In a vase on Monday:

Tags

Calendula Indian Prince, Dahlia Arabian Night, dahlia Downham Royal, Echinacea purpurea, Echinops bannaticus, in a vase on Monday, penstemon garnet, Pheasant's tail grass, Stipa arundica

Echinops bannaticus

Echinops bannaticus are magnets for bees and they are a pleasing companion for grasses in a border. They grow to about 1.2m tall and do not need staking. All good characteristics however they are taking over the border and are pushing out other plants. They will need to be dug up and thinned out this autumn. Unchecked they will also self seed so I have begun to cut them before they get chance to set seed. These are them in a large jug. The jug was a gift from my parents who found it at Snape Maltings in Suffolk. The jug is a perfect scale and colour for these prickly, woody stems.

In a vase on Monday

Penstemon and Echinacea have started opening out, bringing with them some rich colour and texture into the borders. A complete contrast to the Echinops these flowers are full of jewel like colours.

In the jam jar type vase are Marigolds,Penstemon, Echinacea and the wispy diaphanous stems of Pheasants tail grass.

Ladybird hitching a ride

These are calendula Indian Prince which are my favourite of all the varieties I have tried.

Dahlias are also pulling away now and showing their rich colour and textures.

Flowers from Liz

My friend and her husband came to visit and Liz gave me this striking dahlia and chrysanthemum mix. The dahlias are the same as mine because she gave me some of the same corms for my birthday. The calendula she grew and the chrysanthemums she bought from her flower shop. Interestingly it’s the green chrysanthemums that are dropping! Grown not flown is certainly best.

Please pick some flowers from your garden and join Cathy the host of this meme.

I hope you have a good week wherever you are and thanks for reading. D.

In a vase on Monday: despite the incessant rain

Tags

calendula, Coreopsis moonbeam, Cosmos, Cosmos cupcake, cosmos purity, Dahlia Arabian Night, Dahlia Totally Tangerine, Helianthus salicifolius, in a vase on Monday, leucanthemella serotina, October, persicaria affinis, Persicaria amplexcaulis Firetail, sanguisorba canadensis, Symphyotrichum lateriflorum ‘Lady in Black’, Zinnia Giant Dahlia mix

Having battled through the overly dry and often windy summer, the garden is still giving us lots of flowers. By ‘us’ I mean us gardeners joining Cathy on her Monday meme.

I have used my special vase to accommodate them all. At the white end I have the daisy types I love so much: Cosmos ‘Purity’ and ‘Cupcake’, Leucanthemella serotina, Sanguisorba canadensis, and a late flowering Aster. It has changed its name and now I have forgotten which variety it is.

Moving towards the yellow there is Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ next to Helianthus salicifolius, fresh orange Calendula, Zinnia from a ‘Giant Dahlia mix’ packet of seed.

To the pinkier tones of Aster, now known as Symphyotrichum lateriflorum ‘Lady in Black’, Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’, Persicaria affinis, Persicaria Firetail and Dahlia ‘Arabian Night

It sounds as if this wet weather is with us all week. Wellies and anoraks at the ready!

Have a great week wherever you are. D.

Silent Sunday: Arabian Night

Tags

Dahlia Arabian Night, September, Silent Sunday

In a Vase on Monday: low light and dahlias

Tags

Clary salvia, Cosmos sonata Dwarf Mixed, Dahlia Arabian Night, Dahlia Labyrinth, Dahlia mignon.mixed, Dahlia Totally Tangerine, in a vase on Monday, Salvia Borodin

October is such a lovely time of year. There is still some warmth in the air and when the sun shines it illuminates the vibrant colours of the dahlias. 

This tiny cut glass creamer is a good size for the shorter stemmed dahlias and clary salvia.  I see I should probably have ironed my tablecloth, my secret is out, I don’t. Look at the pink cosmos instead. 

A fistful of dahlias to share with you and Cathy. Hoping you have had a good Monday and if it was not that great, remember tomorrow is another day. 

In a Vase on Monday: blue and orange

Tags

blue glass bottles, calendula, Dahlia Arabian Night, Dahlia Totally Tangerine, David Austin Roses, in a vase on Monday, rose a shropshire lad

This particular Monday has been grey and soggy underfoot thanks to the rain overnight. Needing to brighten things up I chose blue glass bottles and Autumn favourites namely Dahlias.

Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’

The blue glass bottles, for bottled water, were brought back in my luggage from a recent holiday in Andalusia. Too nice to just throw away, regular readers may recognise this from Silent Sunday yesterday. Thank you if you are a regular. 

Dahlia ‘Arabian Night’

Rose  a ‘Shropshire Lad’ floating in a blue glass dish used for candles from Mallorca several years ago. 

A few of the great performers this season namely marigold Calendula. Such a fresh orange colour. 

So these are what I am enjoying today as I sit at my table working. I am sharing them with you and Cathy of course. Have a good week wherever you happen to be. D.

In a Vase on Monday: Bank holiday snips

Tags

bank holiday monday, calendula, Dahlia Arabian Night, Dahlia mignon.mixed, Dahlias, in a vase on Monday, Verbena bonariensis

I hope you have had a good long weekend, the weather has certainly been lovely.  I almost forgot it was Monday. 

As I write this post at 8pm the colours of the flowers I picked are a bit like the sky this evening. 

Red sky at night….

Shepherds delight. Well Doris’s delight with these colours. Now if you haven’t done so already, pop over to Cathy. You know the drill. I suspect tomorrow I am going to be feeling Monday -ish for a Tuesday. 

In a Vase on Monday: crystal and velvet

Tags

crystal, Dahlia Arabian Night, Dahlias, in a vase on Monday, velvet

Before dashing around trying to get a flat sorted I picked some of my favourite dahlias. This deep dark burgundy flower is gorgeous. It has a pleasing depth of colour and a texture which appears like velvet. I can imagine a fabric in this colour and texture, a smoking jacket and draping trousers. 

In this crystal creamer it rather brings to mind the C word. You know the one, Christmas. 

I suppose I should tell you which dahlia it is, Arabian Night. Now take look over at Cathy s lovely blog to feast your eyes on vases full of home grown flowers. 

Have a good week.

In a Vase on Monday: cheers

Tags

Ammi majus, Bupleurum rotundifolium, cheers, cornflower black ball, cornflower polka dot mix, cornflowers, Dahlia Arabian Night, Dahlia mignon.mixed, Echinops, in a vase on Monday, Persicaria amplexicaulis Firetail, tankard, Verbena bonariensis

Today’s Vase is actually a beer glass and the flowers are a pleasing selection, well pleasing to my eye, apologies if not to your taste. They are from my homegrown patch,  which was a large patch of bare soil just a few months ago, onto which I planted a few seeds.

There are Dahlia mignon and Arabian Night, Ammi majus, Verbena bonariensis and the lime green of Bupleurum rotundifolium. 


White perennial sweet pea, pretty but alas with no scent. Cornflowers Black Ball, Polka Dot Mix and just your regular, good old delightful cornflower. Jo, if you are reading, I hope you like them. 

Now pop over to Cathy and take a look at the other Monday vases. They will not disappoint.

In a vase on Monday: pale and hopefully interesting

Tags

Aster, Autumn sunshine, Coreopsis moonbeam, Dahlia Arabian Night, Dahlia mignon.mixed, Fragrant English Rose The Lark Ascending, gourds, Halloween, in a vase on Monday, Miscanthus sinensis

Pale and Interesting

Thanks to the fluffy seed heads of the Miscanthus sinensis Flamingo, Coreopsis moonbeam, white aster and the astoundingly floriferous rose, Lark Ascending, this little group look made for each other.

Pale and interesting

 

Today is the last day of October and the outside temperature in a sunny spot is a good 16 degrees. Yipee.  By complete contrast the weather is due to take a turn to more seasonal temperatures with a real threat of overnight frost.  With this in mind I have done a second arrangement to use up some of the dahlias. These are all to join Cathy in her weekly meme at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordress.com . A number of bloggers join her on a Monday as it is a joy to look at what is in the garden at close quarters. To take part be sure to include a link back to her blog, to take a look just click on the link. 

Unusually for me I have used a piece of oasis in a tin heart shaped pot, oasis? The sort used by florists.  Easy to use, you just cut it to shape with a knife, shove it in a bowl of water and Bobs your uncle, it’s ready to go.  It is ideal for short stemmed dahlias like these mignons as it supports the heads.  In the photographs, the sunlight has bleached the actual colours slightly, they are stronger than they appear here.

tin of dahlias

As it is Halloween and because many of you seemed to like the knobbly gourds here they are together.

So ugly they are beautiful

Have a great week.

In a vase on Monday: Quick!

Tags

Dahlia Arabian Night, david austin rose Gertrude Jekyll, Hydrangea paniculata limelight, in a vase on Monday, Rose Lark Ascending, Rose The Pilgrim

The day has flown by, so quickly before I get dinner ready, I had better grab some flowers for a vase.

Roses are having a resurgence right now, dark pink is Gertrude Jekyll, yellow is The Pilgrim, peachy is Lark Ascending and the very pale pink one which was already here, name is unknown.

Added to the roses are Hydrangea Limelight. It has struggled in the heat as it is in full sun until about 2 pm and has browned in places.  I  had to add the rather dark velvet dahlia Arabian Night.

I especially like the lime against the pink and peach colours. 

So pop over to Cathy at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com and see a host of other vases which are sure to help you unwind on a Monday.

Have a good week