After deciding not to blog, read posts or comments during the month of July, I am back today to join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for the popular In a vase on Monday meme. Thank you to those of you who emailed to check if I was alright; your kind thoughts were much appreciated. I am back now in My Hesperides Garden although I have to admit that with the very high temperatures the garden is not giving me very much pleasure at the moment. If it were not for the cut flower beds I think I would just want to go away until September and (hopefully) the autumn rains.Today’s vases were actually made last week when we returned from a short trip to the Cilento in Southern Italy.
Dahlias, Zinnias, Crocosmia and Ammi are the main feature in all the vases today
I think this large orange/pink tinged Dahlia is D. ‘Color Spectacle’
In life the large Dahlia is more orange than it appears above but it does have a pink tone shining through the orange.
Dahlia is D. ‘Color Spectacle’ tones with orange and pink flowers
The more I see the very dark Dahlia in this vase the more I think it is rather difficult to use as it just sucks light and becomes a deep shadow.
All the Yellow Dahlias are one stem
I don’t expect to post very often during August but I do hope to read and comment again on the blogs I follow. Thanks to Cathy for being such a good hostess of this meme and a very caring friend who noticed immediately when I failed to post at the beginning of the month.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
It’s reinvigorating to step away occasionally. D. ‘Color Spectacle’ is very attractive–I can see the orange tones peeking through. Love the arrangement with the yellow dahlias.
Yes, I needed a break; I had some issues that needed to be sorted out plus we were away in the UK for a wedding and visiting friends and then a short break away. I may only post vases and Tuesday views for the next month. (not that I always do much more than that anyway)
I agree with you about dark flowers sucking the light. I find the same is true of them growing in the garden. But I do love them in a vase or out.
I like dark flowers in the garden but I don’t like these in a vase they seem to make the arrangement unbalanced.
Beautiful vases and lovely flowers… =)
Hi Christina! Yes, I was a bit worried not hearing from you for so long, but assumed you were just hunkering down in the heat. It has been unbearable here too, but with a day or two of cooler weather in between recently. I really don’t think there is an ideal climate, so we will just have to stick it out! I hope August goes by quickly for you anyway. I do envy you those gorgeous dahlias, even if the darker ones don’t stand out well in the photos. I especiall like the orange/pink shades. Your cut flower beds seem to hold up well to the heat. The Ammi is a lovely filler.
The Dahlias originate in Mexico I’m told so they thrive in the heat as long as they have enough water. The was a break in the irrigation tube a couple of weeks ago and the orange dahlia was in a bog for a couple of days! It didn’t seem to do it any harm at all, in fact there are more flower stems to pick already.
I love the Zinnias and Dahlias and must find some for winter here. I like the darker colors, usually more in real life than photos – I find my deeper reds do not photograph well.
Wow! Your climate must be amazing to be able to grow Dahlias and Zinnias in winter! Lucky you!
Christina, we can’t grow them in summer! or vegetables.
The garden may be suffering in the heat but it has still produced an abundance of dahlias and zinnias for you to share with us. I am most intrigued by the ‘yellow’ dahlia and purple zinnia in the last vase – do you know what the dahlia is and is the zinnia really as purple as it looks? I always like to see arrangements in your big rectangular vase and todays is no exception – everything always seems so balanced in this vase. So glad to have you back and I am sure all this blogging community will feel the same way 🙂
I have the packaging from my Dahlia purchase this year and to be honest none of them look like the yellow Dahlia or the slightly mixed colour one so I don’t think I can help with the names. Dahlias do seem to love the conditions here so I am lucky to have them for a very long season. I’m tempted each year to add to them but I should also remove the ones that don’t do so well.
Yes, likewise I am going to scrap a couple I grew from Bishops Children seed which are strong plants but the flowers are getting increasingly smaller and are fairly insipid colours too.
By scrapping some we can try new varieties!
Of course! 😀
Back with a cracking Vase full too🙂 Glad to read all is well. The dark dahlias are very lovely but I agree that in the Vase they can be too strong. I grow D Arabian Night and I do love it but it is hard to photograph well.
In the garden where colours tend to be bleached by the sun, I enjoy them but in the vase they do create black holes!
I was wondering where you went. I visited your site a couple times to see if I had missed a post, but none were there. I didn’t want to pry, but I had visions of you summering on the Amalfi coast. 🙂
Your dahlias are beautiful per usual and the zinnias I bet love the heat. I do admire the richness of the burgundy even if it is hard to photograph.
To be honest even the coast is too hot for me in August and this year July too. I should go to the mountains in summer to have some respite from the heat.
The older I get, the less tolerant I am of heat and particularly humidity. A bit of heat I can take, but when it is humid, too, ugh, I feel like I can’t move or breathe!
Yes, you’re right, it is the humidity that is the killer.
I hope you found the break useful, Christina, but I’m glad to find you back in the fold today. I can appreciate your frustration with the hot weather and I’m sorry to learn that it continues to plague your area. Summers here are a lot like that too, although we’re lucky if we get rain before November. This summer actually has been on the milder side of the norm in my own area thus far, yet like you I’m still mostly dependent on my cutting garden (which was inspired by yours!). Your silver vase arrangement is my favorite this week because it offers such a cool note.
I am always aware when I write complaining of the heat and drought that it is even worse for you. The break was good for me. When I’m away I always feel guilty that I’m not commenting, it is making me think how I might be more organized and just respond and comment at set times rather than when I see the message – good business practice, I know but also for leisure computer time.
Hi Christina, Your arrangements are lovely. The deep purple Dahlia is stunning. We’ve just come out of a heat wave. I barely go out during those times. My garden is waning at the moment and my mind is on what I can plant that will prolong July’s beauty.
I never think of July or August being particularly beautiful here; it is just too harshly hot and dry. Where are you?
Such beautiful zinnias and dahlias. I do like the dark one very much, even if it is troublesome. Beautiful collections in all your vases and I’m glad they are giving you pleasure as it sounds as though your weather is trying. Ours is too but for the opposite reason.
It is easy for me to get despondent in the heat but having been in the U.K. where in 10 days the weather went from hottish sunshine to cold rain I can understand that too much rain is also depressing.
The last gray, metallic vase…I might have one like that. Hmmm… But I enjoy the arrangements, especially the first photo, which is odd since pink isn’t normally a flower color I gravitate to.
The pink strongly undertones with orange (it was bought as an orange) gives it a kind of terra-cotta colour which seems to work well with other colours.
Welcome back, Christina, you were missed and it’s good to know that all is well. Your vases are always inspiring. I like the pink/orange dahlia very much, it might work well in my patio pots – they are missing a punchy colour this year.
This Dahlia has done better this year in its second year, last year the stems weren’t so strong. It is about 5 foot tall so might be a bit tall for pots. I think having them in pots is a good idea though as they flower for so long; July, even June until the first frost.
Thanks for the extra info, Christina, it’s very useful to know this one takes a year to produce strong stems – that plus the height is something I will think about.
I love the dark dahlias, but those very dark ones do absorb the light. I do like the pinky/orange one. Once they are over the initial threat from slugs when they emerge, dahlias seem very tough growers here, particularly for some reason, the dark leaved ones. .
I love dark Dahlias too but these seem to absorb the light even more than other dark varieties. I have too many plants of them too as I bought the same one twice in different shops with different packaging. I’m going to remote some.
Christina was missing us, but I imagined you had taken a break from the heat. Your Dahlias vases are precious. I love the yellow dahlias and the pink / orange. Greetings from Margarita.
Thank you Margarita, you are very kind to say you missed me. I think the blogging break has done me good.
Colour is tricky..some look superb out in the garden, but you wonder how best to position dark colours in a vase and photograph them. The pink zinnias complement those yellow dahlias really well.