It’s early on a Monday morning, it’s crisp outside but the day will be sunny and warm, and I’m joining Cathy, from Rambling in the Garden with photos I took over the weekend of a vase of cut flowers from my garden. I was actually inspired by another North American gardener, Eliza Waters, who last week had a vase with some lovely white Nigella damascena – Love in a Mist (and I see that they are in one of her two vases today as well!). The Nigella in my garden is a dark violet/purple and is also in bloom and I thought I’d cut a bunch of stems, pair them with the similarly coloured Allium carinatum – keeled garlic – and add orange and yellow Coreopsis and Calendula for contrast.
That was the plan! A long Echinacea pallida stem was broken – it was falling over a pathway – so I stuck it into the vase, and a few small dill flower heads were added to fill up some of the negative space that didn’t look right. Trying to get a decent photograph of the end result was challenging…I really have to try and do better! Anyway…thanks Cathy and Eliza, and have a great week everyone!
(I almost forgot about these onions – the very tops of a few Egyptian Walking Onions that were attempting to walk all over the kitchen garden.)
I’ve never seen such a dark violet/purple Nigella, and it’s lovely. I’ve only seen pastel pink, white, and blue in a friend’s garden. The combination with the yellows is gorgeous, especially in the top photo, but the overall look is pure summer.
Thank you! Deep, dark colours like this, or deep red or deep green…. make my eyes stop and my heart slow and my breath pause and my lips smile.
I love those dark Nigella! And the contrasting yellow and orange is just the ticket, a happy July vase! Thanks for the shout-out, too. 🙂
AND we’re getting a bit of rain today! Happiness abounds!
That’s a lovely color mix, Chris. Our flowers appear on entirely different schedules. My Nigella are already long gone – I can only wish they’d hang on longer.
Thanks Kris – yes, they’re so unlike other annuals that will flower until frost. At least the seedheads are interesting.
How nice that dill flowers are appreciated. Dill is a naturalized wildflower here. Does NIgella self sow?
Yes! Thank goodness! It likes a spot with no or little competition though to germinate and grow well…so far that means, for me, around the edges of the house, a few inches beyond the overhang, where it gets a bit of rain but other plants don’t encroach.
Your vase is a pretty one and all your flowers look so colorful and pretty in it. I’m so enjoying all the Dill flowers this year…so cheery. Pollinators galore. 6th Monarch that I know of was here, yesterday, a Tiger Swallowtail & I got a video of a Hummingbird Moth…you can see it on IG. alicempratt. 16, being raised inside, Monarch caterpillars are crawling or in a ‘J’, teeny hatchlings & more eggs. Busy. Enjoy your week!
Great video of the moth and Wow! Your caterpillars!!
I love the blue of the nigella, which so far I have failed to establish as a self-seeder – and I hven’t been able to grow those allium either! Your blues look so pretty with the contrasting yellows
Thanks Cathy. I’ve re-learned a lot about colour theory and what’s pleasing to the eye by putting together these vases over the past several years! Now I need to re-learn patience when putting stems in vases so that they don;t all look just plonked in!
So many beautiful choices….nigella have seeded all over the rock beds in 3 colors. I adore them in a vase.
Ohhh Lucky You!!!! I need to find more seed now!!!
Blue flowers are always lovely, but the Nigella just have something magical about them, don’t they! I love the combination with the alliums and dill. 😁
Thanks Cathy! Yes, Looking at Nigella close up, seeing the intricate way the various bits of flower curl and protrude and come together…very magical!
That Nigella is a beautiful shade of blue, and then add the contrasting yellow and orange–wow. And the Dill and Alliums! I love it! Perfect for a summer day. And that porcelain vase is a perfect vessel for it.