In celebration of Labor Day and a Monday away from work, I’m once again making a contribution to the ‘In a Vase on Monday’ movement. It may not exactly be a world changing movement, but it’s fun and does motivate me to bring a few flowers into the house so look at how it’s changing lives!
Another pluck and plunk arrangement. I didn’t realize how unbalanced it was until after I looked at the photos!
This week’s arrangement was inspired by Kimberley at Cosmos and Cleome. In a recent vase Kimberley had the good sense to add a few sprays of goldenrod in to fill things up, and it took that vase to make me realize I have a ton of the stuff growing all over the place and should do the same!
The just barely blooming goldenrod has a nice soft color and fills in well. It’s like a redneck version of baby’s breath plucked from the roadside.
Besides the goldenrod, this vase has the pink tipped blossoms of dahlia ‘Tanjoh’, a purplish red dahlia (maybe ‘Plum Pretty’?), a few zinnias, a couple pink sprays of ‘kiss me over the garden gate’ (persicaria orientalis), and a few fig leaves which were in the way of my boxwood trimming. I like it 🙂
The goldenrod makes up nearly half of the arrangement yet you really just notice the larger blooms. Such is the curse of a ‘filler’…
With all the goldenrod coming into bloom I may have to admit to myself that autumn is approaching. On the road to college I was always disgusted by the mass of goldenrod yellow filling the fields along the highway, and it’s always been a mental marker for the end of summer and the return to work. I guess that’s my bias against the plant, but because of its native status I tolerate it when a seedling shows up.
There are more than enough wayward areas around the garden for goldenrod to sneak in a rod or two.
Not to stray too far from my Monday vase, but I guess some goldenrod annoys me less than others. One of the species is only just starting to color, and I think it’s my current favorite.
Goldenrod just coming into flower along with some staghorn sumac which the starlings and robins will enjoy this winter.
This floppy one is not a favorite. Once it’s finished blooming I’ll run back here and mow things down to give the grass a chance.
Not a bad goldenrod, there’s just too much and I’d rather leave a little room for some of the asters which are yet to come.
Here’s my last goldenrod. I don’t know any of the species but this one’s a smaller, leaner version. I would almost say I like it.
Unknown goldenrod…. any ideas? This one’s about two feet tall and like the others doesn’t need a thing from me.
Thanks for staying with me for my little segue from cut flowers to roadside weeds. They’re wildflowers of course, and if I can just get past my stereotyping I may be able to call them all cutflowers someday.
If you’d like to see other cutflowers more artfully arranged I’d encourage you to visit Cathy over at Rambling in the Garden. You can check out what she and other bloggers around the world are doing for their own “In a Vase on Monday”. Have a great week!
sorta like suburbia 
Wow! I’m an inspiration! Thanks for the link-love, as I’ve heard it called! Those dahlias are gorgeous. Even though they outshine the goldenrod, think how empty the bouquet would look without the filler. Stars would be nothing without their supporting players!
Now, I better get a vase together myself, before preparing for my own Labor Day company! At least the sun is shining today! (for now!)
You’re right about needing the supporting players, I don’t think it would have been nearly as nice without them.
The sun lasted, but the humidity kept most of the activities indoors today. Too bad since we’ll be wishing for this weather in another couple months!
Thanks for beign the goldenrod inspiration! LOL
PS–“redneck baby’s breath”–love it!
Golden rod is one of those plants that is difficult to love but it looks good with your dahlias and the Persicaria orientalis which is a favourite of mine. Your arrangement is lovely.
Thanks, the persicaria is a must have each year. I weed out masses each spring but they’re an easy pull and the tall flowers late in the season are always worth the trouble.
Bit like the garden really, the stars need the supporting caste. The Golden Rod is perfect to show off the stars.
Yes. I often forget to include the backdrop since I always get distracted by the stars.
That’s why it’s always good to remember your foliage follow-up!
‘Pluck and plunk’ – love that phrase! That dahlia is a great basis for your vase and using the ‘wild’ golden rod to supplement it works well – thanks for joining in, and don’t forget if you leave a comment on my post along with a link back to your post then more people will find it (I found it because of the ‘pingback’ of your link to mine – sounds complicated, but it isn’t really!)
haha, it seems like I’m always in such a rush to get a post out that I forget all those little things like tags and links! I did remember later while visiting your post and put a link in then.
I love golden rod, and also have a few different ones (all self-seeders) but have no idea of the names. Occasionally I see our native one, but mostly it’s the Solidago canadensis that has “invaded” our countryside. Looks great in a vase with the Dahlias. 🙂
The canadensis is invasive here too if it makes you feel better…. Probably not though!
They’re nice enough in some spots, but If I had the choice I’d rather have lilies and tulips reseeding 🙂
Show me a dahlia and I swoon! Yours are so pretty! And I think that a vase of flowers is just what the world needs! No matter where you stand, the world is a mess right now, and a vase of flowers is an antidote to all the worry.
I hope the flowers help….
I was glad to see you managed to bring along a dahlia this year at the new place. It sure is nice to have something familiar while you develop all those new favorites.
The dahlias up here are really coming in now. I better enjoy them for these last few weeks!
Beautiful arrangement. Solidago is often used as filler in flower arrangements and I think it works well here.
I was surprised to see the goldenrod looking the same in my yard as it does in the for-sale bouquets. I don’t know why I never recognized it before!
Beautiful, and the solidago and persicaria give a cheeky touch!
Hi Annette, thanks! I do like the persicaria 🙂
I love your vase…it is stunning with the dahlias sitting in a cloud of goldenrod and then the Kiss Me adds a perfect complement. I adore goldenrod and have many varieties.
Thanks Donna, and thanks for visiting. I’m planning to stalk your blog this winter looking for goldenrod photos 😉
The dahlias and zinnias are beautiful but the goldenrod gives the whole ensemble a boost. Sometimes the bit players deserve to take a bow!
Thanks Kris, you’re absolutely right and I need to give the supporting cast some credit now and then!
Lovely! And great use of goldenrod…It’s the state flower here in the Bluegrass state 😉
State flower? I never suspected… that’s quite the recognition for a plant who’s name includes the word ‘weed’! Kentucky must have had some enlightened legislature going on at some point, I hope it’s the rule rather than exception (unlike our local government!)
Well, I would never call our state legislature enlightened by any stretch of the imagination, but goldenrod as a state flower is pretty unique 😉
Love your dahlia’s, Frank. I don’t grow them because of Japanese beetles. There have been so many this year — they have decimated my roses. I don’t grow goldenrod, but it is in the fields around us. I love to see those waves of yellow, but hate that they portend the end of summer. P x
We did have a little sputter of summer these past few days, didn’t we? Now it seems awfully cold in comparison.
Sorry about the Japanese beetles. We get plenty but this year it hasn’t been overwhelming, just a few here and there…. although even one beetle can do significant damage to a single flower or leaf!
The house sparrows seem to enjoy hunting them down, so all of a sudden I have a new appreciation for their annoying constant chirping. I may even put extra millet out for them this winter and make a few birdhouses just for them!
I think your third goldenrod might be ragweed… it’s different than actual solidago/goldenrod, has more of a ‘flat’ top with spikes going more horizontally, whereas solidago peaks at the top and has more of a vertical frond look. Ragweed makes people sneeze, goldenrod just gets the rap for it!
Ugh. I hope not. We have plenty of allergies around here and don’t need anything adding to it!
I’ll check it out though, thanks.