In a Vase on Monday: Burgundy and Beer

15.07.2024 - 10:09 / ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com / Cathy

Today’s boozy vase shares some elements with last week’s although lacks its fullness, containing less than an armful but more than a small posy, although with more time at my disposal it could have become more fulsome than it is. Having achieved my personal challenge of creating a vase with such a large number of blooms, I feel more confident of repeating the exercise and the garden is certainly proving the material to do so.

Today, however, the contents are limited to a narrower range of blooms, this week on a burgundy/dark red spectrum, and include Dahlias ‘Geoffrey Kent’ and ‘Bishop of Auckland’ (the latter bringing memories of Dorris), Helichrysum ‘Bright Rose’, Antirrhinum ‘Black Prince’, Amaranthus ‘Opopeo’, Knautia macedonica and foliage of Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’. Observant readers might recall that the helichrysum and knautia were also in Julie’s armful last week, but they seem to work equally well within this darker spectrum. In hindsight I can think of other annuals in the cutting beds that would have worked well today, had they been in bloom, such as Sunflower ‘Velvet Queen’, Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’ and Scabious ‘Black Knight’.

With a prop already in mind, a little fridge magnet with miniature bottles of wine (purist wine buffs might object to bottles of Bordeaux representing those from Burgundy, however), my search for a vase brought me to a pottery beer stein, brought back from Germany by the Golfer many years ago without realising it said ‘Made in Japan’ on the base, thereby generating the title of the post.

If you would like to join us with a vase on Monday, with material from your garden in any kind of receptacle, with or without a prop, then please do so by leaving the usual links to and from this post.