In a Vase, on Monday – Stems and Flowers

Chris Mousseau

A week or so ago, I wanted to move one of my raised beds from the back of the yard to the back of the house (for ease of watering, mainly), but the bed I wanted to move, the one with a nice wide wood edge that could be sat upon, was full of mint – chocolate mint, ginger mint and mojito mint. [Note: If you’re growing these specialty mints, it’s NOT a good idea to grown them in such close proximity – apparently they can cross-pollinate and create new plants with unappealing tastes and fragrance.] Out came the mint, but not before I cut a bunch and stuck it in a clear glass vase. I love seeing stems in water – not for everyone, I know, but for some reason it turns me on!

The water is a bit murky – came from a rain trough since our well is still at a very low level. You can see the square mint stems.
The mint bed in August
The same raised bed, now moved and being planted with garlic.

Although a vase filled with green leaves can be appealing, especially when the leaves are fragrant, I thought I’d raid the Zinnia patch to add some pizazz. Might as well use them while we can, right? Here’s the final vase:

As you might notice, I put this vase together at the same time as the ikebana vase I showcased last Monday. Glad I did, too, since we had our first frost this past Saturday morning, and the zinnias were touched:

Touched by a light frost early Saturday morning, this is what it looked like Saturday afternoon.

Our overnight temperatures are forecast to stay well above zero for the next week or two, but that’s what they said for Friday night as well! In the meantime, I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe fall (or spring, if you’re in the southern hemisphere) week. As always, 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.

16 Comments

  1. The zinnias rising above the mint makes a gorgeous arrangement. Nice. Sad when the cold weather hits the flowers. I hope we don’t have a frost for a few more weeks. Oct 23 or so is our average frost date.

    Like

    1. Yikes – that’s this week!!! After that one little frost event, it looks like we’ll have above zero nights into November. I still have cherry tomatoes on the vine! I’ll never get the veg garden winter-prepped!!

      Like

  2. I thought for a minute you were planting tulips in that bed, Chris…were you not tempted? The zinnias look wonderful and I am sorry that your first frost has arrived to put a damper on your garden

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I can imagine! All mine are still to be planted and although in pots it still involves a lot of bending – although I could elevate the smaller ones, I suppose.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Alison C once gave me a bouquet with mint in it, so I can imagine the lovely scent with yours. I like the way the dark foliage brings the colours of your zinnias forward even more.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. It’s nice to see that you still have Zinnias. I’m impressed that you were able to get all the mint out of the bed you moved. One of the raised planters I inherited with my current garden was covered in mint and I spent at least a week trying to get every speck of it out after we moved in but, almost 10 years later, it still pops up. I think pieces of the prior owner’s plants must be embedded in the wood of the planter!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That’s exactly what I discovered, Kris, roots embedded in the wood. I know I didn’t get it all and look forward to pulling it, and adding it to summer beverages, for years to come! 😉

      Like

  7. Lovely to see your zinnias Chris. We have had a couple of very light frosts but mine are still looking fine, if not a bit tatty after a week of showers. Glad you could save some before they got caught. 😃

    Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.