It’s mid October and I can pillage and plunder the cutting garden with abandon. Cooler nights and shorter days mean the season is over, summer loving plants are winding down and before you know it we’ll have frost and snow. When I was asked to fill a few steins with autumnal blooms to decorate the community centre hall for their Oktoberfest feast on Saturday I had no hesitation in cutting a couple buckets of dahlias.
I added a fist full of Verbena bonariensis and branches from my back porch Coleus that’ll be otherwise composted in a few days. Seven steins instead of a vase today! Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this weekly flower gathering and arranging meme.
That’s a festive way to fill those steins and the pitcher. All your blooms are gorgeous. Hoping you had another empty stein to fill with beer or cider. Between Thanksgiving and Octoberfest you’ve had plenty of party time.
SO much party time! And plenty of beer cups!! 😆🍻
Your dahlias are impressive in all stages, planted, harvested and arranged.
It’s been an exceptionally excellent year for dahlias, it seems, all over this continent, eh?
What a clever idea! And such beautiful bouquets. That orange and purple combo always is pleasing.
Thanks! I’m happy that the Verbena self seeds so prolifically!
What a great celebration of autumnal blooms Chris, and I know what you mean about the pillaging and plundering late in the season, especially now we are on tenterhooks as the weather shows signs of changing. Your community must have been very grateful for your steins, as of course are we
Thank you Cathy – it’s supposed to be wet here, starting Thursday and then every day for a while so I cut back all the dahlias this morning, in prep for digging them up Wednesday and letting them dry off a bit on the back porch before storing them for the winter. I’m glad I had the opportunity to use/share all the blooms over the weekend!
I love the Oktoberfest theme, Chris. They must have loved steins as vases!
I had to laugh at your first line: ‘I can pillage and plunder the cutting garden with abandon’… I think I’ve been doing that all summer! 😉
LOLOLOL!!
A really good rendering of ‘Festival of Flowers’, and the coleus leaves add a certain sophistication.
You’re right – and sophistication is certainly necessary on occasion 😁
Wow that is a fabulous bunch of vases! Perfect to end the season.
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That’s quite a collection of beer mugs, Chris! They look fantastic with your dahlias.
Thanks Kris! The steins were collected from various thrift shops over the summer…so glad the flowers looked good in them!
Cheers!! love the steins and the dahlias verbena color mix. Definitely a good dahlia year, hope the beer was good.
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My goodness, you have outdone us all this week Chris! All those autumnal colours are simply gorgeous. And your collection of steins is great too – you found the perfect title! The Verbena goes so well with the orange tones – a reminder that it doesn’t only look good with pink. 😃
Thanks Cathy! Oktoberfest is a big deal in many parts of Canada — for beer and sausage lovers, anyway! 😆😆
I never knew! 😄
I love your Oktoberfest of dahlia blooms. Lovely!
Thank you!
That’s an impressive display of dahlias!
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What a great idea, and what beautiful dahlias! I am stealing this idea next October 😀
😁😁😁