I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year. – from Sonnet XXVII, Edna St. Vincent Millay, American lyrical poet and playwright
Now it is August. Midsummer. I came across this Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, and I thought this first line and title of her sonnet is what the flowers are saying to me. Enjoy.
A pleasant surprise from the front yard is the appearance of more peach-colored gladiola. Here paired with alstroemeria, chocolate cosmos, and love in a mist green seed pods.
An abundance of dahlias the day before 4th of July. The pale yellow dahlias were my steadfast variety this season.
The yellow dahlias gave it their all this season but petered soon after. Here the petals looks like sinewy flutes.
A rare magenta dahlia.
Dinner-plate yellow dahlia.
Dahlias, red lilies, and love in a mist green seed pods.
Another view with a red-and-white dahlia and orange with yellow tips dahlia.
A smaller bouquet with chocolate cosmos, orange alstroemeria, miniature creamy rose, pink zinnia, blue and light purple scabiosa, and creamy scabiosa ochroleuca.
Close-up of the blue and light purple scabiosa – I love the little filaments in the middle – and tight-budded miniature rose.
Same flowers of earlier bouquets, but here with helipterum roseum “Pierrot Crisp Everlasting” (the white miniature daisy-looking flower), a sturdy red gerbera dominates, accompanied by “red velvet” achillea millefolium.
Clearly I should have cut the magenta dahlia’s stem shorter!
A pink gerbera sandwiched between two dahlias.
An addition of white scabiosa caucasica “Perfecta Alba” sandwiching the salmon zinnia at the base of the bouquet.
David’s parents gave him this vase before I came along. It’s a beautiful Japanese vase and it works really well aesthetically with the four gladiola in various stages of blooming.
The deer used to snap up the few gladiola that popped up in the front yard. This year, despite the sighting of many deer in the area, they must be munching on other people’s gardens. Here’s a close-up of the gladiola blooms.
The ever reliable alstromeria. I continue to work on filling them in as I build out the bouquet!
The last remaining blooming sweet pea – my favorite, Frances Kate.
A beautiful yellow dahlia, like coral, highlights this mid-July bouquet.
A tiny compact bouquet, filled with a pink straw flower on the left, red gaillardia on the right, and the tiny white flowers of the lantana.
The other side of the tiny bouquet – a perfect orange dahlia and a rare pale orange miniature rose.
A beautiful bouquet highlighted by a white, dinner-plate dahlia. The three helipterum roseum “Pierrot Crisp Everlasting” tower.
A close-up of this beautiful dahlia, with the helipterum roseum “Pierrot Crisp Everlasting” top left.
This pretty zinnia didn’t bloom very often.
This bouquet reminds me of the bouquets at one of the chateaux in the Loire Valley in France, although mine is not artfully done so that it looks natural. The florists there were truly magnificent with their creativity and vision. Featuring the airy, pin-headed blue trachelium caeruleum “Perennial Blue Lace Flower,” scabiosa, red and white dianthus, cream-colored miniature rose, four different kinds of scabiosa, love in a mist seed pods, chocolate cosmos, and deep-blue Centaurea cyanus (also known as cornflower or bachelor’s buttons).
A close-up of this bouquet. See how intricate it looks up close!
See how brilliant blue this Centaurea cyanus is! It looks striking in front of the cream-colored miniature rose.
The trachelium caeruleum “Perennial Blue Lace Flower” next to white and cream-colored scabiosa, and a white gerbera.
A gladiola bouquet that will last quite a while because of the buds not yet blooming.
Light on the delicate peach-colored gladiola.
Perhaps the last Frances Kate sweet pea. Note the blooms that have yet opened.
A mixed bouquet.
The other side of this mixed bouquet.
I planted a variety of scabiosa. Here is the dome-shaped scabiosa atropurpurea “Florist’s Pink.” It’s a beauty. Next to a chocolate cosmos and the cornflower-colored bachelor’s button.
A stately gladiola arrangement.
A bouquet that has a nice spread. Note the red geum quellyon “Blazing Sunset” top center.
Another view of this multi-flower bouquet.
Another compact bouqurt.
Another view of the same bouquet.
Close-up of the miniature rose – you can see the light pink edging – paired nicely with the fragrant chocolate cosmos (it really smells like chocolate!).
The curved alstroemeria and achillea millefolium “Red Velvet Yarrow” make for an interesting arrangement shape.
Another version of the same bouquet.
Close-up with the blue Cupid’s Dart, also known as Catananche caerulea, yellow dahlia, and chocolate cosmos.
And that concludes our July, our midsummer, bouquets. Stay tuned for the late summer (August) bouquet and the fall bouquet blogs.
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