With the rain even the Zinnias are looking fresher and producing quite prolifically again.
There are Zinnias, Asters including ‘Monte Cassino’, Holy Basil flowers and seed heads and some Achillea.
Above a larger arrangement in the sitting room with the same flowers as above with the addition of Perovskia.
With my thanks to Cathy at ‘ Rambling in the Garden’ who hosts this popular meme.
I have been using my phone for my recent posts. Do you notice any difference in the quality of the images?
This week another vase from me that was a gift for my lunch hostess yesterday. On this occasion when I asked what I could bring she said she would love flowers from my garden – a real compliment as flowers are rarely a hostess gift here (only I seem to do it).
So the flowers where picked yesterday and as I know she loves flowers I tried to take what is best at this moment in my garden, and that has to be Irises! Continue reading
I missed joining in Cathy at Rambling in the Garden‘s Monday Vase meme last week. Firstly because I was busy working in the garden but mainly because I have a new computer, and it is taking me some time to get used to how everything works! It is a new operating system to me and although I am assured by everyone that it is completely intuitive, it isn’t to me!!! Continue reading
I’m sure everyone will find some lovely spring flowers this week to share with all the participants of Cathy at Rambling in the garden‘s weekly meme.
My little vases of joy have had triple use; I prepared them on Saturday for a very special friend’s Hen Night. Fifteen little Campari bottles stuffed with spring flowers; what could be more fitting for a spring bride. They were placed on the tables and if I say so myself added a very special something to the delicious array of food. My friend chose a couple of the bottles to take home as did one of the other guests. (Sorry no images at the event, I didn’t take my camera).
How the flowers ended up in the Orangery
Yesterday, Sunday I’d invited some friends to come to see the spring bulbs in the garden and enjoy an English tea party; it was also one of the friend’s birthday so a good excuse to celebrate.
The little bottles were on the table when everyone arrived but it soon became clear that with all the extra food brought by everyone there was no space for all the flowers so they ended up on the cubes that cover the wall over the ‘outside’ kitchen; luckily fully visible from the table.
Narcissus Thalia, Rosemary and Iris
This morning I decided to bring all the flowers into the house so that they now adorn the kitchen, the sideboard and the sitting room.
In the Kitchen
Today the vases were moved into the house, some added to a tray of candles on the coffee table
On the sideboard
Viburnum burkwoodii adds some gorgeous perfume.
I think I almost like a selection of small vases more than one large arrangement.
Have a great week!
The garden and the countryside are looking very spring-like – that moment that suddenly arrives when there are clouds of blossom everywhere, vying for our interest. Again I was able to give a bouquet to our hostess for Sunday lunch as well as have several vases at home.
I used a jam jar with a smaller bottle inside to hold the flowers for my hostess yesterday
Anemone coronaria ‘Mr Fokker’
Hyacinth from a mixed pack which added some amazing perfume
The cold autumn combined with the warmth of the last week or so has encouraged my Narcissus to flower earlier than usual. I love the multi-headed Thalia and picked some for the classic blue jug/Narcissus combination
Blue jug with Narcissus Thalia and a single stem of Tulip Exotic Emperor
I ordered Alstroemerias when I was at the Hampton Court Flower show last July; they were delivered in September. The plants were very small and not looking in great shape as the carrier had been rather slow, however after putting them into larger pots and then placing them in the cold greenhouse for the winter they have grown on exceedingly well and there are buds on most of the plants, this is A. ‘Avanti’
Blue jug with Narcissus Thalia, Alstroemeria and Tulip Exotic Emperor
I had intended creating a vase full of the white froth of blossom; but the wild plums were already shedding their snow-like petals; but I wanted ‘white’ so I instead I used Viburnum tinus with just a few stems of ‘true’ plum blossom (the tree is covered with blossom this year building up my hopes that there may be a mass of plums this year); these were joined by Narcissus Cheerfulness, N. Thalia, Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’ and tucked in but not very visible in this image Tulip Exotic Emperor.
In a vase on Monday
Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’, Narcissus Cheerfulness, Tulip Exotic Emperor and Viburnum tinus blooms
Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’, Narcissus Cheerfulness and Plum blossom
Do visit our hostess for the best Monday meme, Cathy at Rambling in the garden for more vases from around the world.
Happy gardening!
Cathy at Rambling in the Garden asks us each Monday to find flowers in our gardens to pick and bring into our homes; this new habit has certainly improved my experience of Monday mornings, as I’m sure it has for many others; if you haven’t yet joined in, do be brave – it’s spring and there are so many lovely flowers to enjoy and share.
Last Friday was International Womens’ Day and I had enough flowers to prepare a large vase of blossom for a friend who hosted a lunch to celebrate the day and for a small vase for another friend whose birthday it was.
Vase for a friend’s birthday
Sorry, this was photographed in a rush. The vase for my friend included: Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’, A green Hellebore, Wild plum blossom, Viburnum tinus, and Prostrate rosemary.
Prostrate Rosemary, it seems a much stronger blue at the moment
Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’
Green Hellebore
Wild Plum blossom
My own vase is simple today with just Prostrate Rosemary and Tulip Crystal Star.
In a vase on Monday
Tulip Crystal Star
Tulip Crystal Star and Prostrate Rosemary
Hope spring is springing where you are, have a lovely week.
You may remember that last week I showed you one Tulip Blumex Favourite in the round goldfish bowl vase. This week there are more of this interestingly coloured parrot tulip; I again used some Fatsia japonica seedheads although they are very heavy and have already flopped in the vase.
In a vase on Monday
Tulip Blumex Favourite
Tulip Blumex Favourite
Tulip Blumex Favourite
Tulip Blumex Favourite
Tulip Blumex Favourite
Tulip Blumex Favourite
Do visit Cathy at Rambling in the garden for other Monday vases.
Have a great gardening week.
I’m going to be sowing tomato and Zinnia seed as space becomes free on the propagating trays. I sowed Zinnia Benary’s Giant Wine on Saturday and it has germinated this morning (good fresh seed from Chiltern Seeds). Have you started sowing seeds yet?
Cathy at Rambling in the Garden inspires us each Monday to find flowers from our gardens or collected locally to cut and enjoy in our homes. She has encouraged many of us to look forward to Monday as a day to share our vases with many other enthusiastic participants.
We have had a week of two very different weather conditions. For most of the week it was deliciously warm (ideal gardening weather), then at the weekend a ‘Beast from the East’ arrived bringing with it gale force winds and temperatures dipping below freezing. This had its effect on the development of the tulips. The pioneer stems of two varieties began to open and so were picked with the expectation of adding the rest within a few days; the cold temperatures have delayed the rest so today’s vases are not as abundant as I had envisaged.
A collection of vases and pots in the kitchen yesterday
Tulip Negrita has always been one of my favourite tulips, all the more as it has returned in the garden for many years. Last year I added some Double Negrita and for this year I saw that a Negrita has been added to the list available and decided to try them. The first bloom appeared almost a week ago, way ahead of the others in the pot; when I added the others to the vase and changed the water it keeled over as you can see in the image above. I then cut it shorter to give it more stability in the vase.
Today the Irises are finished so just a slim vase of Tulip Negrita Parrot and the fish bowl remain
Last weeks fish bowl arrangement has been adapted by removing the pot of Iris reticulata and adding a single stem of Tulip Blumex Favourite, another parrot tulip.
Last weeks fish bowl with the addition of Tulip Blumex Favourite
Tulip Blumex Favourite
What will you find to share with us today, I wonder. For more vases visit Cathy.
Hope this is a good gardening week for you all.
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.
Cathy at Rambling in the Garden invites us to join her with a vase on Monday, to begin our week with the pleasure of flowers cut from our gardens or nearby.
I think I may have said last week that I was a little under whelmed with the Tulip ‘Miami Sunset’ – well I should have waited before passing judgement. It is a tulip that ages beautifully; growing taller, the bloom becoming larger and the colours, deepening, changing, becoming like shot silk.
Here’s the vase as you saw it last week
In a vase on Monday 4th February
Here on the 6th February
In just two days the tulips have grown to be taller than the Teucrium that was almost hiding them.
Yellow at the throat, orange , magenta – the colours of the sunset I posted yesterday, Sunday
I actually took so many photographs as the tulips developed I think they will deserve a post of their own.
Here on the 10th February
By Sunday, they are shrinking again, drying a little, but still worth their space on the sideboard.
Just look at the petals – aren’t they gorgeous? Like a watercolour
But there were of course more blooms to pick (I usually plant 25 bulbs to a pot but I have decided this is too many, even allowing for the fact that they don’t all mature at once I think 15 would be enough and it would spread the time I have them to enjoy.
Freshly picked in the middle of last week, more T. ‘Miami Sunset’ with Tulip ‘Daydream’
Tulip ‘Daydream’
Tulip ‘Daydream’ begins a soft yellow and then becomes suffused with peachy apricot.
T. ‘Miami Sunset’ with Tulip ‘Daydream’
The second picking of T. ‘Miami Sunset’ seem to have a slightly different colour which must be impossible as they were all planted together in the same pot! But the petals appear to be slightly flamed reminiscent of T. ‘Princess Irene’ but much taller.
A couple of days later the stems have grown considerably
Two vases in the kitchen, yeah! The vase of T. ‘Exotic Emperor’ hasn’t quite finished yet.
On Saturday I was invited to meet a friend’s new granddaughter, a very special occasion so I found a few fresh blooms and improvised with a cut down plastic bottle (I don’t have many of those now as we buy our water in glass and take them back to be re-filled).
A vase for a friend
There were a few more stems f T. ‘Daydream’, ‘Exotic Emperor’ and ‘Miami Sunset’, I added a stem with the seed head of Fatsia japonica and Iris unguicularis, plus a stem of Lonicera fragrantissima for perfume.
The kitchen worktop with one vase behind the other
Sorry about the mess on the worktop, I was in a rush by the time I photographed the vase.
T. ‘Daydream’ with the seed head of Fatsia japonica
Lonicera fragrantissima
Iris unguicularis
What have you found to put in a vase today to share with us?
I hope you have some good gardening weather this week.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 