Well.
In my Saturday post I postulated that it would be a momentous weekend, and (sadly, it turns out) I was right. The Toronto Blue Jays lost the baseball World Series crown in a true heart breaker of a game, and we had the first hard frost of the year. My glowing Zinnia patch is now just a collection of green sticks with crispy browned petals on top – too depressing to even take a decent photo of. Instead, I’ll join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden with a Blue Mountain Pottery vase of red twig dogwood stems – cut to give to a floral designer friend and destined for holiday table centerpieces. Have a great week everyone!
County Gardening 
Love the glazing on the vase, and lucky florist to have such great material to work with!
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The glaze is so deep and entrancing…and she’s a very good friend!
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Those photos are beautiful, particularly the closeup; vase and stems are a great match. The first (and only) time I’ve seen red osier dogwood was in October, 2011, in a ditch in Minnesota. I remember it so well because a friend and I had taken my mother’s ashes up to Iowa for burial, and then spent a couple of weeks in the midwest. We were touring around Fairmont with some of her friends when I spotted that red in the ditch and demanded a stop. I cut a few long branches, and had them in a floor vase until last year, when they finally lost all color and twigs started falling. Until then, I’d called them my Christmas bush, and decorated them with tiny, glittery stars and balls.
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What a lovely story! 2011- 2024 is a LONG time to keep them! I have several jugs with the twigs inside that I’m able to renew every few years…if I think to do so…they’re like vases of dried flowers or seedheads to me – attractive enough but then they fade from being noticed and collect dust (and cat hair) until in a fit of house cleaning I toss the whole thing out.
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Such lovely Autumn colors!
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Thanks Alice!
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Oh, but this is beautiful Chris! It may not make up for the frosts, but it is certainly a wonderful vase. 😃
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Thanks Cathy!
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Red twig dogwood is so underappreciated. We coppice some of ours to enhance the color. It is not as colorful within the mild weather here.
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Yes…I have several clumps that have sprung up in unlikely spots (birds distributing seeds, no doubt) that I cut almost to the ground every fall but they spring up again the following spring, turning brighter red than ever as the nights get colder
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Shame about your lovely zinnia patch, Chris, but what a great idea to use the cornus stems for your Monday vase. I love the colour of Blue Mountain Pottery (so distinctive), and this particular vase is a lovely shape
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Thanks Cathy! The vase is almost Art Deco, isn’t it? I love the shiny green glaze it has
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Yes indeed!
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Love those bright red stems! Your Blue Jays put up a good fight and that World Series game will probably go into the baseball history books. I expect it’s no consolation but Los Angeles really needed a morale boost – it’s been a terrible year here.
https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/
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Thanks Kris…that actually is a small consolation, although I suspect many Canadians would say the same thing these days 🙂
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Sorry about the Jays, we were rooting for them! The vase is fantastic, wonderful color! I always wanted Red Twig Dogwoods, sigh.
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Red twig dogwood grows in abundance here…but there’s a yellow twig variety as well. I’ve planted it in other gardens but here, it’s just too dry in mid summer. They look great in winter, side by side.
The Jays…heavy sigh…
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