Tag: Osteospermum Serenity Pink Magic – Cape daisy

Australia · autumn · David Austin roses · garden flowers · in my garden · pets · roses · seasons

In A Vase On Monday ~ After the Rain

Joanne29 Comments

There has been a few dry days recently, with temperature reaching the low to mid twenties – my garden is so happy, and so am I! The garden is a bit of a mess in some areas with weeds overtaking any available soil space, so the first chore I have is weeding.

For my contribution to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden’s Monday vase, I picked any flowers that looked like they had survived the wet weather, and thrived since their petals dried.

Recently, another Cathy, this one at Words and Herbs, displayed her vase on a crocheted pansy doily. It reminded me of one my mother made, many years ago. I took my doily out today and I can see the main pattern is not the same as Cathy’s, but the edge is decorated by pansies. My Mum told me she didn’t have the patience to crochet the pansies, so I made those and she completed the rest. So to show Cathy my version on the doily I am adding it as today’s prop. 🙂

A few daisies are beginning to bloom again, and this week I found a single Souvenir de la Malmaison rose that was in rather good condition to add to my vase.

The red rose bush (with a forgotten name) also had a very blousy single red rose.

And I picked a few Olivia Rose Austin roses to add to the vase as well.

The man of the house complained that all the roses droop over the sides of the vase! I rather like the informality of roses with a drooping habit myself.

I feel certain that the couple of Verbena Polaris I picked are the last for this season, although I think I may have said that a couple of times recently, lol. They just keep on booming. 🙂

Likewise, I keep thinking I have seen the end of my Gerberas for a while, yet here they are again!

Although I hadn’t expected to add a second prop to my post today, Bowie had other ideas … see him there, lurking behind the flowers?

He quickly got the drift when I shooed him away. I thought he might knock over the vase – he’s a big kitty-cat!

I highly recommend a visit to both Cathy’s blogs to admire their spring flowers. So many plants are in bloom now in the Northern Hemisphere and I so enjoy seeing the varieties of plants and flowers that flourish in cooler climates. I am behind on catching up with everyone myself! But slowly, I am beginning to make my way around to each of my friends to see what they have been doing, while I have been taking advantage of the cooler weather here in Australia and catching up on chores around the house and garden. 🙂

from my garden · garden flowers · native Australian plants · rain · roses · subtropical weather

In A Vase On Monday ~ Tiny Treasures

Joanne26 Comments

When I went outside to collect flowers between showers of rain, I had not expected to return laden with a large collection of miniatures. My only explanation is that this is the collection of flowers that “chose” to be stars of the vase for my In A Vase On Monday contribution this week, hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

Is that a thing, I wonder – can flowers make their own choices? In my garden, surprisingly, they often seem to!

The native Australian Lilly Pilly buds had already caught my eye today. When I saw them through the kitchen window this morning, the colour of the bud seemed to be a deeper shade of pinkish-brown, compared to two days ago when I took photos of them for my native plants post. I imagined tiny sprigs of the buds looking very pretty in a vase.

In a pot close to the Lilly Pilly bush, I noticed that some of my ‘Chameleon’ roses needed dead-heading. Chameleon – also known as ‘Pur Caprice’ – is a miniature rose, with the blooms changing colour from red to yellow, then pink and white as the flowers age, hence the name Chameleon. Some Chameleon blooms would look lovely in a vase with the Lilly Pilly buds … and so the miniature vase began to take shape.

In yet another pot nearby, the Osteospermum Serenity Pink Magic Cape daisy also needed some attention, so while snipping spent flowers, I chose two healthy blooms to add to the miniature mix. I adore the colour of this daisy! It is not the shade of pink I expected when I first planted the tube stock plant, it’s even more beautiful than I had imagined it would be.

In the front garden, I knew I had some very pretty Gazania flowers in bloom. The colour matches the various pink tones I had already picked, although the delicate petals may have suffered a bit due to being damp from the recent rain. In the garden, Gazania close their petals when night falls, so I will watch carefully as the day turns into night, to see if they do the same when indoors.

When together in the vase, I am quite happy with the selection of tiny treasures I heard calling out to be chosen for my Monday vase!

When deciding on a vase, I chose a tiny jug which is actually a miniature of an old-style wash basin. The design on the side colour-coordinates very well with my flowers as well – perfect!

And my collection of miniature “pets” – the Labrador with four kittens stands guard over the vase …

… with the finishing touch – the tiny bowl under the tiny jug. 🙂