Australia · family · garden flowers · gardening · grandchildren · memories · roses · seasons · subtropical weather

In A Vase On Monday ~ A Scorcher!

Joanne

Well, aren’t I glad arranged a brand new vase on Saturday morning as I had guests arriving in the afternoon – today is an absolute scorcher! Indoors is 28 degrees Celsius, outside is 34 degrees, yet our weather station in the kitchen – I love it as it keeps us up to date with actual details of the weather in our garden – says it “feels like” 40.3 degrees. I checked, and the conversion to Fahrenheit is 104.54F!

I am indoors today, adding my ‘In A Vase on Monday’ post, hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, with doors and windows closed and ceiling fans going in every room. We don’t have aircon. I always think that for the few days of unbearable heat we have here each year, I will survive without it; on days like today, I question my wisdom!

It was hot enough on Saturday morning as well, as evidenced by the scorched rose petals. I collected my vase of flowers in a hurry, while also deadheading as I went along; I also used the same vase as last week for the sake of speed – I had guests arriving soon – so hope I am forgiven for being boring. The roses I salvaged one or two of were Olivia Rose Austen, Souvenir de la Malmaison and Jude the Obscure. I feel dreadful about leaving my plants so badly unattended, but with this summer heat, I have no choice. 😦

I deadheaded far more Gerberas than I brought inside. A couple of red flowers had damaged stems, so they were placed right down low, beneath the foliage.

As you can see, some of the Gerberas are a tad frazzled, but the Verbena Polaris are loving the heat!

It was good to see that some Society Garlic ‘Tulbaghia’ flowers had survived, although most had fallen over and died in the heat. With flowers this pretty, I must plant some more when the weather cools.

For a greenery backdrop, I decided to try some sprigs off my Lilly Pilly tree. This variety may be Weeping Lilly Pilly ‘Waterhousea floribunda’, but as the flowers are not fully formed yet, I can’t be sure. I planted the tree around fifteen years ago, and can’t remember the details of its name. I do recall, however, that it was in a large pot near my back door, not looking healthy at all, so I decided to plant it in my (then) newly-built garden. It took off! And now it is a fully-fledged tree.

Previously, I have only added closeup shots of my vase and flowers, and from comments, I’ve realised that a full view is needed to add perspective of the size of the vase and flowers. So today, here is a full view of the vase in situ, in the living room at the front of the house. 🙂

When the larger vase was full, I had a few small stemmed leftovers, so I made up a smaller vase for the living room at the back of the house. My Lavender is beginning to bloom – doing a happy dance about that! – and I had a few sprigs of leftover Verbena and Lilly Pilly as well.

If we have too much rain it may upset the Lavender plants, so I am hoping it doesn’t get too wet before the season is over. From memory, this is French Lavender.

I think the Lavender and Verbena make a great team when together in a vase.

In the interests of providing perspective, here is the full view of the smaller vase. You might remember the miniature ornaments that featured in my Tiny Treasures post a couple of Mondays ago, seen here next to the vase.

I have just one more “vase” to add, and this one is from yesterday. My son, his wife and their two boys – featured modelling Christmas aprons I made late last year in this post – came to visit and swim in the pool. Later, when Masters Seven and Two (almost three) came back to the house, they presented me with four Frangipani flowers that they had picked for me.

I floated the flowers in some water immediately. 🙂

What Nana wouldn’t want to save as beautiful a memory as that? ❤

Thank you for getting me out in my hot garden, again, to choose flowers, Cathy! 🙂

Unknown's avatar

Published by Joanne

37 thoughts on “In A Vase On Monday ~ A Scorcher!”

  2. That is a beautiful vase Joanne, so nicely arranged! Your roses look really happy to be indoors in the slightly cooler temperatures! Love the lavender and verbena combination too. I know exactly what you mean about the air con…. we also do have quite a few days where it gets unbearably hot, but I still can’t really justify having air con installed. Our house is well insulated so the warmest ever indoors so far was 26°C. Hope it cools down a bit for you soon!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Cathy. The roses began to drop petals this morning but they lasted longer than they would have in the garden. We had a cool change this afternoon and it’s now only 23 degrees Celsius – yay! If it wasn’t night time I’d be running out into the garden to do some weeding. 😅

      Like

      Reply

  3. Those are scorching temperatures — yikes! We had a few days like that here last summer and I was very grateful for the air conditioning. The bouquet you arranged is so lovely, in spite of the challenges you had gathering the flowers for it. Well done! It must be nice having a garden to browse through, never quite knowing what treasures you will find from day to day. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I don’t know about you, Barbara, but so long as it’s only a few days of extreme heat, I can cope. Gardening is a challenge, but I am surprised myself by how many flowers I find amid the overheated foliage. I will have to wait until the weather cools before I can spend time lingering in the garden, and that probably won’t be for another six weeks to two months. I do enjoy admiring my garden from indoors though. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. We have high humidity, unfortunately. And I’m the same as you, I can cope much better with dry heat. Husband is the opposite! But he grew up in this area. My theory is that bodies must acclimatise to the area you spend your younger years living in, as I grew up in a low humidity, mountainous area.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

  5. I would never characterize your vase as boring. I can only imagine the garden you have from the stunning vase you created. Our heat and humidity all summer makes life unbearable so we definitely have aircon. Hope you have some let up the heat. Our frigid weather is breaking this week finally. But cold and snow will stay until at least March or April.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. A cool change came through later in the day, thankfully. What country do you live in? I have been watching a series on TV recently by Monty Don, filmed when he discovered the gardens of the USA. It surprised me to learn there are many areas in the USA that have similar weather to ours here in subtropical Australia.
      Thank you for dropping by and commenting. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. My pleasure. I live in the USA. Specifically central NY State in the snow belt where we have cold snowy winters or did until global warming. Our winters have become warmer with less snow by half.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  6. The extreme heat must be a challenge, Joanne, but your vase of flowers look fresh and perky and welcoming. Your guests must have felt well tended. Weeping Lilly Pilly is fascinating–makes a versatile addition to your roses.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Oof! That is HOT. You wouldn’t know if by your arrangements though, they look so lovely and fresh. Oh, so sweet little ones picking flowers for you. Sounds like a wonderful day, despite the heat.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you. 🙂
      I just had to add my little bowl of frangipanis to this post, they were so special! ❤
      I was wondering, do you have a blog I can visit?

      Like

      Reply

        1. Well there you go! 😅 When I did a quick search on Google, I found an article under your name in Fine Gardening featuring the same style of planting as yours. But I wondered, when the name was different!
          It would be so much easier if WordPress and Blogspot coordinated their logins for bloggers to comment without confusion.

          Like

          Reply

    1. Thank you for dropping by, Beth. 🙂
      I too enjoy seeing vases from the opposite season to mine! It seems that both hemispheres are experiencing challenging times, be it winter or summer – but spring and autumn will be here soon enough. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  9. “We don’t have aircon. I always think that for the few days of unbearable heat we have here each year, I will survive without it; on days like today, I question my wisdom!” I went through that every summer when I still lived in Southern Oregon – but the ceiling fans did help a lot. And green salads for dinner worked very well for me – no cooking. Love your vases as usual. And the Frangipani – those are such delicate looking flowers.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Sometimes I stand directly under a fan to get the full blast of air, Carol … lol. And during summer, cold meat or fish such as prawns, served with salad, work well for us too. Anything to keep the house cool! 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  10. Good for you for rescuing those beautiful flowers before the heat wilted them! I love your lilly-pilly tree and spent some time this morning trying to see if I could find it as many Australian species are sold here. I learned that it’s classified as Syzygium smithii (formerly Acmena smithii). My western (US) garden guide lists only a single species in that genus (S. paniculatum) but not yours. Unfortunately, that one is too tall (up to 60 feet in height) for my garden, even if I could find it but it was a fun search! How tall does your lilly-pilly tree get?

    I sympathize with you on your current heatwave. We get some nasty heatwaves in summer too. The worst since we’ve been in our current location was 112F (44.4C). But thankfully we do have AC!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hmm, I think my tree must be about four metres tall (13′) but they are very easy to prune if you don’t want them to grow too tall. This tree got away on me, but where it is situated in the garden, among other small trees, they have created a lovely cool microclimate during summer. Quite by accident, I might add! Cathy at Rambling in the Garden asked what plant a Lilly Pilly might be similar to in the UK, and while doing some research I also discovered they are part of the Syzygium family, which also includes Myrtles. I will take more photos of my tree soon as it is about to burst into full flower! That’s a beautiful sight to see. 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  11. Gorgeous arrangements!! Your roses are so full I thought at first they were peonies. The perspective shots were helpful in realizing their size. I’m not a huge fan of air conditioning most of the time. Here in New England, triple digit temperatures are rare. I enjoy the heat most days, but I have difficulty sleeping if it is too hot and humid, so for those nights, I do have window air conditioners.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Karma. 🙂 I wish they were peonies as I love them! Our climate conditions are totally against growing them though. I sleep with windows open every night, especially during summer, plus with the ceiling fan on. Like you, I struggle to sleep in the heat. But summer is over half way through – yay! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. Cold snaps and heat waves– contrast puts things in perspective, doesn’t it? I’ll send you a bit of icy winter to cool your day. 😉 Lovely arrangement in situ… that is a gorgeous sideboard… is it mahogany?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Oh please send the ice – if only you could! 😂
      I believe you are correct in saying the sideboard is mahogany. I’ve had it since my first baby was born, nearly 39 years ago! It was actually new when I bought it when we lived in Sydney, from a wonderful store where they crafted reproduction old furniture. I’ve had it for so long now that in eleven years time it will be classified as antique! Fifty years gives furniture antique status in Australia, but I’m not sure if it’s the same worldwide.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. I must be younger than you then, being an Australian, I’m only an antique once. 😉😂
          That’s interesting though, I had wondered if antique “status” is the same worldwide and now I know it’s not. (In furniture, I mean. 😅).

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

    1. Thank you, Robin. I must admit to taking a few “short cuts” lately, whenever possible, so jobs get done faster when it’s been so hot! Inactivity keeps me cooler. lol.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a reply to Eliza Waters Cancel reply