (unheated greenhouse). Are your pretty pebbles hand-collected or bagged?
I have to admit the pebbles are purchased, but I could easily use the gravel that I use for the paths, if I need more, that is what I’ll use.
Such a nice color for the season, and I like the pebble idea. We are a family of pebble collectors so this might be a good way to put them to use!
Sometimes it is nice just to have the expected! In this case a vase of autumn coloured flowers in autumn; but then again I still have Zinnias too!
What a lovely vase. When you put the flowers into the stones how do you do it? Do you just sort of wiggle them in? Or do you need to use something to push the stones aside first? Do you need to change the water more frequently?
I will have to start searching the florists to see if I can find some plants to take cuttings from – I just can’t seem to find them in plant stores. I used to have a lovely rusty coloured one years ago which was beautiful in autumn, and I’ve seen some gorgeous green ones in florist arrangements, so they must be around somewhere.
You need reasonably strong stems for this, fine delicate stems bend and break. You do need to check the water regularly as there isn’t as much in the vase as there would be without the stones.
Thanks Christina, I think it would look nice with sea glass and shells as well possibly.
Shells are a lovely idea, something useful to do on holiday too; I love looking for shells.
The Tithonia and Chrysanthemum go so well together! An unusual but very logical pairing.
Sometimes two flowers from different seasons can look very good together.