The flowers in my vase today were picked on Saturday as like most of northern Europe we are forecast snow and temperatures in the range of minus 5 to minus 11°C. I don’t know if the temperatures will dip so low but the 50 km per hour winds from the north are very likely indeed; my garden is windy at the best of times and when the wind is from the north or northeast it is not unknown for my heavy caste iron chairs to be flung from the terrace onto the gravel.
I think all of the flowers in my little collection of vases would have been torn to shreds if left so I am very happy to have them in the kitchen where their intense colours really lift the spirits.
I began with a collection of Anemone coronaria in my usual Campari bottles
I found this tiny daffodil growing at the base of a taller specimen I think a tiny seed must have been attached to the original bulb
Anemone coronaria ‘Sylphide’ seems to have cross polinated to produce some plants with a more washed out colour
Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’ has short stems again so I think that it must be a short variety – has anyone had any experience growing a taller white?
It is a prolific flowerer so I’m happy to have it in the garden
Finally I added the vase of Tulip ‘Daydream’ and another holding a few stems of bright yellow daffodils
I prepared my post on Sunday as I worry that if it does snow a lot, we may be without power. I’ll link to our Monday host Cathy at Rambling in the garden when her post appears.
If you can find a few blooms to pick and enjoy indoors, you will be surprised at what pleasure it brings especially if temperatures outside are plunging.
PS It snowed heavily so a good job I picked the flowers when I did!! Photos of the snow tomorrow.
This is a stunning collection. The white background brings out the pure colours. I love the anemones especially. And your bottles. Keep cosy!
I always love the intense colours of the Anemones and every year I vow to grow more, but I forget when I make my order. I MUST also try to grow some from the seed that is produced. I wonder if anyone knows how successfully it germinates.
I’ve never tried anemones from seed, though my wood anemones self-seed all over the place.
I always have few self seeded plants but if I saved all the seed and it germinated I could have hundreds of plants.
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Lovely! I hav had some Anemone de Caen flowering for about a month – what are they thinking – it is bitter here today.
Mine have been flowering for a couple of weeks, but it has been cold here for the last month. The snow is now covering the whole garden.
Such a delightful Spring mix, I think rescuing them was a top idea. Hoping the snow has not left you without power. Take care
Thanks Doris. I still have power at the moment although it did go off during the night but not for very long as the greenhouse was fine.
Your anemones are quite beautiful and look grateful for having been rescued from the snow to be enjoyed indoors!
They really brighten up the kitchen and they would have been buried if I’d left them in the garden.
Surprising to have the snow. I’m glad you were able to gather up your flowers ahead of time to enjoy indoors.These would make a good painting. What pretty colors. Only 3 of my Anemone coronaria seemed to have survived and don’t know if ‘The Bride’ is among them as they’re just starting to bloom. I don’t remember her being shorter than Mr Fokker, but I’ve noticed they start out short when first starting to bloom and later in the season seem taller. Anemone coronaria are difficult to grow here, at least for me.
The snow is amazing, the Anemones seem to like the conditions here but the white one was very short last year too.
Spring flowers are the best! I hope you are keeping warm.
The sun is shining so it seems warmer than it is! The flowers make it feel like spring rather than winter.
What a splendid collection of blooms. Love seeing all of this color.
In spring I like all the bright colours mixed together, later I prefer more organized colour.
Oh those intensely coloured little vases will be lovely to focus on if you are otherwise smothered in snow. I am going to see if I can still but some of these anemones as I forgot too – did I say that I had read you can plant them at almost any time during the year? Hope you don’t get any more power cuts – how is your house heated? And there is your greenhouse too of course 😦
The house is heated by Gas from a tank, luckily just refilled last week, efficient but very expensive so we have a wood fire in the sitting room and that keeps us warm in the evening. The greenhouse has an electric fan heater that is set to frost free. The first winter I had it I don’t think it came on once but it has worked well last year and this; it would be good to have a solar panel and battery to supply the greenhouse as it would be a disaster if the power went off all night!
Solar would be a good investment for heating the greenhouse in winter – and if you just had a panel or two for the greenhouse I don’t think it would be very expensive. I see them advertised in the camping and caravanning magazine. You would also need some sort of battery to store it for night time use
We have a solar panel for hot water and in summer the water is sometimes 50°C!!! I think I’ll look into it, thank you. I expect the battery would be more expensive than the panels but they are getting better. I would love to live off grid; then I wouldn’t have to worry about the Electricity company turning the supply off.
Yes, I read an interesting article about that type of battery (but on the scale needed for a house) in the Sunday Times recently and cut it out; perhaps when they have come down in price rather more I will look into properly. The panels have more than paid for themselves now so the income we get is now all ‘profit’, plus the free electricity when we ae generating of course
I really wanted to put in solar panels when we did some work on the house after we first moved in, but funds just weren’t available, a shame as they would have paid for themselves by now. The technology is moving on very quickly especially for the batteries due to the electric car phenomenon.
Yes, that’s true – we had our panels just before the feed-in tariff rate dropped so still get the maximum rate but the price of panels then dropped considerably.
They all look so joyful together!
Yes, joyful is the word I would use.
I hope you were spared snow this late. Your vases are so sweet and perfect for early spring love. I am glad you rescued them. We are warming again and the ground has yielded for the beginning of bulb growth to show. There will be a tussle between spring and winter in March, but spring will eventually win out!
More snow fell that was expected so it is a very wintry day here today Donna. My garden looks like yours does in winter.
So nice of you to rescue these beauties from the storm. They look fantastic together and I hope they bring you joy this week. Fingers crossed that your temperatures don’t get too low!
They would have been buried deep under the snow if I had left them in the garden.
Is it normal to get snow in late February in your part of Italy, Christina? It’s turned cold here too but not nearly that cold! In any case, I’m glad you timed your flower collection well so we can enjoy your lovely anemones. Stay warm!
It is ‘usual’ for it to snow at all Kris. My friends describe this cold weather as something that happens every 30 years although I think that isn’t true as it has been this cold before and we’ve only been here 15 years!
A good excuse to drink mini campari…these make just the right shape vase for your specimen blooms. The Bride is a stunner.
My husband said the same thing when he saw the arrangement!
I bet you were the stunning bride he had in mind!
The Campari bottles not the bride!
We had snow here last week and it was a challenge for to find flowers for my vase. It’s gone now, and I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with bad weather. This is a pretty array of blooms!
It is so cold here that the snow will remain a couple of days I think. Where it received the full rays of the sun it did melt.
Well saved, it would have been a pity to lose them as they are so springlike though it sounds anything but! Hopefully the dip in temperatures won’t be too long lived and we can get on with spring. Very cheering, the vase not the weather.
I always think that intense colours of the Anemones are like pure colour from a paint box. They brighten the kitchen and hopefully will continue to flower when these low temperatures are past.
What pretty colours Christina. Good thinking to bring as many indoors as you could… snow must be so unusual for you and I look forward to the pictures. Hope you have no serious damage to new growth or blossom.
The snow was the thickest I’ve ever seen it here. The broad beans, peas and Boc Choi are completed buried. I think the plum blossom is frozen. So we’ll just have to wait and see what the damage is.
Christina, I’m glad you could collect all the flowers before the snowfall. Your Campari bottles are the best vase for your precious anemones. The coronary anemone “Sylphide” I love and its colors are lovely. The coronary anemone “The Bride” is wonderful and its pure white color is wonderful. You asked what to do when the anemones give seeds. The variety that I have and I do not remember the name, when the seeds are going to be ready, they are detached from pieces with tact and cotton shape where the seeds go inside, because they are not visible. They give me this at the end of March. I take pieces of four cm and directly flat on the ground. In less than a month I have flowers almost identical to the anemones and of a single very nice color that usually last a month in flower. They do not give seeds but the next year they come back out more. I no longer keep the account because five years ago for personal reasons I could not be in the country house in those months to see my anemones bloom. I’m sorry about this paragraph. The vase with the Tulip Dream is very beautiful. How long has Tulip Daydream been open in a vase? It is a divine tulip. I love the yellow daffodils vase. I hope the snow disappears soon and temperatures rise. Here in Madrid it snows again on Wednesday, and from the 200m high from Madrid up the country snows. There will be half of snowfall in Spain with subzero temperatures for the day: we have the polar cold wave on top. Christina keep warm. Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
I will try with the Anemone seed. I picked the very open ‘Daydream’ a week ago, it is a variety that seems to last well in a vase. You keep warm too Margarita, I know it can be very cold in Madrid.
Christina you do very well with the seeds of the anemone. The Tulip Daydream is perfect for vases with what lasts. You are very kind to tell me to keep warm: do it too. Yes, in Madrid it is very cold and very hot. Now it’s cold. Greetings from Margarita.
A double bonus arrangement, emptying the bottles and now a lovely spring arrangement.
Absolutely true Brian. A good job I love Campari soda!
Russian weather hit us when we awoke after a surprisingly bright day previously. So stock up. As ever the arrangements are lovely, rather pale and ethereal today. Stylish.
I’m surprised you think the Anemones look pale, they have such intense colour.
Snow and such cold – wow – is that unusual? Your collection of vases is a perfect distraction from the frigid weather, beautiful colors!
Very unusual Eliza. We rarely have snow and even more rarely so much
Such pretty colours. A spring delight and I love your little Campari bottles. Thank goodness you rescued them ahead of the snow. It’s been snowing on and off all day, but not settling, yet. Very perishing cold here. That wind is bitter. Thanks for sharing your cheerful spring flowers
I love those Anemones, tried to grow them for many years. The weather sounds dreadful, I am glad you saved some flowers to enjoy inside. Stay warm,spring is coming.
I wonder why the Anemones didn’t do well for you. Your climate should have suited them. What soil do you have.
I am too far south now, it was a joke between my mother and me about who killed the anemones first – I had very dry, sandy clay and she referred to the soil in her garden as road bed,plastic like clay.
Ah!
Oh that’s a pretty trio of vases Christina. I’m sure those flowers welcomed refuge in a warm house and would say thank you if they could. Interesting to see the variation in the shades of anemone ‘Sylphide’.
I think the pale Sylphide is a seedling as all the others have been the same strong crimson.
Lovely anemones.I wish they would grow for me. The Bride is particularly good I think.
They wouldn’t like your wet soil Linda, mine don’t receive any summer irrigation. The Bride is lovely but as I said the stems are very short which is fine in the garden but hopeless for a vase.
Oh, I love the Anemones!
Good news those buried under the snow are up and flowering already – seems incredible to me.