It really has been sizzling here in the last few days, with temperatures hovering around 30°, making gardening tasks sticky and uncomfortable. With our second and last group visit to the garden planned for Tuesday, deadheading, staking and tying back have been daily activities, with watering now added to the list as many plants begin to visibly droop.
I already had my eye on dahlias as contenders for IAVOM but having picked stems of Bishop of Auckland and Geoffrey Kent wasn’t sure what to do with them. Dismissing a mixed vase of dahlias I eventually went down a fiery route to match the sizzling weather, adding the following: Antirrhinum ‘Liberty Classic Crimson’, Helichrysum ‘Orange’, sweet pea ‘King George VI’, Calendula ‘Orange Prince’ offspring, Amaranthus ‘Hot Biscuits’, Dianthus ‘Rocking Red’ and foliage from Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’. All except the persicaria were grown from seed. On cooler days, the amaranthus remains vertical and although I am going to drop the other amaranthus I grow from my seed list I will stick with this for its vase potential.
Sunglasses have acted as props for at least one sunny vase before now, and I may well have used matches too but had to smile when I pulled this box out of the drawer and saw the five fat sausages sizzling in the pan (‘one went pop and the other went bang’)! I know parts of North America and other parts of Europe have suffered heavy rain and flooding in
recent days, sadly leading to loss of life, but whether your weather is sizzling or not perhaps you could find blooms or other material from your garden or foraged nearby to pop into a vase or other container and share it with us today by leaving links to and from this post.
Rambling in the Garden 
You certainly do have a sizzling vase to match to the heat outside. How wonderful to have an abundance of blooms to choose from.
Here is my vases, or vases, I have two today. https://wp.me/p3dx4o-4lJ
Yes, it is becoming difficult to choose – I have sunflowers and larkspur in particular I want to pick, although not necessarily for the same vase!
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Ouch, nearly got burnt! 😉 What a bright and cheerful collection. I do hope it is a tad cooler for your visitors tomorrow. Here is my vase for today, also very summery. Thanks Cathy. https://wordsandherbs.wordpress.com/2021/07/19/in-a-vase-on-monday-sun-hats-and-dragons/
It’s good to be having abundance in a vase again, although there ismplenty of scope for greater abundance! It’s an afternoon visit tomorrow, Cathy, so the hottest time of the day as well!
Nothing screams “hot summer” like orange flowers, eh? The straw flower and Calendula really add pockets of fire to the vase!
I have become a huge fan of helichrysum which have proved so easy and trouble free to grow from seed
Your dahlias are looking great and you found a wealth of blooms to pair with them. My dahlias are very slow to get going this year (and the rabbits aren’t helping) but I used the first ones today. Thanks for hosting Cathy! Enjoy your garden visitors Tuesday.
Good to hear you have some dahlias too, despite the rabbits!
I love the jug and the flowers. Sizzling like sausages. It surprises me when the temperatures are comparable between Florida and the UK in summer. It is a little warmer here, but not much. I love that Calendula, will look for seed for winter. Here is mine, thanks for hosting. https://theshrubqueen.com/2021/07/19/in-a-vase-on-monday-tropical-texture/
Yes, that seems odd to me too! The blooms of Orange Prince are actually bigger than these and, of course, orange, with red shading on the reverse. These were from seeds I collected and the bees clearly had a field day last year. I need to stock up with the real prince for next year I think, although there have been anomalies in my other calendula this year too, not grown from collected seed
Interesting, I got seed collected by a friend. The Calendulas looked like Dandelions and I threw them out!
Those are the first Dahlias I have seen this year. Quite stunning, and you spared them for the vase. Yes that is a ‘hot’ vase. They filmed Hot Fuzz in around Wells, and from the meteo we were also the centre of the heat yesterday. It seems no cooler today, my brain is turning fuzzy too! https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2021/07/in-vase-on-monday-too-hot-to-remember.html
And there are others equally stunning Noelle, so I am well blessed, especially as they have become easy and reliable plants for me. Haven’t heard of Hot Fuzz but Googled it and am now a little wiser!
Some hot and spicy colours there Cathy and certainly a tropical feel about them. Hope that your garden visitors come prepared with big floppy hats. The amaranthus is rather distinctive in its colour. What endears it to you over and above others? I imagine that there were a lot of sausages sizzling up on barbecues and down the land over the weekend. My vase is here : https://greentapestry.blogspot.com/2021/07/iavom-butterfly-flutter-by.html
Yes, it’s good to have hot colours to share after earlier spring pastels. I think it’s the vertical nature – when the others have thrived (which they don’t always do), their lambs’ tails look attractive but are not always practical to use in a vase or posy. I did try some other ‘vertical’ varieties this year but they haven’t grown well other than ‘Green Thumb’, which is short and stubby just like well, a green thumb!! I know you have grown Hot Biscuits before and didn’t rate it. No barbecues here, Anna, and I have never been a fan of eating anything outside!
You went all out! I somehow neglected to pick up any amaranth seeds this year and it doesn’t seem that last year’s plant self-seeded so I’m regrettably going without those interesting flowers this summer, unless I trip across a plant or two at my local garden center. This year’s dahlia tubers have also been slow to take off again but I still managed to find some blooms to cut 😉 Here’s my post: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2021/07/in-vase-on-monday-more-lilies.html
Best wishes with this week’s garden tour, Cathy!
Yes, I try to have an on-going list for plants/seeds I want to remeber to include for next year, Kris! Oh, and thanks for the good wishes
Hot hot hot colours Cathy! I love them! They certainly match the temperatures, even here in Scotland! Fabulous, and I do hope the garden open day goes well! Lots of work but I am sure your visitors will love it all! Amanda
Yes, perhaps I need to save any blues and whites for a cooler day! Thanks for the good wishes – we are so looking forward to putting the house back together again after we ‘dismantle’ the ‘pop-up cafe’!!
Your jug is fun – seems to have a hand on a hip, saying, “Hmpf – my head is exploding.” It will continue to be 90F plus all week here, with no rain predicted. 😦
Haha, yes, I see what you mean about the hand on the hip! I am usually caressing the jug when I pick it up because of its lovely matte glaze, and don’t think about the handle…
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Lovely hot, sizzling vase! Weatherwise it has been a most relaxing and lush summer so far with all the rain as there was no need for watering. My tomatoes outside are in their death throes (blight, first time in my life I have this problem) but can’t have it all, can you. 😉 Sorry for a rather gloomy vase but when I look at the world, I just can’t help it… https://personaleden.wordpress.com/2021/07/19/in-a-vase-on-a-monday-oh-what-a-mess/ have a good week and enjoy the garden visitors. xx
And we are still sizzling, Annette! I hope your tomato blight proves to be a one-off…
Helichrysum ‘Orange’? That’s it? They don’t get a fancy name like the others? I knew this only as a cut flower crop in Montara when I was a kid. I figured that it is unavailable in nurseries because it is not so compatible with home gardens. I would grow it just because I remember it from Montara. Do you find it to be compatible with home gardening, and if so, does it benefit from other lower plants to obscure the lower growth?
Mine is mostly in the cutting beds and is generally surrounded by other plants, but I have used a few spares in the borders where it seems tough enough to survive without any attention, and again they are surrounded by other things
Yes, those in Montara did not get much, and were not irrigated very frequently. They seemed quite tough. My main issue for a home garden is their odd form, with bare undersides, but that is because I like to give plants their own space. (Really though, if I grew it for the flowers, I would not mind an odd form.)
Oh, what an interesting combination of blooms and foliage. I love it! We are quite warm here this week, as well (29C-32C for the next week). It’s OK for sitting in the shade and sipping a cool drink, but not so much for exerting oneself. I’m trying to get out in the mornings to water the gardens. Stay cool!
Your quite warm is very hot for us!! I tend to forget when I have had to do something in the greenhouse just how extra-hot it can get in there!!
Phew! A bit too hot for me! We never get the extreme temperatures here in Cornwall which suits me fine, but these last few days have been sizzling like your sausages. All work in the garden has had to stop. Are those everlasting flowers easy to grow from seed? I mean just chucking them in the garden rather than faffing with seed trays and potting on.
The helichrysum are really easy and reliable from seed when grown inside in trays, and I sowed mine at the end of January, starting them off in the house and moving them to the g/h when they germinated, with min degree temps, so they will be quite hardy and should presumably be fine to sow direct if you have the space to do so. I haven’t noticed any self seeding but they do tend to hold onto their seeds because of the nature of the flowers. Would you like me to try collecting some seed for you?
A lovely offer Cathy but I’m sure I can buy seeds easily. I might give them a try. I did grow them in Doncaster by scattering seeds, ended up with loads of flowers, but I don’t recall any issues with S&S there.
Slugs and snails don’t seem bothered with them here, which is why I think the spares I added to borders have done OK
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Oh, that’s so warming to see those blooms! Winter has finally come here and it’s cold and wet. I have some calendulas in my vase too today – such hardy things they are and so welcome. https://absentgardener.com/2021/07/21/spring-bulbs-and-scabiosa-in-a-vase-on-monday/
Yesterday started overcast and cooler before the heat returned, and I imagine people were disproportionately grateful for this short respite!