The star of this show is the Romesco from the veggie patch. We planted several of these and have already feasted on one, tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted. It tastes a lot like cauliflower, but with a bit more bite and a lot more texture…delicious.
I stole some Echinops banaticus ‘Blue Glow’ from the bees and tucked in a few flowering stems of Sempervivums for good measure.
Echinops banaticus ‘Blue Glow’
In the garden, the ‘Blue Glow’ is growing in front of and through Berberis thunbergii purpurea. Since I like that look, I added a few cuttings from the barberry.
Penstemon ‘Dark Towers’ is forming shiny, dark maroon seed heads, so in they went.
And it all went into this cute glass lined basked that I received as a hostess gift last year. Here’s the link to Cathy’s (Rambling in the Garden) ‘In a Vase on Monday’ post for this week.
A lovely combination, I like the shadows on the wall behind too 🙂
I’m big on shadows…glad you like them too.
What a beautiful basket vase and I love this arrangement… so much to look at…the muted colors and textures are wonderful and especially the Romesco. So creative.
It almost seems Autumnal, but that would be getting ahead of ourselves.
Well done growing the Romanesco, I’ve tried without success even thou they grow them in fields near to the house, they are beautiful but I wouldn’t have thought of putting it in a vase because of the smell. It is certainly a very interesting vase this week.
My sniffer is not my most efficient body part, so I detected no odor at all in working with the Romanesco. We started with a six pack of little plants. One became infested with aphids, one failed to do much of anything but the remaining four developed nicely.
The basket is a good match to the colors and shading of the Romanesco cauliflower. I really like the Echinops with it too, that’s a flower I keep thinking I should grow someday, and it makes nice shadows. It reminds me of my favorite Eryngium flowers. It goes well with the rustic color of the Penstemon seed heads too.
I’m crazy about Eryngiums, but have much better luck with the Echinops.
I’ve never heard of Romesco, but it looks nice in the vase along with that lovely ‘Blue Glow’. I like the red accents provided by the Penstemon too.
We are a hotbed of farmers’ markets, so get to know all kinds of fancy veggies.
I had to look up the romanesco as I wasn’t quite sure what it was. One site describes it as part psychedelic broccoli and part alien life form, which purely on appearances seemed apt. It tastes more like cauliflower than broccoli to you?
I love that description. The form is more caulifloweresque, but I can see (or rather taste) broccoli overtones in there.
Great idea! I’ve often thought those Romescos were too pretty to eat. You’re so creative with your arrangements!
It’s nice to have enough of them to eat AND use in other ways.
I am so pleased you take the ‘thinking out of the box’ on board rickii – including the ‘Romesco’ is a great touch, but its fellow components add a really atmospheric mood to the vase, aided by the shadows on the wall. The dark penstemon foliage and seedheads are lovely (need to look out for that one) and isn’t it lovely to have echinops colouring up? Mine are just starting now so will no doubt appear on Monday in due course – if they can get a look-in with all the potential dahlias, that is! Thanks for sharing
This once a week schedule does tend to push me in new directions. I like the steel ball phase of the Echinops best, but the bees are all over them once they flower.
Great vase, you and I have the same vibe this week with our vases! 🙂
Oh, I can’t wait to see yours.
Its a flower, and as you can eat it too, no wonder it is a star. I have always marvelled at Romanescos, used to grow it years ago, but with no allotment now, just rely on shops. I love the green/blue colour it turns when cooked. I ‘ve just made piccalilli, with normal cauliflower, but just imagine how elegant it would be with the twisty florets of romanesco. Seeds of Nastursiums too in the mixture, and you have a real ’boutique’ preserve. By the way the chorus of leaves and other flowers are also worthy to be on the stage.
Yum! I will have to try that boutique preserve. Holiday gifts from the pantry are the best.
Very creative! I’ve never heard of romesco.
It’s tasty as well as decorative.
I’ve admired the look of Romesco at farmers markets and on a plate but would not have thought of using it in an arrangement like this. It’s beautiful! Thanks for helping us to think outside of the floral box!
I think it was having more of them than we could eat that prompted this use. Now let me see…is there some way to incorporate zucchini into a floral display?