Spring wish list

It”s almost February and today it”s snowing. I”m starting to put together my spring wish list.

Buttercream color

California poppies – butter cream color

Lovely, pure white flowers form in big, flat-topped clusters, which resemble lace-cap hydrangeas. They appear throughout the summer above the fine, fern-like foliage. This gorgeous hardy annual has an extremely long flowering period and will often flower until the first frosts. Particularly good in wilder gardens.

A tiny pom pom Dahlia. Franz Kafka.

Dahlia American DawnPapyrus

Dahlia “American Dawn” and Papyrus – an annual grass here in Zone 5.

 

 

Oh joy, oh rapture

Oh joy, oh rapture

This is the name of a lily I planted a couple of years ago. I thought the name was kind of arbitrary and wonderfully poetic. I didn’t get it until tonight in late July when I walked out into the night, my garden illuminated only by the full moon. I was overwhelmed with the perfume from these flowers which did give rise to joy and rapture or gratitude – no kidding. I had no idea…

 

June flowers

The basket is in the shape of an upside down Korean gentleman”s hat.

The flowers: the first lily of the season, a Penstemon, my favorite Chinese Meadowrue, a Balloon flower and a Miscanthus grass.

 

A drift of Bachelor Buttons

Astrantia

Arrange flowers as if they were growing wild in a field

The Tea Ceremony as we know it today was created in 16th century Japan by the Tea master Rikyu. The flowers in the tea room are placed according to his insight and reveal an aesthetic of simple restraint. He said “To arrange flowers is to express the life of flowers.”

Each flower is enjoyed for its distinct color, shape, size and seasonal bloom. Equally appreciated are the vases that hold the flowers. They”re varied: rough pottery for use in winter, baskets in all shapes and sizes for summer, smooth bronze and blue and white porcelain for formal occasions. The flowers and vases have stories to tell, and in the tea room they are talked about and admired.

excerpt – A Tea Garden in Tivoli

An ocean of hydrangea

Annabelle Hydrangea in June seem like waves of surf. The tea house can be seen in the far back, cool in the green shade of the afternoon.

In early summer the blossoms are pale green

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