In a Vase on Monday: Sunhats!

It is Monday, so I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her lovely flowery meme.

But before I share my vase, a quick weather update: it’s raining! You remember? That wet stuff that falls from the sky? I may go out and do some planting in it later to appreciate it to the full!

Back to the vase. In German ‘sunhats’ (Sonnenhut) is the common name for Echinacea and I think it is the perfect description for these summer flowers.

What’s more, while cutting some Echinacea and Zinnias for today’s vase I realized that Zinnias also look like little sunhats. What do you think?

My Zinnias this year have been a lovely mix of colours, from seed packets called ‘Bumblebee’ and ‘Sonnenstrahl’ (sunbeam).

I picked a variety of Echinacea purpurea, E. pallida, and various Zinnias… some have wide ‘brims’, some floppy, some with frilly bits on top… Which one would YOU wear?

(My own sunhat looked quite plain in comparison so I stuck a Helenium in it for the photo!)

The foliage is from a peony. Strangely enough all my peony foliage usually remains looking good until the autumn, even in an extremely dry year with strong sunshine and wind. Here is a spiky ‘sunhat’ up close, with a deep cherry red one purchased without a name last year. The greenish creamy one with hints of pink hiding behind it is E. ‘Green Envy’ which is not looking very green at all this year.

The orange Echinacea on the left and the spiky one up front are ones I grew from seed – the seed packet simply said E. purpurea ‘Colour Mix’ and has produced mainly normal deep pink and pale pink flowers, so these two were a nice surprise.

I think the orange one is my favourite, but I love that peachy frilly Zinnia too!

I hope you all have sunhats – I am reading how many of you have had a lot of sunshine recently (and not enough rain). Stay cool in the shade if it is still hot, enjoy the rain if it has finally arrived, and have a good week in your garden!