Although there is still plenty to pick from the garden for a vase, in many cases it may only be a single bloom at a time. It would be a shame not to take advantage of these remnants, so I picked as and where I could today.
Most prominent was a single bloom of Dahlia ‘Karma Fuchsiana’, the mother plant not having been very productive this year, joined by partially opened buds of Dahlias ‘Karma Naomi’ and ‘Nuit d’Eté’. Three freshly opening blooms of another dahlia have made their debut this week, grown from a Gardeners’ World ‘free’ tuber labelled ‘Glow’; the emerging tightly packed salmony coloured heads, however, do not resemble the Dahlia ‘Glow’ that Google showed me… Joining the dahlias were the last tails of Amaranthus caudatus, several spikes of Lavender ‘Spanish Eyes’, vivid pink blooms and aromatic leaves of Salvia ‘Neon’, spikes of Heuchera, Fuchsia magellanica and chubby Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’.
Last week’s vase suffered from its small size as the water had to be refreshed several times, making me cautious about today’s choice, especially as capacity has to be balanced with height as well. The small rectangular glass vase was pressed into service again, proving to be really versatile, and glass beads were added to hold the stems in place. Props were scraps of fabric left from dressmaking projects. As a child I used to enjoy delving into my mother’s ‘stuff basket’ where she kept her own fabric remnants, and as an adult I built up a small collection of patchwork quilts, finding the individual scraps of fabric in them fascinating. Of course I now also have my own stack of fabric remnants – which must be delved deeply into soon as Elder Daughter has asked me to make a selection of dressing up clothes for The Poppet for Christmas…
What remnants or bountiful blooms in your garden will you pop into your vases this week, and what stories can you weave round them? Do share them with us on your blog by including links to and from this post.
Rambling in the Garden 
Happy Monday, Cathy! You’re still finding many beauties–envious of your dahlias. That amaranthus makes a great accent for them. I visited my cousin last week and she helped me appliqué a pillow top on her fancy machine, so I had a chance to rummage through her remnants like we did our grandmother’s years ago. My vase is
https://pbmgarden.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/in-a-vase-on-monday-red-rust-and-gold/
Oh rummaging in the remnants – lovely! And that would have been an even better title…! 🙂 I have been so pleased with my foray into dahlias in the last 2 or 3 years and it’s only a shame that they don’t start flowering earlier than they do – although they were certainly a bit earlier last year
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I too am enjoying finding remnants in the garden – they are getting fewer and further between, but amazingly I still have sweetpeas, as well as the dahlias. Not as many as you have, though. They look so wonderful! Do you think ‘Karma Fuchsiana’ was named after the same Leonhard Fuchs whose name is commemorated by the fuchsia? Those GW ‘free’ things are always an adventure, aren’t they… am enthusiastically anticipating colour chaos with some tulips I received from them this autumn.
This week I have home-grown blooms mixed up with some I bought home from my floristry evening clases. I hope you enjoy them despite their naughty airmiles! https://edinburghgardendiary.com/2016/10/24/seven-vases/
I am amazed that you have seet peas still, but perhaps you started them later? I keep thinking I will do a later sowing to extend the season – just need to remember at the appropriate time! The Karma dahlias are quite new I think, so I have no idea if this one would have been named after Fuchs. I have become quite strict with myself and the GW offers – and will only order if they are something I have got space for (and like!) but haven’t looked at them this year of course…
Everything sets off a lot later chez nous, and the cool summer means the sweetpeas don’t exhaust themselves. I admire your fortitude in buying no plants for a year. Have you tried calculating how much money you might have saved? (As well as all the plastic saved from all those pots we gather and/or throw away). I might try it next year. I’ve already taken plenty of cuttings of this year’s favourites so hopefully that will keep things fresh.
Good grief – I hadn’t even considered how much money I might have saved! A lot, certainly, but more importantly it will have made me a more discerning gardener which is defintely a Good Thing 😉 And I am very much into cuttings too….
I remember the remnants basket my mother had as well. I have more than one currently! I wish I would make quilts, but am always more intent on pillows and window treatments. I love the movement in your arrangement provided by the Amaranth and the colors, the tapestry colors of fall. Here is my fall arrangement. https://theshrubqueen.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/in-a-vegetable-on-monday-faux-fall
Finding time to make a quilt is on my wish list but even buying a book on miniature quilts hasn’t helped!!
I made a christmas tree skirt about 20 years ago. The full extent of my quilting.
Hi Cathy! I love, love, LOVE the colors! 🙂
Good to hear from you and thank you, these dahlias are among my favourites
So much beauty in a vase and my favourite colours, too! My vase is here:http://timpingradina.blogspot.ro/2016/10/in-vase-on-monday-pink-fringed-ones.html
Thank you Anca – glad you like the colours
As always, a great theme for your vase! I have slowly been clearing out some of my fabric remnants and my garden suddenly has many fewer remnants as well. But still enough to make a vase which is here: http://eachlittleworld.typepad.com/each_little_world/2016/10/in-a-vase-on-monday-october-details.html
Making some dressing up clothes will be a good way to use up remnants but it is the fabric that are NOT remnants that are more of an issue!!
There is much good to be said of remnants, as your arrangement today proves, Cathy. The dahlias are always beautiful and I love the shocking pink salvia. I need to look into buying more salvia next spring. It is a varied genus showing up at the end of season in glorious ways. My vase this week: http://wp.me/p3O3z4-1xJ
Thanks Eliza – and I am sure there is something deeply philosophical about that remnant statement! I don’t know enogh about teh hardiness of salvias yet, as only this pink one has survived and I know now to take cuttings. I am loving the fragrance of the leaves though
You’ve made wonderful quilt from your remnants, so rich and full of the season’s glories. My small arrangement is here: http://outlawgarden.blogspot.com/2016/10/in-vase-on-monday_24.html
Thanks Peter – I had no idea what I was going to have as my title when I first picked the blooms, but the thought just came to me as it so often does!
How nice to find so much pink in the garden at this time of year. We are all about yellow over here as the major blooming of fall Texas native plants begins. The garden can breathe again.
http://wwwrockrose.blogspot.com/2016/10/in-vase-monday-native-texas-wildflowers.html
I sort of deliberately avoided any autumnal cloured blooms this time – while the oppoertunity was still there! Welcome to the meme 🙂
Your dahlias really are like my Eustoma – they keep on giving! I love that Amaranthus too and wish I’d had better luck growing it. I went with Southern California’s version of autumn colors this week: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2016/10/in-vase-on-monday-similar-but-not-same.html
Yes, although the eustoma will have a longer season overall I think – stacks of buds on the dahlias still but of course any frost will see them off, sadly…
Lovely arrangement, Cathy. I don’t know how I did it but I visited and commented on a previous post … a very senior moment! Having had very little success with dahlias, I can only admire your beautiful selection. I’m back and I’ve been foraging in both my garden and on a walk nearby for today’s vases – http://silverscrappers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/in-vase-on-monday-autumn-forage.html – hope you like.
Oops – I noticed the earlier comment in my notifications but hadn’t read it till now. Never mind – I would have found it and moved it if you hadn’t realised for yourself. Good to have you back
To my eye that Amaranthus caudatus made the whole arrangement so much more decadent, it’s wonderful. I’ve long intended to grow a green Amaranthus but never seem to actually do it (maybe next year). My contribution: http://www.thedangergarden.com/2016/10/on-my-front-door-and-in-vase-on-monday.html
My red amarantus has been better than the green this year (old seed, I think) – it’s so useful for vases and I have found it easy to grow here
Oh what a glourious patchwork Cathy. Which dahlia is it at the top of your last photo? I’m particularly enamoured by it 🙂 My amaranthus have now gone to seed but will definitely grow them again next year. Must invest in some glass beads too. My post is here : https://greentapestry.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/in-vase-on-monday-nearly-but-not-not.html
Thanks Anna – and that dahlia is the one that is meant to be ‘Glow’, but Glow is red and this clearly isn’t, so who knows what it is!! Does your amaranthus really ‘go to seed’? Actually, that’s a silly question as I now remember what amaranthus seeds look like – have you grown it from your own seed? ps what I called ‘glass beads’ are of course not beads at all but you know what I mean… glass pebbles might be a better name but I don’t know what their proper name is…!
Ah it’s a lovely imposter then so I can’t add it to that list which is probably a positive. Thanks anyway Cathy. Yes my amaranthus danglies have gone to seed. The flowers have slowly faded to brown and if gently tapped the seed will fall out in your hands. The seed is quite small and brown. I grew it from bought seed this year but will have a go with my own next year. I’m fairly sure that it will come true but will check first. As for glass beads I imagine that florists probably have a technical name for them but I know what you are talking about 🙂
Yes, always a shame not to know what a misnamed plant actually is… Hmm, when I have had them in a vase they have shed a few ‘bits’ but those can’t be ripe seeds yet so I shall leave some on the plant. I am sure my bought seed was distinctly red though and will check out my old packet to remind myself
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Gorgeous colours Cathy! I think finding these individual remnants makes them even more special. Those dahlias are beautiful. 🙂 Here is my vase for today: https://wordsandherbs.com/2016/10/24/in-a-vase-on-monday-threes-a-crowd/
Thanks Cathy!
Thanks Cathy, and you are probably right about the joy of remnants in the garden
Made it just Cathy. https://digwithdorris.wordpress.com
Not remnants exactly but a motley crew
Same difference almost?
You have done a magnificent job of pulling these “remnants” together. So lovely.
https://johnsviccellio.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/in-a-vase-on-monday-new-beginnings/
Thanks John
It is lovely to see how you are using the last of the summer blooms this year – they are all the more valuable as we know their time is so limited now. I do hope you will weave your dressing up outfits into your stories for us to enjoy. I still have my children’s dressing up box – it seems to precious to pass on and perhaps there will be grandchildren one day. I do envy your creative hands – I might be green fingered, but crafts involving needles defeat me.
It has been another hard week with my mother, so I have no vase to share but hope you will enjoy a few autumn garden photos: http://peoniesandposies.com/2016/10/24/october-musings/.
Thanks Julie – and even though I call them ‘remnants’ there is still plenty of colour in the cutting beds (less elsewhere), not what we might expect when we are practically into November! I will bear in mind your request for somehow including the dressing up outcomes in a post! It must be hard to keep up with normal things when uyour Mum is so poorly so it is especially good to hear from you
I can so identify with your theme “remnants”!
https://lindylecoq.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/autumn-roses-in-a-vase-on-monday/
That time of year, I suppose 😉
It was more a matter of bountiful blooms here, Cathy; the roses refused to be ignored… 😉 http://www.smallsunnygarden.com/2016/10/24/in-a-vase-the-queen-returns/
Your beautiful remnants make quite a bountiful bouquet, and I think the idea of the dressing-up clothes sounds fabulous! I had to throw away many old scraps when we moved, but I think we still have some bits of lovely old fabrics that came from my great-grandmother 🙂 You’ve inspired me to get seed for both amaranthus and the ‘Spanish Eyes’ lavender. Now I need to make sure I get them started…!
Glad you have got some seed inspiration – I have tried all sorts of new things since reading about them in other people’s vases! I was unsure about Spanish Eyes’ at first as it grew strongly from the start but was quite late flowering and is almost at its best now – I think I will grow it in some of my other borders next year instead of the cutting beds
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Dahlia ‘Glow’ is lovely, even if it’s not exactly like what you find in Google. I bought Akita last year that looked creamy and dark red in the photo, but when the flower matured it was bright red and yellow. It is only cream and dark red for a short time. Here is my shocking orange glow: https://absentgardener.com/2016/10/25/in-a-vase-on-monday-fleurescent/
I don’t know if this one was just misnamed, or if it is a ‘sport’ – it’s the right sort of shape for the real thing
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Sorry to be late again Cathy, but I didn’t want to miss sharing a vase again. Love your remnants! You wouldn’t guess that is what they are; The Dahlias here are an all summer plant and flower almost as long as the Zinnias. I wonder if it is worth potting them on to a decent size before you plant them out. I leave mine in the ground but the soil and the temperatures in general warm up much more quickly here. At last I have something different to pick. Thanks for hosting; here’s my link: https://myhesperidesgarden.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/in-a-vase-on-mon-or-its-tuesday/
Don’t worry about being late – some vases arrive on Wednesday sometimes! We are just very aware when your vase doesn’t pop up on a Monday as this is not your norm and we will always be a little concerned for your welfare. I could perhaps have started the dahlias off a little earlier than I did this year, and in fact may store mine in pots in fresh compost, some of them anyway
Dahlias are so rewarding aren’t they (and to think that I used to sneer at them). Nuit d’été is one that I grow every year. You’ve got a plenty of beautiful late blooms there.
Me too with the sneering, or at least something along the same lines! 😉
What fortunate poppets they are, to have all your creativity at their disposal…and fun for you, too! I hope you will show us the dressing up masterpieces when you have finished. Oh, and the vases are marvelous, as always.
Oh thanks rickii – won’t promise to show the dressing up creations but maybe if I could work them into a vase theme… 😉
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Your “remnants” are quite lovely, Cathy! I truly had remnants this week too, as I rescued the final blooms from my gardens ahead of snow and ice storm. You can see those bouquets about three quarters of the way through this post: https://cosmosandcleome.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/october-rewind/
Snow and ice storm? Brrr!