Cathy at Rambling in the garden has some very special flowers to share with us all today so even if you can’t join with a vase of your own today do follow the links to her post. Yesterday we were kindly invited to lunch with a friend; strange as it seems so late in the year, yesterday was Easter for those of the Orthodox faith; it therefore seemed appropriate to take her a hand-tied bouquet. I intended using Sweet William and Dianthus but these just didn’t provide the look I wanted so I continued picking other stems to create a light spring time bouquet.
Hand tied gift for a friend
I popped the water-filled cellophane in a bag to carry it; the bag also helps with stability as I’m not that good at creating a stable base of stems!
I used Bearded Iris ‘Jane Phillips’, sage, Oregano, Cerinthe, Phlomis suffruticosa, Allium and a couple of stems of Stipa gigantia
This morning when I went out to pick flowers for today’s vase I actually intended to pick roses and Philadelphus but it started to rain steadily and these weren’t good choices to pick with wet petals so I decided to try and recreate yesterday’s bouquet but this time in a vase rather than hand-tied.
In a vase on Monday
I had to have all the lights on and use flash as it is so dark today.
I used more filler flowers and greenery than usual which gives a much lighter feel to the vase
I don’t often pick Bearded Iris from the garden but I have a lot of this beautiful variety so they could be spared for a vase
The bright butter yellow of Phlomis suffruticosa added a contrast to the predominately blue flowers
Phlomis flowers are even more interesting without the yellow petals
Can you guess what this is?
The flowers are not as pink as they appear in the above image, more a true lilac colour.
With thanks to Cathy for hosting, have a good week.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
I like how you incorporated sage and oregano into the hand-tied bouquet. Lucky hosts to be on the receiving end of your arrangement. And of course I must admire Iris ‘Jane Phillips’. No suggestion on the lovely, mystery plant. Have a happy week Christina!
Jane Phillips was the first bearded iris I was given hence its abundance in the garden. It is one of the most beautiful mono colours.
Love the lightness of the vase and especially the soft purple of the iris! Your friend was so lucky to get this arrangement! It has been raining for 2 days here but we needed the rain. It seems we will get quite a bit of rain this week as it slowly warms again. My weeds will be taking off now.
I wonder why it is that the weeds grow more quickly than the things we plant.
That iris has an almost luminous quality – sp pretty, and so well captured in your inside photos especially. I like the grasses in the gift posy – and agter using them so successfully in the wedding posies I will do so more often. the uncinia curls as it dries out a little and adds an extra touch. I am not sure if I am yet brave enough to try a cellophane bag – but yes, why not, I will have a go when I next give some flowers! I am guessing your mystery plant is a herb but am not sure which. Good to see some alliums too – I have spied a few buds here. Thanks for sharing today
No, it isn’t a herb, Cathy. I’m not sure what clue to give, it attracts butterflies – does that help? I need to be able to buy wider cellophane to be really confident; the bouquets my MIL was given were in cellophane at least twice as wide as I have. The water helps the arrangement stand up if it isn’t too top heavy. The bags they use to carry them are a good idea, I may try to buy some (Amazon? maybe). Looking at the arrangement now, it’s still very cloudy and dark I think it needed more yellow.
I would try eBay as well as Amazon for both cellophane and bags
Thanks for the suggestion; I’ve never used eBay but I know you find lots of great things.
EBay is just as easy to use and has a bigger marketplace. It is not all auction style or individuals selling, but a range of size of businesses selling at fixed prices too
That’s helpful, thank you.
How nice to have such a thoughtful friend bringing delightful hand-tied bouquets! Your own vase looks beautiful as always, Christina, very well balanced too. Won’t guess about the pink flowers and shall pop back later to find out 😉
I’m sure this is a plant that you have used in designs.
I love the two branches Christina. Tied bouquet is beautiful with sage and oregano and of course the bearded iris wonderful. Bouquet vase in blue and mauve tones that yellow touch is superb: I love stuffing and bearded irises that I adore. Do not guess what the twig: I have no knowledge of plants I confess. Thank you very much for its beautiful bouquets Monday. Greetings from Margarita.
I was pleased to see that you’d used your Phlomis. It looks great in your spring bouquets! I should follow your lead in using cellophane or a similar material to transport gift bouquets – I usually recycle my discarded ice tea bottles for that purpose but they limit my choice of flowers and don’t always transport well.
I’m sure you could find all you need you make the hand tied bouquets. The cellophane needs to be about a yard wide.
Lovely bouquets Christina – your home grown flowers are so beautiful! We have had a dark grey day here as well – such a shame after the last 2 days of sunshine. Our weather is set to improve though so I should have lots more in flower soon – I am looking forward to my bearded iris after enjoying all of yours so much.
I don’t usually pick my bearded irises as I enjoy seeing them in the garden but now that there are much larger clumps of some of them I’m prepared to use some in a vase.
The iris is such a lovely subtle mauve – goes so well with the yellow Phlomis. There are many different Phlomis on offer here, but I haven’t seen this one before. I love the shape of your vase overall too. Have a good start to May!
This is the shrub Phlomis suffruticosa, I do have a pink herbaceous one too, but it is rather disappointing.
What a lovely gift for your friend. I love the colours in your bouquets. Jane Phillips is a lovely iris. I am very excited because I have a bud on one of the irises I raised from seed using Jane as the Mother. I can’ t wait to see what colour it will be.
That is exciting, do share it with us when the bud opens. I had an iris come up in a place where there had never been an iris before so I think it must have been a seed; it seemed very similar in colour to the irises near it.
I will show you as soon as it blooms. That will be a disappointment if it looks just like its mother. I have a few more but they don’t have buds yet.
With seeds it’s all in the lap of the gods isn’t it? That’s all part of the fun. I hadn’t really thought about them even growing from seed as I get so many plants by dividing the rhizomes. I usually remove the stems before they even make seed so I am unsure of how my new one appeared.
Beautiful flowers but I am stuck on your mystery twig. Are the flowers growing out of the twig or is it a trick. I wondered if it was some kind of jasmine?
Well observed Annette; yes the flowers are on the stems. But no not Jasmine.
I like both of your bouquets – the mixture of so many interesting plants and textures and subtle colours is lovely. I have found Phlomis to be one of the best easy care plants – mine is yellow too but a paler yellow. It’s interesting to hear that the purple one isn’t so exciting, I was wondering if I should try it. I bought some Cerinth seed but haven’t planted it yet – do you have any suggestions? Could your branch be a type of buddleia?
Well done Cath, yes it’s buddleia alternifolia. Cerinthe seem better when sown directly in the ground or as mine are now self seeders. Those grown in modules or trays are always weaker and often the stems aren’t straight.
Thanks Christina, the flower itself looks similar to the common one, but the way it grows is quite different so it was hard to recognise. I would like to try planting some Buddleia if I can find one which is not invasive.
I will try planting the Cerinth in the ground. Hopefully they should be quite distinctive so I can sort them from the weeds.
The Cerinthe seedlings have the first leaves that are quite rounded a bit like Eucalyptus juvenile foliage. I think you’ll recognise them.