In a vase on Monday: blue

Tags

blue, Grape hyacinth, hyacinth, in a vase on Monday, March, Muscari, Scilla siberica, Siberian squill

Hi Cathy. In case you do not know, Cathy is the the host of this meme to share something from the garden.

I am happy to report that blue refers to the colour of my flowers for today’s vase, rather than my mood.

World news frankly beggars belief. I feel as if I am taking part in some dodgy science fiction film ( and I mostly hate science fiction). The virus is all consuming unless we are careful to limit our exposure. Social distancing is the new norm.

I have clustered these glass vases in reckless close proximity. Taking kicks where one can.

I have had rare moments in my garden this year thanks to the wet weather. The incessant rain and heavy clay soil left the garden sodden all winter. To have tried to walk on it, let alone garden, would have done more damage than good. So it is a very welcome relief to see the sunshine over the last couple of days.

The perennials are all cut back and I have my dahlias potted up. The lawn has had a light trim. Just an enormous amount of weeding needs to be done, once I have taken the other debris to the household waste site. ( I hope they are still open?).

For those of us who are lucky enough to have an outside space we can keep calm and carry on gardening in our free time.

I will be trying to catch up on my garden now that it is beginning to dry out. With heavy clay there is a window between when it’s too sticky, when wet, or like concrete, when dry.

The flowers are shades of blue: Hyacinth, Muscari, and a delicate Siberian squill.

I hope you are staying safe, keeping to the new rules. If you are WFH perhaps you could try joining in, it would be lovely to see what flowers you have in your garden.

Have a good week wherever you are, stay safe and thanks for reading. D.

Six on Saturday: galloping

Tags

Anthriscus sylvestris, cow parsley, dwarf Narcissus, Euphorbia amygdaloides, Grape hyacinth, March, Muscari, Narcissus 'Tete a Tete', Prunus Nipponica Ruby, Sambucus Nigra, six on saturday, spurge

Hello. I am joining The Propagator with a Six on Saturday. Galloping? As the days lengthen and the sun warms a little, growth in the garden is changing almost as we look and the time to get all the jobs done is well , galloping by.

1.

Prunus Nipponica Ruby. On Monday only one or two of the flower blossoms were open and I included a piece of it in my vase IAVOM. Now just five days later the blossoms are nearly all open.

2.

Cow parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris. Last week there was only a peek of it on the ground now it is ankle deep at the bottom of my garden under the big three Horse chestnut trees.

3.

Spurge Euphorbia amygdaloides. I love the lime colour against the willow fencing. This is a must have plant for rough ground under trees.

4.

Narcissus Tête-à-tête. Still flowering these are quite early to show their faces. Tiny but bright and a sign of spring if ever there was one.

5.

Sambucus niger from darkest black buds to delicious rich leaves, these are opening out now and I shall look forward to the lace effect of those leaves soon.

6.

Finally muscari, Grape Hyacinth. These are a great shot of blue growing happily under the Hormbeam hedge.

Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are. Thanks for reading. D.

In a Vase on Monday: hello sunshine

Tags

Grape hyacinth, in a vase on Monday, kind gift from Kay, March, Muscari, Narcissus 'Tete a Tete', Narcissus ‘Rip-van-winkle’, Narcissus Grand Soleil d’Or, Narcissus Isles of Scilly, Viburnum bodnantense dawn, violas

Despite the high winds over the last few days and a flurry of sleet last night, the daffodils are still standing. Such hardy things, daffodils generate blots of yellow about the gardens and verges and nearly everyone comments on them. I cannot imagine that there is a single person who does not like seeing daffodils each spring.

I am not keen on the colour yellow but I make an exception with daffodils. I prefer Tête-à-tête as the short stems tend not to collapse in windy weather, important for this garden which is rather exposed.

Rip van winkle is another favourite thanks to his shredded punky appearance.

This year van winkle and Tête-à-tête are joined by a mixed selection of scented daffodils from the Scilly isles. My friend Kay kindly carried a small box of bulbs home to give me an early birthday present. Even more generous considering the hand luggage only rules from the orange aircraft carrier. This is the first one showing, it has six tiny yellow flowers with orange centres on one stem and is highly scented with that heavenly sweet daffodil perfume. I believe it to be Grand Soleil d’Or.

Viburnum bodnantense Dawn is still flowering its highly scented pale pink Pom poms and now is joined by the first of the Grape Hyacinths.

They are in a 500ml flask which holds their tiny beauty carefully.

By contrast I have pinched three tiny violas from my bath tub container. Tiny violas too have a sweet perfume detectable at close quarters.

Their papal purple colours and velvet texture have been damaged by the weather even so I think their beauty is exquisite.

What do you have to share with us and Cathy this Monday. I’ll bet there is something.

Wishing you all a good week ,wherever you are. D.

In a Vase on Monday: cock-a-doodle-do

Tags

April, daffodils, Easter Monday, frog, in a vase on Monday, Muscari, Narcissus 'Tete a Tete', Narcissus ‘Rip-van-winkle’, Narcissus Lemon sailboat, pulmonaria, Spring flowers

It is Easter, it is Monday and therefore I was on the look out for flowers and eggs to share with you and readers of Cathy’s blog.

No eggs, this cockerel has sat looking out of the window for about twenty years.

Now he is on my desk with these tiny flowers from the garden. Muscari, pulmonaria and various daffodils.

The two small daffodils are Tête-à-tête on the left and lemon sailboat on the right. Rip van Winkle is the scruff at the back and the large Daffodil is just a regular garden daff.

Held in place on a florists frog, no amphibians were hurt in the process.

I hope you have had an enjoyable long weekend and I am sure you will join me in chanting “rain, rain, go away” D.

In a vase on Monday: a bit of fluff

Tags

apothecary bottle, camellia, clematis vitalba, Dwarf narcissi Tete-a-Tete, Grape hyacinth, in a vase on Monday, Muscari, Muscari armeniacum, old man's beard, pink primrose, Polyanthus Stella Champagne

I have raided the hedgerow today for a bit of so-called Old Man’s Beard,

 Clematis vitalba.  The wild clematis seed heads are in most hedges when you look for them.  It may have attractive seed heads but it is a devil to get rid of should it be over your side of the garden hedge.  It has a deep, strong root and grows like a triffid, strangling everything in its path (everything of the plant variety that is).

Old man’s beard

Anyway enough of that, the seed head is pretty and it has helped to fill out today’s vase.

Firstly I took one of the early camellia blooms, white with a rose pink tone (New Dawn? ).  To this I have added the fading flowers of Muscari, Grape Hyacinth.  Forced to grow indoors, no cruelty involved, the blooms have just begun to go over and are now waiting to be planted in the garden. Thanks Liz.

Muscari, Clematis Vitalba

There are a few tiny pale pink primroses and some Violas.  The Violas inject a stronger shade of colour, thanks to their dark purple petals and yellow and white face, thereby picking up the yellow of the yet to open Dwarf

Narcissi.

Camellia, Polyanthus ‘Stella Champagne’, Grape hyacinth and dwarf narcsissi

As these are such tiny flowers with even smaller stems I struggled to find a suitable vessel.  In the end I chose to use a piece of oasis wedged into the opening of an old apothecary bottle.  The original contents were labelled as Hydrarg. oxid. Rub.

It sounds as if the contents were originally some mix of mercury, quicksilver and oxygen? Does anyone happen to know what this could have been or what it would have been used for, I would be interested to know.  Anyway it is a nice enough bottle made prettier thanks to the addition of some early Spring flowers.

Take a look at Cathys blog page https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/ to see what other blooms have been used for today’s meme.

As I write this, the wind is whipping its self into a proper frenzy, storm Henry is doing its thing.

Hold onto your hats folks.

It’s in a vase

Tags

Grape hyacinth, In a vase, Muscari, Narcissus 'Tete a Tete', Primula denticulata, Primula veris, Primula vulgaris, pulmonaria officianalis, turquoise milk glass

Too late to be in a vase on Monday.  I have received some lovely comments from friends about the vase efforts.  Thank you for your encouragement, Liz, Jo and Nicola and here is today’s vase:  

Today’s vase is a simple collection of Spring taken from the garden and plonked in the turquoise milk glass jug I acquired from a charity shop for £2. The jug is such a rich colour for glass and it seems to be a good contrast to the yellows, blues and pinks in the garden today.   A dark pink Hyacinth, a couple of tiny, but perfect in their miniature form, of daff. these are the dwarf, rich yellow daffodil, Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’, as well as a few of the dark blue/purple Grape hyacinth, Muscari.

Pale and quite perfect in their delicate tones of pinks and yellow are the Primoses: Primula vulgaris, Primula veris and  Primula denticulata.  I love to see these in the garden as they bring to mind memories of making Easter cards at school in Shannon.

There are also a couple of sprigs from Pulmonaria which have a lovely mix of blue and pink flowers on each stem.  I think I am right in saying that this is Pulmonaria officianlis which has grown from a piece Jill passed over the hedge to me.

The scent of the Hyacinth is filling the kitchen as I write this, and I fear it will have to go outside, before those who suffer with allergies, begin to sneeze. I will enjoy it while I can. If you enjoy the in a vase post take a look at some of the other bloggers posts including Cathy at Ramblinginthegarden and Chloris at thebloominggarden.  Do take a look and be inspired.