The last week has been spring-like, even on the days that had a cold wind from the north, the sun shone and out of the wind it was warm. Sunday the wind dropped and it was truly the best day of the year so far.
I have been able to work in the garden; clearing, planting and pruning the wisteria (nearly done).
I had thought that with the warm days there would be more tulips to share with you today, but they are stubbornly refusing to open their buds although I’m sure in a couple of days there will be several different varieties flowering.
I had planted some Iris reticulata in pots to have in the Orangery and these began to flower last week – today I noticed those in the garden are also flowering (later than some of those I have seen on English blogs, which is interesting in itself). My first idea was to have the irises in their pots and some beautiful stems from a friend’s tulip tree.
Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’ and tulip tree woody flowers
Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’
The remains of the flowers from a tulip tree
I really wish I had planted a tulip tree (Liriodendron) in my garden – the flowers are beautiful in spring but what remains on the tree during the winter is the woody outer sepals which looked like small wooden flowers silhouetted against the sky.
I wasn’t quite satisfied with how the irises looked so I was inspired to try something else.
In a vase on Monday
In a fish-bowl vase I placed a leaf of Fatsia japonica and some of the seed-heads; I added a stem of a Hellebore I had been given as a Christmas present which is white in flower but then fades to green.
Fatsia japonica seed-heads and Hellebore
I then just dropped the potted Irises into the top of the vase.
Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’
I took it all outside to photograph.
Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’
Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’
I loved this last image so much I have made it my desktop screensaver.
With my thanks, as always, to Cathy at Rambling in the garden which inspires us to be inventive with our home grown flowers.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
That really is a creative idea. I love how you added material to the bottom of the fishbowl. The iris is a great screen saver with their yellow runways for the bees to follow.
I hope to put some tulips inside a vase soon.
Such a beautiful blue…and clever idea!
Thanks Marian, the blue is beautiful, intense and large on my desktop screen is suffused with lilac.
I love the close ups of the iris as well – the contrast of blue and yellow is beautiful.
Thanks Eliza. I just wanted to go in closer and closer.
Easy to get lost in.
Christina I am very happy about the good time you have: to continue like that for a long time. Your vase today, apart from pure beauty, is imagination to power. I love it, it’s magnificent. The Iris reticulata “Harmony” I love, its intense blue with yellow is divine. And put the pot inside a fish tank with water, a leaf of Fatsia japonica, seed heads and a stem of Hellebore is a fantastic idea, wonderful, divine, beautiful, I love it. No wonder that the photo you have put screensaver, it is worth a thousand times. I think that of your vases that I have seen this one is the most imaginative one. That you continue enjoying the good weather and your beautiful garden; and that you finish soon to prune the Wisteria. Have a very good week, my friend. Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
Iris reticulata are such marvelous winter bloomers and your arrangements allow them to shine as stars with lovely supporting characters.
Very nice, I love those Fatsia seed heads! And the Iris, Where I am from everybody hates Tulip Poplars!
Really; they’re really special here!!! Always interesting what is popular in one place and hated in another.
It is interesting, at some point someone in Europe did a vase of flowers from the Tulip Poplar, which I thought was really cool – surprising myself. They are native to where I am from and a pioneer species in regrowing cleared woodlands, they grow quickly and are easily downed by storms,etc.
They are very special here, on the limit if their hardiness I think. The tree looked amazing with its ‘wooden’ flowers.
How tall are they? If in the woods in the Southeastern US you’ll see them 100 feet tall.
I have seen them tall but my friend’s tree is only about 3 to 4 metres. It is quite slow growing here.
Wow, that is quite a difference.
Gosh, those Liriodendron flowers are such a curious reminder of their original freshness – so useful for vases, like you say. I really like the goldfish bowl idea, and the fatsia and hellebore around the base looks so effective and show off the iris really well. How about an alternative of wrapping a few bulbs in moss (like kokodema) instead of using a pot another time? I am not surprised you have used that picture for your screensaver – it is so vibrant. I use the same peony and geranium photo as my blog banner and gravatar – it was one of the first digital photos I took back in 2003 🙂
Yes, I like the idea of the wrapped bulbs, I’ve actually taken the pot out of the vase already as I think the goldfish bowl looks better without.
How enterprising your are, Christina! Yet again you’ve come up with an imaginative way to display what’s in your garden. I should try something like that featuring succulents under water. I hope we’ll be getting some of the warmth you’re enjoying soon – it’s been ridiculously cold here.
Don’t envy us too much, it’s not that warm, it just feels warm after such cold weather for weeks which is unusual here. Succulents under water would look amazing.
Gorgeous flowers Christina, and that idea was ingenious – the pot looks great in the goldfish vase with fatsia seedheads. 🙂 Hope your sunshine continues. It has been lovely here too, but still very cold and icy in the shade.
We’re now having misty mornings – very unusual for where I live.
It is a beautiful image. Lovely colour, pattern and markings. Great idea to fill your goldfish bowl. Creative thinking!
I’m very pleased with the result. I need to find more vases that stretch my imagination.
Now my I Reticulata are over, I can enjoy yours- altho outside there are brave ones still flowering. I love the intensity of their colour. They are best in a pot to come indoors to give joy while they flower I think – yours look so fresh and full of Spring.
Yes and then I’ll plant them out into the garden, they might flower a second year if I’m lucky.
So pretty and imaginative.
Thanks Jane.
These little irises light up the February garden. I like to grow them in pots in the greenhouse too so that they will flower earlier. Harmony is a reliable one and such a gorgeous colour. I woul love to have a tulip tree but they take about 30 years to bloom so I don’t think I will bother. I had one in a previous garden, I wonder whether it blooms now.
Interestingly those grown in the greenhouse started to flower only about a week and a half before those in the garden< but it is nice having them in pots to enjoy inside. they flower for such a short period of time it is easy to miss them in the garden.
Hi Christina, I love the combination of the Fatsia japonica seed-heads and Hellebore! I believe the first flowers I ever planted in my first garden were Iris reticulata. I see why you chose that last image as your screen saver. Wonderful!
I love the Iris even though they flower for such a short time.
Oh talk about thinking outside the box or should I say bowl Christina. Such a beautiful little iris it would have been a crime to have beheaded them for a vase 🙂 I always wish their flowers would last just a little bit longer for us to enjoy those markings.
It is a shame that Iris reticolata flowers are so short lived, if they are planted in the ground I often think that we only see them once or twice before they are finished, that plus they are not always sure to return make them a better option for planting in a pot giving us at least the possibility of seeing them for their intuire lives.