In a vase on Monday: hand held

Tags

Aquilegia vulgaris, columbine, Geum "Mrs Bradshaw", in a vase on Monday, Sparaxis Astrantia Roma

Finally it is raining and even though our gardens really need it, I find myself thinking ‘yuck, enough already’. Wet dog, muddy veg plot equals unruly hair and dirty clothes.   ( probably not smelling too great either).

My vase is full of little flowers today. 

Geum ‘Mrs Bradshaw’ looking a particularly luminous red in this grey, damp day light. Pink and dark purple Aquilegias, pink Astrantia Roma and peachy petals of Spraxis. 

The Spraxis are a mixture of peachy petals with yellow centres edged in black,  or vivid orange petals with the same interior. The orange ones are the colour of traffic cones and I suppose that helps bring the pollinators in.

My thanks to daughter Dorris for lending me her pink jumper as a backdrop and to Cathy for hosting the Monday vase meme. 

Have a good day. D.

In a vase Monday: Bank Holiday chaos

Tags

Aquilegia vulgaris, bank holiday monday, chaos, Geum Totally Tangerine, hellebore hybrid, in a vase on Monday, persicaria bistorta, scented tulips, Tulip Queen of the Night

Bank holidays always seem a bit chaotic to me: engineering works, early closing, late opening, feels like a Sunday but it’s a Monday. Today, so too, my vase is a bit chaotic. 

There are tulips and geums, hellebores and geraniums, persicarias and aquilegias. Flowers of early Spring mixed with early Summer perennials. 

The colours are a mixed up bunch, lime with purple, pinks and reds with shades of orange.

The living room is in chaos thanks to newspapers and revision folders, half done filing and stacks of garden cushions waiting to be aired. With no where suitable to photograph the vase, I resorted to a rather precarious hand held bunch of snaps.

The vase is an Irn-bru shade of glass, a bit weird but somehow in keeping with this motley crew. 

If you have a few minutes, pop over to Cathy to see her vase for today and enjoy looking at vases from around the world thanks to the immense popularity of this meme. Should you fancy joining in, do so and be sure to link back to Cathy. 

I hope you had a good weekend and enjoy the rest of your week.

In a vase on Monday: darker

Tags

Allium Purple Sensation, amandes ameres, Anthriscus sylvestris ravenswing, apothecary bottle, Aquilegia vulgaris, Astrantia 'Roma', Bistort officinalis, bitter almond, Geum "Mrs Bradshaw", in a vase on Monday, Meadow rue, Myrrhis odorata, Persicaria bistort, Sweet cicely, Thalictrum Elin

Early Summer blooms

Oh my it is Monday and I very nearly missed joining Cathy at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

Cathy’s meme to collect flowers from the garden to display in the house is a delight.  If you feel you might like to join in then be sure to post a link to her blog with your pictures.

flowers in an old apothcary jar

The dark astrantia is ‘Roma’ with ‘Black barlow’ aquilegia.  There is one Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ mixed amongst Geum ‘Mrs Bradshaw’ and Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’  Ravenswing is a must have in the garden for me as its foliage is dark browny black and deeply divided  with umbels of frothy cow parsley like flowers.  It is beginning to seed around and I am delighted.

Anthriscus Ravenswing

The other umbelifiyer I am enjoying at the moment is Myrrhis odorata or Sweet Cicely. Also resembling Cow Parsley, Cicely has fern like leaves and white flowers scented rather like aniseed.

Anthriscus sylvestris Ravenswing with backgound colour of astrantia Roma and Sparaxis elegans

There are pink fingers of Bisorta officinalis, rather like a persicaria and often referred to as Persicaria bisorta, this is an early flowering persicaria type in marshmallow pink.  There is also a sprig of Thalictrum Elin.  This is the sprig of tiny dark purple bobbles in the first picture.  The bobbles will and are about to open to a colour not unlike the Purple Sensation, and have leaves like an aquilegia.

A snap shot of the flowers in my garden

One final note the jar was for bitter almonds which I understand are the non cyanide containing almonds used for flavouring foods.  That’s good then.

Have a good week.

ps. I garden on heavy clay soil which is water logged in areas over Winter ( for those who are interested in such things, like me!)

In a vase on Monday: Marmalade?

Tags

Aquilegia vulgaris, Astrantia Rubra, Geranium phaeum, Geum "Mrs Bradshaw", Geum Totally Tangerine, in a vase on Monday, Sparaxis elegans, Tulip Ballerina, Tulip Queen of the Night

Marmalade jar to link to todays colours

Cathy at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com will be hosting a group of vases for Monday.  Today I have got my act into gear and managed to pick a few of the newly emerging flowers to join in.  I seem to have a number of shades of orange in the garden so I decided to use the old marmalade pot. The shot above includes the very strong orange from Sparaxis elegans

Tulip Queen of the Night, with Aquilegia vulgaris

The tulips are beginning to go over so to enjoy them I have picked the wonderfully dark ‘Queen of the Night’, and added the common but certainly not vulgar Aquilegias.  There is also a few dark purples from the Geranium phaeum and Astrantia.  The Astrantia ‘Rubra’ may be a smaller flowered than some of the astrantias and not as dark as ‘Hadspen Blood’ but I like it and know that it will flower pretty much until October.

Geum Totally Tangerine and Astrantia Roma

Geum Totally Tangerine with Geum Mrs Bradshaw behind

Have a good week.