In a vase, on Monday – Birthday Bouquet

Chris Mousseau

On Wednesday, July 1, Canada will be 153 years old. That is, it will be the 153rd anniversary since the Constitution Act was signed in 1867. Such a young country!! Our national flag is the red and white maple leaf, of course – seen above in a photo I took at the 2016 Trenton Air Show. I wanted to do my bit, celebrating virtually this year instead of with the usual parades and concerts, with a red and white vase for the week. Better planning should have been done, I’m afraid, because thanks to insects and chipmunks, I have but one red flower in bloom at the moment – and it it was not even planned!

I had thought to add something tall and bright red into the middle of this bowl of Ox Eye Daisies – stems gong every which way after they became so top heavy they fell over in the garden. No luck though.
Instead, I used my small ikebana vase and snipped the only red flower now in bloom – Geum ‘Blazing Sunset Sunset’ – appearing by luck rather than by plan – and included other small white blooms, including the first blossom from my Iceberg rose, common white yarrow (Achillea millefolium) and white German (I think) chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla).

Happy Birthday Canada! And many thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting IAVOM and giving gardeners around the world an opportunity to share their flower designs.

18 Comments

  1. Ox eye daisies always make a fabulous vase, and I love how they flop about in that first picture. I am so pleased you were able to find at least a spot of red, to celebrate Canada’s birthday – I was trying to think if I had anything scarlet red in bloom, and I suppose the sweet peas would be the nearest to scarlet, so I could rustle up red, white and blue for a Union Jack, if need be… Will there be any real celebrations or will your lockdown prevent that?

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    1. No parades, concerts or fireworks displays this year, but there will be a lot of virtual celebrations going on, and likely a lot of private house parties (max 10 people, with physical distancing) etc. I’m not really into watching parties, music etc on-line so it will be quieter than other years!

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  2. That geum certainly is red. I think of it as something that is always some sort of orange. Is the common name geum or avens? White yarrow is rad too.
    Goodness, Canada is younger than California.

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      1. There are more people in California than there are in all of Canada. San Jose alone has more of a population than most of the individual Canadian Provinces. There must be a lot of open space in Canada.

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      3. I was surprised that there are five (!) cities in Australia with populations greater than the population of San Jose, but the rest of the continent is so empty, as if everyone lives in the cities.

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  4. Your ikebana arrangement fits the bill! I love that shot from the air show. Those weren’t real people sky-diving though, were they? I belatedly thought I should have combined my vases to create something red, white and blue as a nod to our Independence Day on July 4th but, after listening to illegal fireworks going off since late May (not to speak of some of the political diatribes), I’m already over the holiday.

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    1. Yes! Real skydivers (military, I presume) holding onto huge flags! I totally understand your attitude – American news channels spill over the border and it’s quite remarkable/dismaying to see many days.

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    1. Thanks Eliza – I live off a road called the Loyalist Parkway – to celebrate the United Empire Loyalists who settled the region (‘settled’ being a word our indigenous peoples would not agree with), fleeing the U.S. in the late 1700’s, after the American revolution. Not quite as many folks have gone in the other direction!

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    1. Thank you Amelia – I love yarrow as well – it can spread and escape the garden but easily pulled if necessary. One of my favourite patches is in the middle of the yard, where it gets mowed regularly, and as a result there’s a patch of low, soft fuzzy foliage instead of grass (or dandelions). Kinda neat.

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