November 7, 2011--what lasts

One of the things I learn by putting plant material in windowsill arrangements is how long the material lasts. Sometimes the things you expect to live longest wilt first, and sometimes the things you expect to fade first endure longest.  Today I reorganized some plant material that has been in various windowsill arrangements for a long time. The climbing spinach has been in a vase over ten days and shows no signs of wilting. The gentian, which I also expected to have a short vase life, still looks great a week after I cut it.  The liriope berries and arum leaves are almost immortal. The hickory leaf, which I put upright in a vase when it was fresh, has withered, but I've used it in a new way to accommodate its new shape. The only material in these concoctions that I hadn't used in a previously posted arrangement is the celosia in the last photo, but it, too, lasts indefinitely.  I picked it over a week ago, left it on the back porch where it endured at least two frosts, and it still looks great.  So: this is all plant material that lasts a long time.

gentian and grasses

climbing spinach

hickory leaf with liriope berries

celosia with arum leaves