In a Vase, On Monday – Cutting Back

Chris Mousseau

Temperatures have had unusual swings this winter – a few typical colds days and nights (i.e. many degrees below freezing) followed by a period of relative balminess. Snow has come and gone many times, ice on bays and smaller lakes has been too thin for fishing or skating (or non existent…) and it’s left me, and other gardeners, I expect, tempted on some days to start cutting back perennial flower stalks a few months earlier than usual.

Such was the case last Thursday and Friday, when it was 11 or 12 degrees (52-ish Fahrenheit) and, for a change, sunny. I was coming in from a run and noticed the Carolina Lupine (Thermopsis villosa) stalks leaning over the driveway. ‘Might as well cut them back,’ I thought to myself. ‘They’re going to fall over soon enough anyway.’ So I did.

Thermopsis stalks bent over the driveway

There was still a bit of snow on the ground from a storm the previous week, but it was melting fast and, indeed, by end of day Friday it had all but disappeared. (Yesterday and Saturday it was freezing again – minus 14 or plus seven Fahrenheit overnight…but that’s another story!)

I thought these stalks, with the interesting seed pods at the end, would look good in a vase if they were joined by a few other things still standing in the garden. There’s still another month month of winter, after all, with a last frost date usually in mid May. As far as fresh flowers go, I’ll be making do with snowdrops for several more weeks. Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this meme of (usually)cut flowers from gardens around the world.

An old Prince Edward Dairies milk bottle with dried Thermopsis, Hydrangea and Agastache stalks, along with a few red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea) stems for colour.

17 Comments

    1. No one believes my stories of ‘when I was your age the snowbanks were higher than me’ stories anymore…not hard to understand given we haven’t had that much snow in recent winters, unlike other parts of the continent. Changing weather patterns…

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  3. In your second photo, the Agastache stem on the far left really caught my eye. If I’d seen it without context or a name, I would have thought it was the seed pods of our native Monarda. A little research, and voila! They’re both in the mint family.

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  4. I really like the wintry mix of the dried floral and seedheads especially the grass. Perfect as we await spring. I have a similar lamp in size, color and shape to yours although mine has dragonflies on it too.

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  7. It’s good to have something for a vase in winter and your collection is lovely Chris. I like the look of the dried Agastache in particular. Another one to try for me this year. Our winter has also been up and down, but with little snow.

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