Red, Green, and a Golden Queen

Monday again, and time for a vase to join Cathy's Monday Vase meme at Rambling in the Garden.  As we are getting perilously close to Christmas Day, I tried to select material that will hold through Thursday as well as using the traditional red and green hues.  Both intentions were modified by the generosity of a rose bush.  How could I not include such a lovely rose?   So one golden bloom of Sun Flare (grown in a large pot on the back patio) went into the vase.

My ideas actually began with the foliage and berries of Schinus terebinthifolius and blooming stems of Russelia equisetiformis.  I have used the schinus once before - incorrectly identified as Pistacia lentiscus.  I discovered my error last week during an online search which I wrote about in last Tuesday's post.  But identification aside, it bears the only berries around, and the leaves go well in a vase.  And the Russelia is sending up long shoots with a plenitude of tiny red buds.  I have been impressed with the lasting qualities of the Russelia; in an earlier vase the flowers themselves stayed fresh well over two weeks!   So the Schinus went in with a few berries...

...while the slender and nearly leafless Russelia stems hardly show yet among all the foliage.  But as the flowers open, they should become a major factor.  In the meantime, a single sprig of Salvia greggii "Flame" is holding the colour on the other side of the vase.

I expected to use plenty of basil from the herb garden; I like its effect as visual filler.  But the basil is reaching the tattered and torn stage - edible, but hardly aesthetic!  So only one stem went in, and a couple of clippings from the new acacia.  Primarily I relied on the schinus for green leaves.

The vase is one I made earlier this year while developing a red clay body for handthrowing.  Since it is made of unglazed, low-fired clay, the pot is a little porous, and for some of the pictures I slipped a bowl under it to protect the counter.  But I did like the classic red colour as a backdrop to the berries, leaves, and flowers.

Hopefully, in a few days' time, the Russelia will be in full bloom, putting the arrangement into proper balance.  At present it looks like this.

In any case, the golden rosebud will remain queen.

Wishing each of you a beautiful Christmas!

Mystery Solved?

It grows at the very back of the yard.  It is a small tree with a heavy wooden stake still nearly as large as its own trunk.  At about 4.5 ft (1.3 m) high it begins to send out slender branches with leaves and, for much of the year, soft red berries at the outer ends.

The foliage is not very dense, nor is the tree very tall; but out here in the desert anything that can cast a shade is treasured.

A few yards away the same type of plant grows in bush form, much denser and leafier, but with no berries though both plants bloomed together in May.  The little tree has also sent out a good many shoots from the ground, making it clear that the single-trunked form is not necessarily its natural habit of growth.

As both plants were already in place and in their current forms when we moved onto the property a year ago, it has been a question of identification - by me, unfamiliar with the local plants!  By October I thought I knew.  Various forms of Pistacia do grow successfully in the low desert, and I labelled it Pistacia lentiscus.  Then a week ago I posted a flower vase with the berries and some foliage - and the name.

And Christina at myhesperidesgarden.wordpress.com immediately recognised that the leaves did not look like the P. lentiscus she had planted in her garden.  Which sent me back for some more detective work.  This time, as I felt I had pretty well exhausted my own books, I did most of the research online.  At first I flattered myself that I hadn't gotten it too far off; perhaps it was P. terebinthus.  But it didn't take long to see that the flowers were a different colour (pink) and neither flowers nor fruits looked at all the same.

In fact, I had been entirely on the wrong track, looking in the Old World for a tree from the New.  As far as I can tell, the two plants, tree and shrub, are specimens of Schinus terebinthifolius, the Brazilian Pepper Tree.  The small white flowers, the growth pattern of the little pepper-type berries (quite different from the Pistacias), the shrubby tree form, and the dioecious nature of the plants all appear to be correct for the Schinus.  I can say at least that the leaves are sufficiently like Pistacia terebinthus to earn this Pepper Tree the species name of terebinthifolius.  But I can't say much more, except that it took the picture database available on the web to work this one out!

Here are a few more pictures.  I enjoy photographing the berries though with their soft colouring they took a little extra camera practice.  At least there has been plenty of practice time; the tree holds the berries for many months.  I have yet to catch a good picture of the tiny flowers.  As you can see, the new growth is a good bronzy green colour.

Definitely not fruit from the Pistacia family!  These trees are, curiously enough, from the cashew family, Anacardiaciae.

So there it is - in full colour.  I think I have it right this time, but I'm certainly open to further investigation.  Please let me know if you would identify it differently!  I'll be happy to see some better-informed opinions...

Monday Vase: A Bright Touch

ed.  Since writing this post, I have determined that the foliage and berries in this vase were not Pistacia lentiscus, but rather Schinus terebinthifolius, the Brazilian Pepper tree.  I have corrected the tags in the article but opted to leave the post unchanged otherwise.  For more information on this young tree and the identification, please see my post Mystery Solved?

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And it's Monday again so here is a vaseful of flowers and berries.  Today's collection is particularly bright, but perhaps that's just as well for December.  Even here in the desert it's a bit overcast this morning.  Also, being December, a few berries seemed just the thing.

None of this comes from the garden proper.  The bougainvillea is a rough and tumble shrub on the west side of the house.  It is not very big; I trimmed it back hard last spring; and in any case bougainvillea routinely sustains some frost damage here, which keeps these otherwise enormous shrubs in check.  But it is in full bloom now!  The berries come from the little mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus) at the very back of the property, where it is doing its best to revert to shrub form, a feat already accomplished by its twin a few yards away.

But both are bright with welcome colour right now, and here is the result from this morning.

The colours seemed a perfect blend.  The bougainvillea leaves had to be removed as they were fairly ratty; grasshoppers, I suspect.  But the mastic foliage more than compensated.  It was plentiful on these stems and set off the bright pink/soft red tones happily.

Like my last vase, I took the pictures out in the front patio on the little red table there.  The vase is another of my handthrown stoneware pots, this one with a rustic look encouraged by a tin white glaze.  I've always loved the simplicity of this glaze, a soft, slightly cool white that combines well with the warm, rough clay colours beneath.

So there's a bright patch of pink, red, green, and white for today.  I missed last Monday's vase but am looking forward to continuing this project.  Thanks again to Cathy for hosting it and do go take a look at her vase at ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com and check out the other lovely contributions there too!