Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden encourages us to share a vase highlighting what is growing in our gardens.
With still not a drop of rain for weeks zinnias and dahlias are no longer producing enough blooms for generous, overflowing arrangements.
Switching gears today, I concentrated on using leaves of a tulip poplar that volunteered in the yard this summer. Quoting from Wikipedia, “The tulip tree is one of the largest of the native trees of the eastern United States, known to reach the height of 191.9 feet (58.49 meters) with a trunk 1–2 m (4–6 ft) in diameter.” In other words this tree had no business sprouting up under my deck.
Actually I am very fond of tulip poplars, remembering long summer days under one at my childhood home. That was a beautiful tree that eventually succumbed to Hurricane Fran in 1996. Another tulip poplar imprinted in my memory grew in woods behind our Wave Road house where we raised our daughter. Unpacking our car one year after returning from vacation we saw the tree had been struck by lightning, scorched from top to toe.
The leaf form is simple and strong, as broad as tall, stretching 5-6 inches. I envisioned and tried a variety of ways to use the collected leaves but found all more challenging than there was time to come to clear resolution. I settled on one leaf, one dahlia.
The container is blown glass, asymmetrical with alternating bands of blue and green color. its top is loosely pinched together leaving just a small narrow opening.
Today’s vase has me thinking of shape, pattern, positive and negative space and a touch of nostalgia.
Dahlia ‘Labyrinth’ (?) (sold as Dahlia ‘Cafe Au Lait’)
Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip Poplar)