Fall's Best

Even as it's starting to get cooler - not colder yet, just cooler - the garden is still producing a limited variety of blooms, with some of the chrysanthemums still to come.

After some deadheading this morning, I moved on to cutting a few blossoms to bring inside... heliotrope from a container, plus chrysanthemums, buddelia, mini-roses, and asters.

You've probably noticed that my first choice for a container is always glass.  Turns out, that's all I have.  Seriously.  Not a single opaque container to my name!  I have just realized that "clear" carries an extra challenge - hiding the stems.

I stole an idea from someone, and used some Solomon's Seal.  I removed all the leaves from one side of the stem and then cut it to fit the length of the vase.  That left me with varigated leaves to line the sides, and with glass pebbles added, I had something to hold the stems that doesn't really show.

Belinda (Wild Acre) says I need to find the bride flowers and the bridesmaids, but I couldn't figure that out, so I just started layering in the flowers - checking both sides for balance.  First, the heliotrope because its dense leaves also provide a way to support the stems of the other flowers.

Next, the chrysanthemums and asters.  Finally, the mini-roses for a pop of white.  My grandfather always liked the white flowers in a garden, because he thought they made the colored flowers look better.  I think that is true in the vase, too.

And, finally the buddelia to give it both height and length.  Lo, and behold, it works!  A breath of the outside on the dining room table, filled with the pinks and purples of fall.  Now we're ready for good friends who are coming to visit tomorrow.  It's all good!