Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.
– May Sarton, American poet, novelist, and memoirist
It’s already October, mid-October at that, and I’m behind in my reportage of my summer garden. Time to play catch-up. Here are the bouquets of late summer, with fall bouquets still in production.
For the August 11th delivery for the Korematsu bouquets, here’s the first one.
Here’s the second Korematsu bouquet, a more colorful and bright bouquet.
A close-up of my favorite, the scabiosa, which for the first time in my garden has been giving me more than a few blooms per season. And oh the beauty of the light yellow dahlia tipped in the faintest of pink hues.
The deep pink dahlia in all its perfection.
And the spiked magenta dahlia.
Dinner-plate size pink dahlia.
Spiked fireworks dahlia.
When I was in Maine, I found some beautiful little bottles, some vintage, at some shops in Brunswick. Since I have a lot of flowers that are short-stemmed but equally beautiful, I thought to highlight them in this display. I put them on a platter and used this display as decoration for David’s office group party in mid-August.
Here’s a close-up of the bottles, holding echinacea, rudbeckia “Prairie Sun,” centaurea cyanus blue, and a pink rudbeckia-type flower.
I made a bouquet for David’s office group party, as well. Cosmos, dianthus, and alstromeria accompanied this bouquet of dahlias.
The platter of tiny bouquets decorated the kitchen table alongside a plate of Isabella’s homemade vanilla iced scones.
A pair of swooping swallows, made in Haiti by artisans using reclaimed steel oil drums, appreciate the tiny bouquets I made that was placed on the tables in the patio for the party.
The August 15th bouquet is spilling over in its splendor, with white snow puff cosmos and monster red straw flowers.
For the August 15th ECHS bouquet, I added a platter of tiny bouquets.
The next day, August 16th, I had a lot of flowers to cut, so I made this bouquet for our LUNAFEST chair, Joann. The scabiosa, monster red straw flowers, and zinnias were in abundance.
Another view of the August 16th bouquet for Joann.
One more view of the August 16th bouquet. I confess I’m not great at curating these photos. This one shows off the pink zinnias.
This August 18th bouquet for the Korematsu auction winners is one of my all-time favorites. I like it because it’s so horizontal and bountiful.
Here’s a top-down close-up with zinnias, rudbeckia, echinacea, scabiosa, cosmos, and pink arctotis (African daisy).
The other side of this horizontal bouquet.
The second August 18th bouquet for the other Korematsu auction winner.
A close-up of this second bouquet, featuring rudbeckia, echinacea, arctotis, and zinnia.
I have fallen in love with the zinnia, so I’ll be growing more of these long-lasting flowers next year, even if they are annuals.
The other side of the second bouquet.
The August 20th bouquet for Joann.
A close-up of scabiosa columbaria, “flutter deep blue.”
The other side of Joann’s bouquet.
A variety of African daisy, another new flower that I’ve introduced to the garden.
Joann invited me to attend the El Cerrito City Hall’s time capsule celebration, one of the many events commemorating the city’s centennial. So I made a bouquet to take to City Hall.
A close-up of one of my favorite dahlias in the August 24th bouquet.
The bouquet at City Hall.
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