Cathy at Rambling in the garden asks us to share a vase of flowers cut from our own gardens every Monday; it is always a pleasure to join her and many others for who this has become a ritual at the beginning of the week.
Either the cold winter or, more likely, the wet spring have pushed the dahlias both new and existing to form huge plants covered in buds. I certainly don’t remember being as bushy as this last year, even later into the season.
The challenge is going to be to create different styles of arrangements each week with very similar material.
Walking around the garden I noticed that the Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora) was covered in light, airy, white flowers which I thought would make a good backdrop to the heavier white dahlias. I picked one branch and placed it intact into my favourite silver vase.
Aloysia citrodora (Lemon Verbena)
The flowers are tiny, above they are shown macro and so seem much larger than they truly are.
Ami majus
Some of the Nicotiana ‘Lime Green’ have come up white, not a problem as both are useful. For some perfume there are a few white Dianthus; these refuse to stand up in the garden and sprawl rather untidily over the gravel so I had no qualms about picking them.
I cut the dahlias back to the next flowers buds so the stems aren’t longer than about 8 inches; I usually cut to have much longer stems sometimes sacrificing two or three pairs of new flowering stems so that I can have the long stems that I like to use in taller arrangements.
In a vase on Monday
As a small posy for the kitchen I picked a couple of stems of Alstroemeria that I bought locally last year. I’m still having no luck at all getting any specialist nursery in the OK to respond to emails about delivering to Italy. I’d love to hear any recommendations you might have. A new dahlia this year is the perfect compliment to the colour of the unnamed Altstroemeria. I also added one stem of a warm orange dahlia that I grew from seed last year.
Dahlia ‘Kogane’
Seed – grown dahlia
Unnamed Alstroemeria
A second silver vase
What will you find for your vase today?
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
White flowers are my favourite!
Mine too!
I love that delicate dahlia Kogane.. I can’t imagine having a lemon verbena with flowers- do they have any scent?
I haven’t really noticed, I think only the foliage – I make tea.
Such pretty pastel colours. I have an alstroemeria like that one but I don’t know its name. And I love your very own seed grown dahlia, you must give it a name.
Ah! that’s a thought. I’m not good at thinking of names for things.
Oh dear, only the first picture shows when I view it on my laptop 😦 so I will try again later on my tablet or phone… I am sure the end result will indeed be airily white!
All sorted now I hope.
Like Cathy, I can only see the first image. The rest sound delightful!
Thanks for letting me know; they should be working now.
Delicate and airy and what a fab idea to include verbena. Spotted the first dahlia flowers around here too which seems crazy. So much rain, it’s a jungle. Have a good week 🙂
I was looking for something different as a filler, I love the look of the lemon Verbena.
Both vases are beautiful, Christina, although I’ll admit a preference for the delicate pastels in the second one. Alstroemeria is a great filler and I also find it useful in integrating different colors within an arrangement. As Alstroemeria is a bulb, I wonder if you can find it through a bulb grower? US mail-order companies that offer it include McClure & Zimmerman, Burpee, and Easy to Grow Bulbs but I can’t say whether any of these ship overseas. I noticed that Amazon offers seeds and, while I’ve never tried growing them from seed, it might be worth a try.
I really want some tall named varieties Kris, so I don’t think seed is an option. I’ll check with the suppliers you mentioned, thank you.
Yes, all present and correct now Christina! The lemon verbena really works well – I thought it was a grass at first and it certainly has the same effect, providing airiness, to the lovely whte vase. And SO good to be seeing regular dahlias again – I have my first one, but it will probably be a couple of weeks before you see any in a vase here.
Christina the first silver vase I love. The Aloysia citrodora is divine in the bouquet, as are the beautiful white Dianthus and the Ami majus. It is a magnificent bouquet of white flowers, I love it. I am very happy that this year your Dahlias are growing a lot and giving many flowers. The second silver vase also carries the Dahlia “Kogane” which is a real marvel. The orange Dahlia is very beautiful. The Alstromeria is wonderful. It’s a sublime bouquet, I love it. Christina for the weekend announce that the good weather is coming: I will be able to plant my three Dahlias. I beg you to tell me if there is anything special to do to plant them. Thank you very much and apologize that I am always asking you about my Dahlias. I have read that you are on the beach although with a cold wind: have a good time and rest. Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
Dahlias like rich, moist but free draining soil. Watch for slugs and snails when they first go out!
Christina thank you very much for your advice. You’re very kind. Have a great time on the beach. Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
Back home now Margarita, we just went for the day
Both of those are such lovely and classy arrangements. The silver vases compliment the light and airy blooms perfectly!
I think silver is the perfect colour for a vase; it seems to compliment most flower colours.
The white flowers and fresh foliage is very cooling, especially in your silver vase. Lovely effect, and airy is certainly a good way of describing it. My lemon verbena never gets to flowering stage here as I harvest it regularly. They are pretty flowers! (I have to buy new plants each spring though as I have never managed to keep one through the winter even indoors.) The Dahlia in your second vase is a lovely peachy colour. 🙂
The lemon verbena is a large shrub; about 1.4 x 1.2 metres. It always has some die back on the branches but so far has come back for about 10 years.
Your Ammi majus are looking good. I grew some from seed this year and after planting out only five have survived the onslaught of slugs and no flowers as yet.
The Ami is best sown in autumn (even in the UK) and then grown on in a coldframe until planting out. Mine survived the harsh winter this year.
Will try that this year thanks.
I’ve never seen a lemon verbena flower, though I’ve grown the plant, which is so nice. Dahlia “Kogane’ is a perfect match for the alstroemeria. How about approaching one of the larger Italian nurseries to see if they can order in some alstroemeria bulbs for you?
That’s a good idea, but I want named varieties and I think they are better purchased as plants. But it might come to that.
A lovely free flowing first vase. I love the vase you used for the second arrangement and the lovely pinkish-peach flowers chosen for it.
The second vase has a real silver finish, I think, it tarnishes like silver anyway.
Christina, I so love the colors,or colours -which is a better spelling, in my opinion. Oddly, I have an Aloysia in my garden, from Argentina.Similar, but different. And God help the Dahlias, thought I love yours..looking forward to more.
I like the American spelling; the English language is full of extra letters!!
Those alstoemeria are such a pretty colour. The only ones which have flowered for me are bright orange. They are nice but not subtle. I like the white airiness of the first vase. Sometimes it’s hard to cut long stems and sacrifice buds but dahlias do just go on producing more, don’t they.
Yes, it’s worth cutting the dahlias with long stems and sacrificing some flowers, if only to stop having too many. there are masses more to pick today!
Hi Christina, Your arrangement is beautiful. I don’t often think of white flowers in themselves as focal points…..you did a great job and gave me food for thought!
I often do all white arrangements, I love white flowers.
I looked for your vase first thing yesterday morning, but the link wasn’t quite right and I thought I’d come back later. Drifting off to sleep last night something made me wonder what you chose for your vase. I realized I hadn’t gone back to your blog. Well I didn’t get up to check but did remember it first thing this morning 😀
Love those dahlias so much. Dahlia ‘Kogane’ is a beauty. Had no idea lemon verbena was a shrub! All lovely. Have a good week.
Lemon verbena can almost be a tree here, mine is quite small in comparison to some.
Don’t you get an Email when I post?
No, I use the Reader, or just remember!
Ah, that explains it.
I’m absolutely green with envy about the size that your lemon verbena has attained Christina. Here none of my three plants overwintered so I’m back to a little plant that I found at the RHS Flower Show at Chatsworth last week. I wonder why the nurseries will not respond to your emails. Maybe uncertainty about the future?
Possibly difficulties in delivering to Italy but they could tell me that.