September 9, 2011

This is one of those arrangements that I arranged in my hand as I collected flowers in the garden, then went to find a vase appropriate to fit it. The flower choices are amazing right now, because it has rained at Flower Camp this summer every single time we needed it. In 35 years, I've never seen such a summer. Water is the key to a great garden, I now know, but no sprinkler system ever delivers water the way real rain does. Peggy Singleman once told me that thunderstorm rain actually picks up nitrogen on the way down, which may or may not make scientific sense, but I believe it. And watering targeted areas is nowhere near as effective as watering an entire property--as our last two hurricanes have done. Anyway, included in the arrangement below are marigolds, a really pretty whitish-green celosia, white snapdragons (you can't really see those in photo), zinnias including some striped ones and a pale, lemony yellow one I love, perilla foliage, and feverfew flowers (the little, white daisy-like flowers).  There's a sunflower with petals detached on the backside of this arrangement, but only a peeping Tom would see it!