In a Vase on Monday: September Treasures

The garden looks so colourful and warm at this time of year, and I have tried to capture that in my vase today, as I join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her Monday meme.

The grasses and asters are the main characters in the garden, but side roles are taken still by the Zinnias and Calendula, and even a couple of Cosmos flowers hanging on. I have picked quite a few of these last annual flowers (we may get a frost this week) to savour that brilliant colour. The Zinnias have been fabulous all summer; those planted in pots flowered earlier and are now over, but the ones planted out in the garden beds started to produce big healthy blooms a little later, in August, and haven’t stopped since.

This yellow flower is Chrysopsis, an autumn flowerer that still hasn’t become well-known here, but performs without fail regardless of whether the summer has been dry or not. It pairs so well with the pale mauve Aster ‘Pink Star’.

Another plant that has come through the drought well is Persicaria Orangefield. The Persicarias hate dry weather, but as soon as it rains they start growing and flowering like mad.

Miscanthus Red Chief is reliable and colourful, and a favourite for an autumn vase, as is peony foliage. I used some Forsythia foliage that was colouring nicely to bulk this vase out a little, so everything would sit nicely in my sunflower jug…. sadly no sunflowers this year though.

I also found this one single Hypericum flower.

My prop this week is a little painted mushroom – a ‘treasure’ I found on my last garden centre visit… it is mushrooming season here and there are cars parked in odd places up the lane and shady characters surreptitiously disappearing into the woods with bags and baskets to their own secret spot for finding treasures – chanterelles or porcini and possibly parasol mushrooms. If only I knew enough to pick some myself!

I shall stick to picking flowers though.

Have a good week, and Happy Gardening!