In a Vase on Monday: Red It

Red sorrel (Rumex acetosella) is a perennial weed that is easily identified by its red flowers and spade-shaped leaves. It is a member of the buckwheat family and native to Europe. The plant produces large quantities of pollen that can contribute to hay fever. The weed is edible, and some people grow it as a green or an herb. The tart flavor is often compared to lemons or sour apples. While the plant is safe for humans, it is toxic to livestock.

One of my favorite August gardening joys is sowing crimson red clover (Trifolium incarnatum) seeds up and down my driveway. I look forward to the bright crimson red flower show in the spring.

…to displaying flowers and foliage in a vase, but that art could be anything from utilising learned floristry techniques to basically plonking them in a receptacle. Perhaps after plonking we might then rearrange them slightly to achieve something we see as more satisfactory, without necessarily recognising why we want to tweak things, or perhaps we might place them a stem at a time to achieve some perceived kind of balance, without having any formal or even informal training in floristry.

Once yesterday’s wet afternoon had subsided, I was able to venture out to cut material for today’s vase, choosing increasingly bountiful blossom from crab apple Malus ‘Evereste’ and Tulip ‘Pink Sound’. The latter were bought largely because of their bargain price for sufficient tulips to fill a few containers, but I have nevertheless enjoyed watching them springing up and growing into shapely heads in a pleasing pink ombre effect. Admiring them from the kitchen windows it occurred to me that pairing them with the similarly shaded crab apple would make a pleasing combination for IAVOM.

Thank you all for your kind words over the last week following the unexpected death of my sister; they were very much appreciated. It has been a strange week and I greatly value the support of our blogging community.

Janet Campbell Brayson,  10th February 1951 to 6th May 2023

Whilst photographing and writing for my EOMV post yesterday, I was struck by how quickly and seamlessly the woodland had morphed from the whites of snowdrops to the pinks of fritillaries and the early rhododendron and then suddenly into the blues and whites of bluebells and wild garlic – all in the blink of an eye! Nature continues to bowl me over with her subtle trickery…

A S IF TO CHEER ME ON DESPITE 7 INCHES of rain that fell the last two weeks, the screaming red martagon lilies are open again, right on time. I just thought I’d remind you in case you’re not the kind of visitor who digs through the archives compulsively (but if you did, you’d see that the similarly screaming red baneberry fruits are colored up now, too).

I’ve been sitting here with vases of multiflowered (also called bouquet) tulips in the house for more than two weeks now, specifically the variety ‘Red Bouquet,’ and from tightly closed to overblown and about to fall apart (about how I feel at the moment as well, by the way) they are a delight.The reason multiflowered tulips aren’t a formal class, the way Triumph or Double-Late or Greigii or another of the 15 officially recognized tulip classifications is? Because varieties with multiple flowers can occur in any class. The amazing red-hot tulip Tulipa praestans ‘Fusilier,’ for example, which will perennialize

THE ONLY THING THAT WOULD HAVE MADE THIS MISHAP a little more bearable: if I’d had a vase big enough for the spectacular flower-covered branch I lost to storms from one of my Cornus kousa, or Korean dogwoods, last week. Come to think of it, I don’t even have ceilings tall enough to accommodate the 11-foot consolation prize indoors, vase or no vase.

Jared is an associate professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, and the creator of the “Planted” blog and e-newsletter, and the monthly “Plantastic Podcast.” He’s been gardening since about age 5, and I was glad to chat with him, to do some forecasting together.Read along as you listen to the February 27, 2023 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).naming our own garden trends, with jared barnesMargaret Roach: Hello, Jared. We have so many friends in common, and plants in common [laughter]

“It’s time to expand our vision past supporting birds, butterflies, and bees, and fully integrate the most challenging animal of all, the human being, into our native plant gardens,” he writes.So what all would that mean, and how do we do that?Jared Rosenbaum is a botanist and restoration ecologist, and he’s also co-owne