The Shrub Queen: In A Vase on Monday- Less Tropical

This week I decided to try a less tropical approach to my vase, using our Native Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis) as the basis for a non tropical look. I thought Blue Willow china would be a not so tropical container for my vase. I have a collection of Blue Willow started by my grandmother a hundred years ago I have been adding to for years. So, I started with the Blue Willow bowl my father referred to as the ‘Creamed Onion Bowl’ a low covered casserole. That didn’t really work out the flowers were too tall or maybe the scale of flowers to bowl was just off. Then, everything got moved into this well used English teapot I bought years ago, one of my favorite pieces. I have never made tea in it, but somebody else did, many times, the interior is stained dark from use. I like antiques with a little patina.

To the Sunflowers I added Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria) flowers in orange, Red Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeana), and some Parrot Flower  (Heliconia psittacorum) buds for height, Asparagus Ferns and Asian Sword Ferns for green texture.

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After all of this it occurred to me none of these plants would even grow at Disney World in Orlando, Florida! However, it can be proposed they could be grown as annuals. In containers.

Mission completed.

I renovated my big Frangipani vase from last week and the Bromeliads from two weeks ago are still looking good. I think the buds on the Frangipani will open. Here they are again:

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Unabashedly tropical.

TreasureCoast

TreasureCoast

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  • Posted 8 years ago

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