Two gladiola bulbs have proven either hardy enough or buried enough to survive our below zero snow covered winters for the past two years and produced flower stalks with delicious looking, velvety purple blooms. I had, to be honest, forgotten all about them until there they were, poking up through my overgrown jungle of San Marzano tomatoes in the kitchen garden which, two years ago, also doubled as a cutting garden. The stalks persistently found their way through the green canopy but wound up being very bendy – impossible to place in a vase without severe knee chopping.
And that’s the story behind this week’s vase of flowers cut fresh from my garden. Every Monday, Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase – be sure to visit her site to see vases from around the world.
Joining these two glads are several sprays of Rudbeckia fulgida, likely ‘Goldstrum,’ – one variety of Black Eyed Susan. I call them ‘sprays’ because from one central stem a dozen or more side shoots may appear, each bearing one or more flowers. This variety is not as drought tolerant as the more common R. hirta and have suffered greatly this summer. I cut them Saturday night so that the foliage and petals could be revived overnight in a jar of water before they joined the photo-shoot yesterday morning. Also in the vase are Zinnias – the stalwart if many August vases. Plants grown from seeds I sowed in early June are finally of a size both to produce lovely cutting flowers and also a toughness to make them unappealing to all but the hungriest garden munchers.
I decided to load up the little Ikebana vase this week with five different flower types: Zinnia (of course!), a lone re-blooming Ox Eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), an unknown variety of annual Salvia, Canadian burnet (Sanguisorba canadensis) and, hiding in the back, a sprig of a tall red Sedum, just starting to bloom.
I’ll be enjoying these vases around this house this week – Zinnia in particular is very long lasting. Stay safe everyone and enjoy the rest of summer!
County Gardening 
I think I may get myself an Ikebana vase. Flowers in it look lovely, a chara.
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Thank you – I highly recommend it. Another way to express your creativity, which is helpful during travel restriction and lockdown times.
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I do enjoy zinnias. They were a part of my grandmother’s cutting garden, and at a farm where I buy seasonal produce, the proprietor sells them as well. She does provide scissors, and we can cut them ourselves, so we get at least part of the old-fashioned experience.
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What a great way both to sell them and take them home!
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Your close-ups are so great! The colors in that zinnia are amazing. I need to grow zinnias again.
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Thank you so much! They’re a wonderful flower, with so many forms and colours to choose from.
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The purples look great with the yellow rudbeckias, Chris, and the zinnias are gorgeous! And great in a vase, as you say. I have never been successful with perennial rudbeckias here and R hirta which grows readily from seed rarely lives more than a year or two
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I must be lucky since both R. hirta and fulgido come back, albeit somewhat grudgingly after a drought year! With the R. hirta, it may be they are setting seed since I’m usually too lazy to do much of a fall cleanup.
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They seem to be more readily perennial in North America, from where they originate I think?
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Yes, they are native here.
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You’re really getting good at the Ikebana thing! I love your vibrant pinky-purple and gold arrangement. I’m growing the tall gladiolas for the first time this year and was initially daunted by their size but a heatwave quickly took a lot of the lower flowers last week, leaving me with more manageable stems to work with.
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Thanks! Will you need to lift them in the fall? Not hard and they store easily if you do.
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Wow, I’m amazed your glads have proven hardy. They are a lovely colour and mix well with the zinnias and the bold yellow daisies.
I used my ikebana vase this week, too. They make it easy to create something quickly!
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I’m amazed as well! The ikebana is so sweet, perfect for all those shorter stemmed flowers eh?
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Thank you, yes, it is perfect for bits and bobs. 🙂
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Your Zinnias are gorgeous and I rarely get any that look half as good. Goldstrum Rude Yeah with a E nearly took over my garden in Atlanta and I got rid of it. Though R. hirta here is a wimp. Still searching for the wonder flowers…love the Ikebana and I hope the Glads last forever.
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Thanks Amelia…I’m thinking I’ll get a bunch of glads next year, all the same colour, and plant three or five here and there around the yard…see what that looks like in August.
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Gladiolus are unreliable here because they do not get ‘enough’ chill in winter. Well, most are weak hybrids anyway. What a flashy combination.
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But glads – too much chill and they turn to mush; generally I have to lift and store indoors – no chill at all.
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Well, that is how your weather works. Someday, I do intend to experience a ‘real’ winter, or at least a few days of it.
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Love the way you do an ikebana vase each week… looks so lovely again today, and highlights just a handful of flowers. Great zinnias too. Can‘t believe I have only recently discovered how pretty they can be. 😃
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Thank you – it’s been a fun and creative challenge!
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