In A Milk Bottle For Sunday Night; Foliage; Stricta Business

Ah, finally enough time and focus to put something in a vase for In A Vase For Monday meme-ing.  We've had 90F+ since Thursday;  any flower left on a plant outdoors is toast within hours. May as well bring some indoors. 
Except the Protea, opening as slowly as ketchup oozing out of the bottle:
I scurried out for a few minutes to grab what in an hour or two would be brown and shriveled.  A newly opening Dahlia, some 'Firefighter' and 'Young Lycidas' roses, all plopped into a milk bottle.  
Now, now.  Surely it could be a little better.  The flowers are all mooshed together.  There's no foliage.  Do better!  Another dash out into the heat for some Leucadendron linearfolia foliage, the closest interesting foliage to the door.    


Add the Dahlia.  
Add the roses, un-mooshed.  Better.  Nothing spectacular, but better.  A little effort yields improvement.
 Foliage--the glistening, silky, thready leaves of Adenanthos sericia.  If I can get it into the ground when the weather cools, and get it growing, there will be more fabulous foliage for arrangements.  

Stricta business.  When I originally planted the four Agave strictas too close together, they were about 3" (75 mm) wide.  They grew together.  The adjacent Agave augustifolia and Senecio cyclindrica overwhelmed and covered three of the four strictas. 

When those were removed, a mess remained.  

I pulled one of the strictas out to see if it could be rehabilitated.  
Not much of a root system.  All dried up, too. 
Lots of dead foliage at the base.  Note what puppies can do to scissors. 
 Will it live? Hey, it's an Agave!  Why wouldn't it? 
 We'll see.
Visit Rambling In The Garden (on Monday) for some great vases of flowers, and Digging for fascinating foliage. 

Comments

  1. Great arrangement. I'm always in awe of people who can arrange flowers artfully.

    Your Agave stricta will reroot. I had an Agave schidigera without roots last fall; it took a few months but now you can never tell it had been on death's door.

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    1. Thanks!

      Since the Agave survived about 5 years with no water, and covered up by other plants, it is apparently pretty tough.

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  2. That's an impressive first photograph! Beautiful! It may be the oldest cliche, but you stopped and smelled the roses, and utilized your garden the way many starte out, but may do too little. I would love to see more arrangements.

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    1. Thanks! Heat waves are a good time to try those arrangements--we gardeners are all stuck inside, waiting for it to cool off.

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  3. Excellent flowers, equally excellent foliage. Why has it never occurred to me to cut my Adenanthos and use it in an arrangement? Thanks for the push!

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    1. Now you've committed yourself to an Adenanthos arrangement. We're waiting. ;^)

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  4. Your puppies are very creative - probably experimenting with making more ergonomically correct for your hand. They're so thoughtful! Sad that your flowers turn brown in the heat but I'm glad you rescued some for your nice arrangement!

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    1. They won gold medals at the chewing Olympics.

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  5. So nice to use the Leucadendron for your beautiful posy, who are we without flowers in our home.
    Adenanthos sericia and Proteas are exotic beauties for us and you did a good job with the Agave stricta.
    Have a nice new week!

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    1. You have a good week too Janneke. Pet dear Snarf for me.

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  6. You let the puppies play with scissors? I guess as long as they don't run with them. That dahlia's color is wonderful. I'm seeing a kind of a light purplish wash at the center over that salmony color. I'm betting on that agave to pull through.

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    1. I don't "let" them do anything. They thought that up all on their own.

      Yes, the Dahlia has a purple wash to it--ain't that cool?

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  7. I often end up dumping the contents of my vase and starting over too. I usually try to cram whatever I have into the vase rather than being selective and giving each bloom the space to shine as you have.

    Was it painful to untangle those agaves? I have just one but I swear it bites on purpose.

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    1. Actually surprisingly easy Agave--the leaves are very flexible and can be gathered at the base with one hand so as to point the spiny tips away from the handler. Due to the condition of the roots, the whole thing popped right out of the soil. Perhaps when the roots grow back, it will be a bear!

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  8. Bouquets! Always an up side, even to the heat.

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    Replies
    1. There's always something fun to do garden-wise. No wonder we love our gardens.

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