Monday is the time to go into the garden and pick some flowers to enjoy in the house or, if you have time, to play around and practice your flower arranging skills.
I always think Dutch Iris are such elegant flowers. I’ve been waiting for them to bloom so I could try them in the new Ikebana vase.
In a vase on Monday
I need to get a board I can drape with different coloured fabrics as a backdrop for photographing my vases.
Tulip Akebono, from last week’s vase. It grew even larger while in the vase and I couldn’t resist reusing it again in this vase
Dutch Iris
Dutch Iris
With thanks to In a Vase on Monday: Amazing Grace for hosting and inspiring us all. Do visit her to see here vase this week, or better still why not pick some flowers yourself and join us.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
Those irises are so pretty the way the petals magically change to another colour, and they look great with the tulips.
Irises are my favourite flowers after tulips, they do have magical colours!
Such a pretty harmony of color too.
Thanks Marian. The colours are very pure.
I do like your Dutch irises – in such delicate colours – they are rather statuesque.
I just love their form.
Beautiful irises! Each like a carnival headdress!
That’s a nice connection.
Gorgeous Dutch Iris Christina. Mine bloomed this week also, planted many years ago, but only a few came back this time. I like the way you used the tulip so effectively at the base.
I’ve learned from you about placing something large at the base to balance the height, thank you.
Short and sweet, Christina, and you have illustrated my point about the amazingness of tulips at evry stage, as yours accentuate the irises perfectly. I had to resort to drawing pins to hold up the fabric for today’s vase as it was taller than most of mine are – I drape the fabric over a bench outside but having a dedicated board or framework for the fabric would be more versatile, so thanks for suggesting it!
My vase would have looked so much better with a better background.
I was thinking you could have a permanent frame set up in your outdoor vase preparation area – now that you have the space, make it work for you!
Brilliant idea Cathy, thank you.
You are welcome – glad you thought it was useful
Beautiful new vase, and the addition of the Dutch iris does add elegance and wonderful form accentuated by the tulip.
Thanks Donna; it very different for me vase.as fun putting together this
As always, I love your arrangement! Dutch iris were included in my very first garden at the first house we owned. The little garden wasn’t very successful as a whole, but the Dutch iris did well and to this day have a special place in my heart.
The Iris are quite short lived in a vase and also in the garden but I do enjoy having them and as they return each year, they are worth their space.
Christina had never seen a vase so graceful and magnificent like this: it’s wonderful. The Ikebana vase with the Dutch Iris with its beautiful palette of colors is a treasure. The Tulip Akebono last week completely open and larger is beautiful and combines perfectly with the irises. Even if you put a background cloth, for me, a beginner, it would be just as beautiful. Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
Thank you for your enthusiastic approval Margarita. You have a great week too. Are you at your country house? Is the weather better?
Christina I could not go to the country house. I’m still in Madrid. My father changed the day of a doctor and we have to stay this week in Madrid. But I think at last on Saturday we go to the country house. The weather has taken a breather this week and the temperatures are rising, but not much, although yesterday from the afternoon and the whole night it rained without stopping. But for the weekend they forecast another cold-weather squall. But I’m leaving. I hope you enjoy the sun and good temperatures. You’re very kind. Take care. Greetings from Margarita. 🙂
Iris is so elegant – perfect for your new vase!
When I saw the vases from Japan I knew the Irises would be perfect for it.
The Dutch Iris are so elegant! It took mine a while to become reliable bloomers but, now that that first group has done so, I’m gung-ho to plant more in different colors. I love the yellow and blue one.
The one I like the most is dark rich blue with yellow.
Love,love the Iris, all of them! Although, I agree with you on blue. Probably my favorite.
I love spring’s exuberance bursting forth from this arrangement! Beautiful.
Thanks Peter. Spring is simply the best, isn’t it?
Oh time flies Christina – it hardly seems a year since you were last picking your Dutch irises for vases. I made a note last time to order some come autumn and am now waiting for them to open. They should come out white but I would be delighted if they turn out the same multi-coloured soft hues as yours which remind me of butterflies. Are yours from Peter Nyssen? I have sometimes used a child’s blackboard as a background for photographing my snowdrops. If you could find one tall enough it might be suitable for draping fabric over too. Art shops also stock differently coloured thick boards at reasonable prices.
Your irises are so pretty Christina! The different shades of purple are lovely. I always have problems finding a good background where the light is right. A board with a cloth might be a good idea, as it would be mobile…. Have a good week. 🙂
The other Cathy recommended a board too, I think I’ll try it.
Nice, though I thought those were Siberian Iris. I thought the Dutch ones were more fat and flamboyant.
Lovely Christina. I love these Spanish irises, I can’t think why I don’t grow them.
Bizarre that this post just arrived in my reader now, (Thursday evening)
Interesting that you call them Spanish. Can you explain.
Sorry, I meant Dutch. I’d just been having a conversation about Spanish bluebells and it was on my mind.