In a Vase, on Monday – Firsts

Chris Mousseau

We finally had a bit of rain early yesterday morning, the first rainfall of July for us, only about 10 mm but enough to perk up the garden a bit and replenish, a bit, the rain barrels. It was enough to encourage a Zinnia to open – the first in my Zinnia patch, the early adapter of the Zinnias. I think they’ll all be pink this year, since I only collected seeds from pink flowers last fall. We shall soon see who the cross-pollinators were though!

I snipped a handful of lavender, another handful of mauve and white Allium carinatum – keeled garlic, three white Echinacea stems, a single Agastache stem (lots of fragrance in today’s vase!) and a thick flower stalk from one of last year’s onions that was left in the garden over the winter.

Wanting to add some whimsy, and something totally outside the developing colour scheme, I also snipped the first Tithonia flower. One of the nice things about these Mexican sunflowers is they have extremely long stems. The Tithonia were started from last year’s seeds indoors, on April 11, and planted outside on June 8. 15 weeks from planting to bloom. The Zinnias were started from last year’s seed planted directly outside, also on June 8. Just six weeks from planting to bloom!

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts the weekly garden meme In A Vase On Monday, featuring flowers from our gardens. Click the link to join or see what others are sharing today. Have a lovely week, everyone!

21 Comments

  1. I recognized the Tithonia right away — yea, me! I like the casual feel of the vase, and smiled at the addition of the clippers in the second photo. I enjoyed the purples and red together, as well; that’s one of my favorite combinations.

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    1. Thanks Linda – I’m finding that many seemingly disparate colour combinations, when presented as a ‘wild’ bunch, seem to look natural and can be pleasing. Yaay you indeed!!!

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    1. Ha! Yes – I’ve learned to plant them where they have space to grow and to also add a stake to tie them up when the time comes at some point in August (like you would a dahlia or tomato even).

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  3. Sorry about not getting enough rain. We had a good few hours overnight, which was perfect.

    Your flowers look wonderful.

    Sent from my Galaxy

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    1. Thanks Jan – it’s a bit frustrating to see the weather radar with all the green rain clouds everywhere in the region except over our corner! Even more frustrating to watch that same radar with rain and storms approaching only to see them slowly disappear just before they reach us!!

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  4. Pretty combination of colors and flower shapes. What fun that you collected seeds…do you save them at room temp or refrigerate them? I’ve only collected Morning Glory seeds…will try w/ ‘Thumbelina Zinnias’ this Fall. I have 2 pots full of Zinnias, from a last-year’s seed packet. Glad you got some rain! We got a T-storm & 1 1/4″ yesterday evening…storm came & left so quickly.

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    1. I keep my seeds in either plastic pill bottles or small paper envelopes, in a dark drawer…not refrigerated. Not ideal, if you read the literature which usually suggests, as you say, they be stored in a cool place. Still…works for me even though my indoor temperature varies quite a lot in winter (and summer…)

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  6. Six weeks for Zinnias – gosh, that’s amazing! I have tried leaving it later to sow mine but have found they just flower that much later and then get caught by the frost. I do have a couple of plants this year, and perhaps I will try saving seed and give that a whirl. I love your white echinacea and it’s good to see agastache in a vase

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    1. I’m really happy with the speedy Zinnias as well. I really like Agastache (as do bees) but I’m often not quite sure when it should be cut – the individual flowers don’t appear all at the same time, I find, so it never really looks ‘open.’ Perhaps that’s a good thing for the pollinators – providing nectar for a longer period of time…

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      1. Strangely, this year most of my agastache have flowered really well and the plants actually look attractive – and one of them is in a pot too. I will still lift them and bring them inside over winter as they have never overwintered outside. Interesting thought about the pollinators though – and logical too

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    1. Thanks Kris – happy we had that bit of it, sad we’ve had no rain since! The Zinnias have started in earnest none the less with a little help from the rain barrel.

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    1. Thank you! ‘Just snipped’ is an interesting word combination…when speaking it, it forces you to slow down if you want to hear the ‘t.’ Also when reading it. I’m going to try using it in this Monday’s post…

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  9. The Tithonia are hard work but so worth it when they produce those beautiful big orange flowers. I love the colour combination with pinks and purples – a very nice zinnia. Really a gorgeous vase this week Chris. Wishing you more rain!

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