In a Vase, On Monday – Thrill, Fill and Spill

Chris Mousseau

My small vase of flowers this week started as a ‘garden edit’ – I needed to thin out and push back a line of self-seeded Calendula bordering the kitchen garden so that a line of bush beans could get some sun and also so that, when the time comes, I’ll be able to actually, you know, pick the beans.

If I can anthropomorphize for a moment, Calendula grown like this are a bit sneaky. First, they produce a prodigious number of flowers and then seeds throughout the summer – dead-heading is an everyday task but a lot of seeds invariably ripen and fall into the garden. In the early spring a few of the seeds germinate and one thinks ‘Ah…I’ll have a few Calendula again this year. No need to buy plants or purchase new seeds.’ But then, before one can blink, really, the border is chock full of robust seedlings that very quickly grow into robust plants with a multitude of flowers that need…daily dead-heading. Or an edit or two. I transplanted several to fill in areas left bare by fading spring bulbs (unless you get a good chunk of soil with them, they don’t much like to be transplanted) but still had more than enough to fill this vase (and several more), so that I can join Cathy’s Monday group at Rambling in the Garden.

Section of the kitchen garden with Calendula, then beans…then tomatoes….

Calendula stems have a vague citrus scent when cut – making the edit (and dead-heading) kinda pleasant. And the stems and leaves are sticky – likely why they are uneaten by earwigs and the myriad of other insects that chow down on Dahlias, Tagetes and Zinnias.

I was editing the Fuchsia (why can I never spell this correctly?) in a wall sconce as well, cutting off the ends of a few stems to bush up the plants, and added them to the blue Hyacinth jar, doing their natural spilling over the edge thing.

I thought the vase needed a little something to thrill and, lo and behold, Allium carinatum, was just starting to open. Also known as keeled garlic, or witch’s garlic, this is the last Allium species in my garden to flower. All parts of this Allium are edible – flowers and bulb, and have a purportedly mild garlic taste. No, I haven’t tried it myself. It has a small head of mauve flowers on a slender stalk, but the long bracts below the flower cluster are what draw the eye.

Here’s the entire vase on a prop-laden back porch table. Have a great week, everyone!

(Bonus shot of Fuchsias…)

31 Comments

  1. Absolutely wonderful vase with all those elements. Yes I let my calendula self seed in the rocks and they root right on top of the garden fabric beneath. They can take over, but oh I love the look of them especially here in your garden.

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  2. I love a vase of calendulas, mine are just coming on. I freshened my genetics with a new packet which have been very slow-growing, happier now in this heat. I’ve learned to only allow a dozen plants per annum in my garden. They can become very overwhelming!

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  3. Calendulas look a lot like Gerberas. Maybe your Calendulas are guarding your bush beans from insect predators! Witch’s Garlic is quite pretty!

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  4. I had no idea what a Calendula was, so I looked it up. All the sites I looked at said they’re — marigolds! The vase is lovely, but I especially like the closeup of the Fuchsias (which I rarely spell right on a first pass.) As for a good week: it’s started great. I’m sitting here in the heart of hurricane Beryl, and still have power, which means coffee. Life is good!

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    1. OMG Beryl is heading my way!!!! I hope you managed all the rain and wind…no one’s quite sure how much rain we’ll get, starting tonight, but likely 50 -60 mm, only two inches or so, but a lot for us at once.

      I’ve heard Calendula called Pot Marigolds, for some reason, but I always (and lost people here) call Tagetes marigolds.

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  6. Oh is that what that allium is called? It has popped up here too, although I have no idea where it came from. I know what you mean about the calendula and I find it is the more ‘ordinary ones that self-seed the most. I usually grow 3 or 4 different varieties but this year there are two I won’t ry again as I not inspired by them. I picked a similar vase this weekend to take to my place of voluntary work, along with a few orange dahlias. Your fushsi are doing a good spillage job!

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    1. I’m loving the Calendula with a multitude of petals…they’re so soft to the touch…and the bright orange ones, so I purposely let them go to seed. But the others, especially these off white ones, don’t speak to me so I TRY to dead head those. I should probably just pull them right out!

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  8. That’s an impressive number of Calendulas! I’d be happy if those I’ve previously grown had produced a single successor. But I know what you mean about being caught off-guard by seedlings – my sweet peas completely overwhelmed a raised planter before I realized it was too late to properly thin them and my self-seeded Daucus carota have done that to my summer garden as well.

    https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/

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    1. It’s been a great year here, garden wise, with enough rain for a change..one week to the next something has taken over one part of the garden or another!

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  9. I like the vase, Chris and I can never spell fuchsia either – or chartreuse. I wish I could grow Calendulas like that! They have to be coddled here as winter annuals. Pretty fuchsia flowers, too!

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  10. Oh, that bonus shot of the Fuchsias is lovely! I like the Calendulas and had no idea they are such welf-seeders. I have never managed to get them established here and assume slugs are the problem. Your table full of flowers and props looks so summery. Isn’t that Allium fascinating! Have a great week Chris!

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  11. Is the Fuchsia ‘Swingtime’? That would be an old fashioned cultivar by now. It was my mother’s favorite. My Pa got her a nice specimen from Antonelli’s in Capitola in about 1970, back when Antonelli’s was a tourist destination.

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