In a Vase, On Monday – Seedy

Chris Mousseau

I know. It’s June. There are SO many flowers in the garden right now I could easily fill a dozen or three vases with fresh cut blooms. But still, what to do with the spent flowers, the stems I’d normally cut back and leave to decompose or cart out to the compost pile, when those stems are, in themselves, quite architectural yet not necessarily wanted on the voyage?

That was my dilemma with 30 or so Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ flower stalks. There was a discussion in another blog post a few weeks ago about if gardeners should cut them back or not. Some folks said let them stand because they add interest to the garden for many months to come, other said cut them back because doing so will push plant resources to strengthening the bulbs, not to mention stop this prolific re-seeder from procreating a gazillion baby grass-like alliums next spring. My thoughts are firmly in the middle – leave a few standing but cut most of them down, unless you do, indeed, want to set out to propagate them.

So I cut my small patch down, feeling a bit like a lumberjack with my secateurs, and was left with a large handful of tall flower stalks. Rather than tossing them, or letting them dry and lose their colour, I plopped them in a vase which will sit, for most of the summer most likely, on a small table on the back porch.

Here are the alliums, out and about in the garden, having a morning chat with their culinary cousins…
…and in their summer home. I’ll stop adding water at some point and if the seeds ripen I’ll likely scatter everything in a field somewhere, to see if they can compete with meadow grasses.

Have a lovely week everyone, and if you’d like to see a few other vases with actual fresh cut flowers in them, visit Cathy’s site, Rambling in the Garden.

20 Comments

  1. I love the simplicity of the arrangement, not to mention the pleasure of my first sight of this plant’s seed heads. They’re really lovely. I’d keep that vase and its contents around as long as I could!

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    1. Thank you, and thanks for calling it an ‘arrangement,’ as I did put a bit of thought into it when cutting the length of stems etc. 🙂 One of the reasons it’ll stay outside is if the seedheads do ripen, they may split, dropping seeds everywhere…

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  5. I always left mine for the most part. I love the look of these seedy heads in that tall clear vase. Gorgeous.

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  6. Oh that is wonderful, Chris – what a brilliant idea, especially having the stems at different lengths. I am probably with you in leaving some standing – or intending to, but perhaps it is best to leave them till just before they start to drop seed. I try and do that my wild garlic, to stop it spreading

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  7. Alliums are striking at all stages, Chris! The few I had seem to have disappeared this year but, after my Agapanthus finish their bloom stage, I sometimes keep the stalks in place for a time to add interest in my late summer garden.

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  8. I agree wholeheartedly with your choice to vase the seedheads. Last year I also enjoyed seedheads in bouquets. Mine were seedheads from my white chives. So pretty and unique.

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  9. They look fabulous in a vase Chris. Good idea to cut the bulk and let a few set seed. Mine are just reaching that stage where I need to decide whether to cut them or not!

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  10. How nice to make good use of them near the end. My former neighbor used to do that with lily of the Nile floral trusses. I only needed to pluck off the floral parts. Alternatively, I could pluck off the seed capsules also. They worked as well dried with a tan color. I suppose that they could have even been spray painted, . . . but that is a job for someone who knows more about floral design.

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