My husband is a guy who appreciates patina. Rust or dust, it's all beautiful to him. As a result, he often keeps the bouquets that I put in his bathroom in place indefinitely. And this is what you get.
I discovered these almost petrified Toad lilies (Tricyrtis sp.) weeks after I put them in this vase. I had gathered quite a few stems just before a frost and most of the flowers never opened indoors.
Everything turned silvery brown with leaves and flower buds remaining in place.
Before I relegated everything to the compost bin, I moved the vase to the fireplace mantle in front of my collage with an equally brown sheen for a few more days.
As I was also dismantling my big bowl of foliage, Mark grabbed one of the Bergenia leaves that was fading in no uncertain terms. He gave it pride of place in our Japanese bamboo wall container right by our dinner table.
We've been watching the black eat up more and more of the green center of the leaf. Any day now it too, will join the compost.
But with cold and snow here, I doubt I am going to find anything in my garden to showcase next Monday. Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, our hostess for this long-running and much-loved meme to see what other gardeners have put in a vase today.
