Fruits & Veg, Seeds & Grasses: The Elegant Disruptors

August is coming to a close. In Seattle, my home base, the weather has flipped from desiccating heat to chill damp. The poorly staked dahlias are bending at their waists, tender herbs that I optimistically potted in May have gone to seed, and shade foliage is yellowed at the edges and soggy. The August garden (my August garden) is kind of beat up and worn out. But! But we are at the very edge of my favorite season in this garden. With the recent rain hues are elevated - greens are moving towards chartreuse, some foliage is brightening, some is turning rosy pink.

All of the flowers, foliage and fruit in the arrangement pictured above came from my neglected August garden, a true display of optimism if there ever was one. The fruit is what I’m here to celebrate - a hallmark of late summer and autumn. ‘Tis the season to design with fruit.

Late summer and early fall is ‘harvest season’ in these parts. Most harvesters who visit the garden are winged or four-footed: Hummingbirds do battle with each other to suck the salvia flowers dry every evening, squirrels extend their jaws beyond belief to accommodate walnuts from our neighbor’s tree. I have abandoned hope of growing produce robust enough to feed my family and now I just grow pretty little fruit & veg to use in flower arrangements. Topping the list of lovelies is tomatoes. Nothing reads ‘abondanza’ in a maximalist floral situation like dripping vines laden with fruit. Pictured above are some of my favorites: ‘Spoon’, ‘Yellow Currant’, ‘Brad’s Atomic’. I typically place these heavier fruits towards the bottom of an arrangement, letting loose pieces spill across the tabletop.

Airy seedpods and drying grasses are fabulous finishes to a piece. I add these elements in the final moments of working on a design - they are the equivalent of smudging a charcoal line in a drawing. A bit of softness, some messiness, an elegant disruptor. In the piece at the top of this page fennel seed heads are serving this purpose, below dried cress is doing the job.

Keep your eyes peeled at the markets, on the roadsides, in your garden for fruits and seeds to add to your flower arrangments or to simply lay on your table. The instant, easy magic of bringing the outdoors into your living space never disappoints.