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 recognise 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 favourite 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.
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Oh these once again are lovely images. The Dahlia colours are divine. I always look so forward to your posts. Ruth
Thank you Ruth – I am really pleased that you are enjoying Peonies & Posies!!
Rococo is a rather fine colour, but I’m not sure about such a perfect bloom, like camellias, I often think they don’t look real! I love the colour and form of your ‘unknown’ Dahlia, I hope someone will recognise it and let you know.
It looks like the ‘unknown’ will remain that way for now Christina – I think I will have to dig this one up for winter storage as I will not be able to replace it until I work out the name. I know what you mean about the perfection of Rococo, but it does seem to work as a garden flower – this is the dahlia that always gets positive comments from anyone I show around the garden and I grow it in a main border rather than the Cutting Garden.
If you ever do find an ID do let me know, thank you.
I love dahlia Rococco and Eveline so that’s two new dahlias to add to my want list for next years cutting garden.
The problem with dahlias is that they become very collectible! Both are great additions and produce an abundance of blooms. I do deadhead Eveline frequently as the white blooms always show imperfections more quickly than the darker shades.
Dahlias are a favorite although they don’t bloom well for me. I adore the colors of yours and how they have gone together…that first view took my breath away with the apples floating in the vase and flowers surrounding it…really professional and exquisite. I do hope your dahlias return.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment Donna!
Oh what glorious dahlias Julie. I’ve not come across ‘Eveline’ before – she’s most elegant and I like the looks of Rococo too. Hope that the mulch coat proves effective and that they make it through winter.
Thank you Anna – I am keeping my fingers crossed too. I will make sure I buy at least one tuber of each after Christmas though – I would hate to be without dahlias next summer so always plan a back up.
Using the apples this way is inspired – it looks fantastic! Thanks for showing us your gorgeous dahlias although I think I feel the same way about Rococo as Christina does 🙂 Interesting to read you have made the decision to keep yours in the ground this winter…. I think I shall lift mine as they have been overshadowed and not grown well where they are, but with some replanning I may keep them in next winter. Will look at my PN catalogue to order some more too – did you see the article in the Sept RHS magazine about the anemone flowered ones?
Thank you Cathy – I think lifting is the way to go if you don’t have too many tubers or are unhappy with where they are flowering. I have lifted mine since we moved in but last year had so many it was a mammoth task. I did see that RHS article – I love the anemone ones but find they are quite hard to manage – the blooms always seem to open unevenly and damage very quickly. I still grow them though – I will try to take some photographs this week.
Julie, your flowers always look so wonderfully fresh. Beautiful presentation today. The use of apples is a nice touch–it seems the roundness of the apples is repeated in those Rococo dahlias. I love that dark wine color. Also Eveline is lovely.
Thank you Susie – I am glad you noticed the apples and the Rococo dahlia – I loved the repetitive shapes and complementary colours.
I think the idea of apples in the vase is lovely Julie. And your flowers all look so perfect and fresh. Beautiful photos as always. 🙂
Thank you Cathy – I really enjoyed looking at this vase this week – the apples made it quite appetising!
What wonderful dahlias! The photographs are fab, I love the idea of the apples.
Thank you Ronnie – I have really enjoyed having an excess of apples this year to play with.
Lovely dahlias, thank you for telling me your source for them in a previous comment. I am definitely going to have lots next year.
I leave my tubers in the ground, I believe that winter wet kills them more than frost. I cover them with several layers of newspaper and put the compost on top of this. This gives them an extra layer of protection.
Thank you Chloris – I am sure you are right about the wet – I will try your newspaper and compost idea. I am missing your blog – it doesn’t seem to appear in my reader anymore although it still shows me as following you – I need to make more effort to remember to log in myself!!
This happens to me from time to time. If you refollow me, they should start appearing again.
LOVE those colors together…my favorite!:-) I have a lot of apples from our tree so that is a great idea
Thank you Robbie – it is nice to have a way to make use the surplus!
What a beautiful presentation, Julie! I love the use of the apples in the vase. I may have to copy the idea one day, albeit with lemons rather than apples as I have lots of the former and none of the latter. (There’s probably a message in that fact somewhere.)
I will look forward to seeing your lemons Kris – it does say a lot about our differing climates!