Welcome to ‘In A Vase On Monday’ when I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to share a vase of flowers picked from my garden every Monday.
Although the temperatures have remained high this week there has been a distinct shift in the feel of the garden. Autumn is making its presence known with crispy leaves floating down with every breeze, chickens in the moult, sweetcorn and pumpkins ready to eat and pheasants roaming the garden.
Looking for inspiration for todays vase I decided to make use of some of the many windfall apples lying around the garden. These are never wasted – they will keep in a box and provide bad weather treats for the chickens throughout the winter months. Before they are stored for the chickens, however, I like to use them for display and today decided to fill my vase with them!!
Whilst I could have left them unadorned and enjoyed their simple beauty floating in the vase, there are so many dahlias in flower at the moment that I felt the need to incorporate some of them into my vase. Above and below is a beautiful but nameless cactus dahlia – I have grown it for a few years now and the name tag has long since disappeared – if you recognize it, please do let me know.
On the table next to the vase are a few unused blooms, including the perfectly formed wine purple pom pom dahlia Rococo.
Another favorite pom pom dahlia is this bi-colour named Marble Ball.
Toning beautifully with these wine coloured flowers are the pristine ‘white edged with lilac’ blooms of dahlia Eveline. You can see that I also added sprigs of fresh mint to the arrangement – dahlias have no scent, so I often add herbs to give a gentle fragrance.
I have spent most of the day tidying in the Cutting Garden – removing annuals and half hardy annuals that are past their best to make room to start the annual autumn bulb planting marathon. Whilst much is ready to be removed, the dahlias are looking better and better as the month progresses. As long as the night time temperatures stay above freezing these beautiful blooms should continue to look good throughout October.
In the past I have lifted dahlias after the frost has blackened the stems and stored them in boxes in a dark but frost free outhouse. I have so many growing in the garden now though, that lifting them all would be an arduous task at a time of year when I am ready to hang up my gardening boots for a month or two. This year I have decided to take the risk of leaving them in – cutting back the deadened stalks and covering them with a thick layer of compost. I am optimistic that some, if not all, will survive but I will order some new stock in January to bring on in the greenhouse just in case – any that I do not need can be put in large pots around the terrace for the summer.
I hope you have enjoyed this weeks vase and that you will pop over to Cathy’s blog to see what she and the others have made from their gardens this week. I have a very busy week ahead, but hope to be back for an end of month review later this week.
