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A wild flower vase on Monday

My vase this week is full of wild flowers.  Having seen Kris Peterson's native California aster (Symphyotrichum chilensis) in her vase last week, it reminded me that I had seen our wild aster, very similar to flowers in Kris's vase, blooming a couple of weeks ago.  Yesterday I found a lovely patch growing along the coastal path I walked with the dogs, along with all the other flowers I have in my vase today.  I think the aster I picked is Narrow-leaved Michaelmas-daisy, Aster lanceolatus.  My wild flower book says that a number of North American Michaelmas-daisies have been cultivated in British gardens, and because there are numerous cultivars and hybrids which will have escaped into the wild, it does make identification difficult.  Whatever it is, I love it!  A soft pretty colour and during my identification process I discovered that they are the same family as three other flowers in my vase.  Yarrow, Archillea millefolium, golden yellow tansy, Tanacetum vulgar, and common knapweed, Centaurea nigra.  Without having a significant amount of botanical knowledge it is difficult for the lay person to work out how these four plants are in the same family Asteraceae (Compositae), but they are!

I also have yellow toadflax, Linaria vulgaris, in my early Emma Bridgewater 'Tulip' jug.  It took me a long time to trawl through all the Bridgewater jugs online to find this one.  The flower is quite stylised so I wasn't 100% sure what it was!  And I am not sure I have ever seen a tulip that colour, but it is a striking design and I have enjoyed having the jug for very many years.
My sweet peas are still going strong, so I felt it would be churlish to leave them out of the limelight this week!  Long may they reign.  Their fragrance fills the room when they arrive indoors, fresh from the garden!

Comments

  1. Susie @ pbmGarden26 August 2019 at 10:53

    Really attractive flowers in the tulip vase. Everything works well together. I like your tansy. I have it also in my garden, but don't see it used often in vases.

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    Replies
    1. the running wave27 August 2019 at 09:40

      I had tansy years ago, in my very first garden, and it turned out to be a bit of a thug! Ever since then I have resisted the temptation to grow it and just enjoyed it in the wild! A

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  2. The Shrub Queen26 August 2019 at 13:48

    Lovely wildflowers, the walks must be made better by the flowers. I grew similar Asters in my garden further north. Love the blue. Toadflax is not familiar to me. I only dream of Sweet peas this far south. Happy Monday.

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    1. the running wave27 August 2019 at 09:42

      Toadflax (such a great name!) is a delightful flower! Just a tiny version of snapdragon/antirrhinum really! In fact I think most of the flowers in my vase this week are the wild (and probably original) versions of lovely things we now grow in our gardens! A

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  3. Cathy26 August 2019 at 14:13

    Oh that is so pretty, Amanda, with such soft colours - even the tansy is softened by being mixed the others, and the knapweed is gorgeous. Not sure I have ever seen aster growing in the wild. Last time we were at my Mum's I spent ages pouring over her Keble's 'Concise British Flora' to try and identify a particular plant - too many very similar plants!

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    Replies
    1. the running wave27 August 2019 at 09:44

      Ah, Keble Martin's wonderful book - my lifelong friend, ever since I was 14! My parents gave it to me for my birthday and it still has pride of place on the coffee table in the sitting room!

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  4. AlisonC26 August 2019 at 20:24

    Gorgeous, blue and yellow always look good together. My asters are not quite out, I don't think. I'll have to go and have another look. Beautiful sweet peas which should always be admired whenever possible.

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    Replies
    1. the running wave27 August 2019 at 09:50

      Michaelmas daisies always remind me of early autumn in my childhood garden. My grandmother lived in a cottage alongside our house and she did all the gardening in the herbaceous borders. She had a wonderful range of Michaelmas daisies. I remember one in particular. I've just looked it up because I have never known its name, but I think it must have been Aster novi-belgii 'Anita Webb', or certainly very similar! Softly pink, feminine and very pretty! A

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  5. Kris Peterson27 August 2019 at 01:15

    I love this mix of soft colors, Amanda. I think the flowers on your aster are larger than those on mine but they do have the same dreamy color. I wish I had more yellow in my garden at the moment to accent the asters I still have. I adore toadflax but it doesn't much like Southern California or, more specifically, our very dry conditions. I'd also love to have sweet peas in summer - mine are usually gone before spring officially arrives.

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    Replies
    1. the running wave27 August 2019 at 09:52

      The sweet peas just keep on coming! I am delighted. I have some growing alongside my purple climbing French beans (delish) and the runner beans and those sweet peas plants are doing so much better than those planted in two big tubs. I don't think I will bother with the pots next year and just stick to growing them in the ground! A

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