Cathy, at Rambling in the Garden, has a magical meme where we are invited to go out into our gardens and seek materials for a vase to bring into the house. I have now been taking part in this meme for around a year – my first vase was full of violets, and they are just starting to flower again this year.
With rain and storms forecast I decided to take advantage of some fine sunny weather on Saturday, so I did cheat a bit this week! It was so lovely just wandering round the garden in the bright sunshine, peering at all the tiny shoots appearing above the dry ground, feeling the warmth on my back, and listening to the bees humming happily all around me. Magic!
I picked a posy of pretty spring flowers – the only criteria being “small and colourful”. (The vase is a schnaps glass and I had to fix the very short stems with an elastic band!) While taking photos on the patio a bee took a fancy to the pink Glory of the Snow (Chionodaoxa) flowers.
He’s already got quite a load of pollen, as you can see better here…
The flowers I included were a red hellebore, one Rip van Winkle and one Tete-a-tete daffodil, a couple of pale purple pansies, a red Corydalis, a pink Pulmonaria, Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’, a small Muscari azureum (which flowers earlier than the others), the light blue striped Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica, and some chickweed, which creeped in – as it does! A couple of Heuchera leaves rounded it off.
If you click on any of the images below you can see them as a slide show…
Now hop over to Rambling in the Garden to see what Cathy and many others have found for vases today.
Hope you get the weather you wish for this week!
(We are getting gale-force winds, hail, sleet and snowy showers!)
So pretty, love those spring colors!
Hi Marian. I am loving these colours too. So good to see spring flowers popping up everywhere at last!
that’s really lovely and beautiful, Cathy. We have nearly the same flowers in our garden.
Maybe you could put some in a vase too…. I’m glad I did before the rain and cold wind arrived!
My husband always says: flowers should be left in the garden. I rarely take flowers inside but enjoy your posts always a lot. Regards Mitza
The big circular picture in particular is stunning, Cathy – and you have some chionodoxa too, but pink! What a lovely spring like collection you have in your vase and all the sunshine on it just adds to the overall effect. Very lovely and thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks Cathy! I’m so glad I picked everything on a sunny day before our cold front arrived, although these spring flowers are all pretty tough, despite appearing otherwise!
wow, they are very beautiful!! Great photography too Cathy!!
Thanks Michael! 🙂
Oh Cathy I can’t get enough of your little spring blooms….so very colorful and perfect in your glass. A glass of spring cheer for me!
If I could magic some into your garden I would Donna! Hope your snow continues to melt! 🙂
Great! Pure Joy 🙂 small is beautiful.
Hi Uta. Yes, spring is such a joyful time! 🙂
How pretty! Your weather doesn’t match the lovely message of spring your vase conveys. I had to collect flowers early also due to cold temps below freezing, but we’re back up warmer and sunny this afternoon. Hope your wintry mix is short-lived.
I think the cold spell should only last a few days… these spring flowers are all tough little things though, so shouldn’t suffer a few frosty nights!
Such a lovely glass of spring and well done for capturing the bee so perfectly. I think we have cold temperatures to come too – I hope it does not hurt the early bees to much.
I hope so too Julie. We have had so many bees this spring with lots of warm sunny days so far. Hope your temperatures don’t dip too much. We may get snow for Easter!
Wonderful spring colour, I hope you soon get some spring weather.
It has been lovely weather the last few weeks, but a very cold spell is not uncommon around Easter. Just hope the forecast isn’t right about the snow, and glad I wasn’t tempted to do any early sowing!
Magical indeed this month of March, so many little flowers popping up one by one every day. Thanks for sharing such a beautiful tiny vase today, Cathy!
Thank you Anca! It’s lovely seeing them all reappear after a whole year of dormancy!
Cathy, I can’t believe it’s been a year. Time flies. I’m so glad you’ve had some warm weather and clearly your garden agrees. I must remember to make some of these small posies. Charming in every way.
Alys, I wish I had picked another posy as the hurricane force winds today have blown all the little flowers around so they look quite ragged now! Still, more will be up and flowering next week too. 🙂
Oh dear! Do you often get powerful winds like that, Cathy? February is usually our windiest month of the year, but it was surprisingly calm this year.
We haven’t had such strong winds for a few years, but yes, we do occasionally get bad storms in the winter months. No damage done except for an awful lot of twigs and debris to clear up!
We’ve had – are still having – gales too. Though it is not currently raining at least! Your tiny vase is the perfect spring pick-me-up for such weather. Wish I hadn’t planted my pulmonarias in such an out of the way position, though they do suppress weeds rather well. Just makes them hard to pick!
Almost all of my plants are hard to pick, including the Pulmonarias, but I have foot spaces for climbing through the rockery! Our garden was a no-go area the last two days anyway, with hurricane force winds throwing twigs and branches down at us… should calm down a bit tomorrow though.
Spring has suddenly sprung here too, isn’t it wonderful! I just love your vase this week.
Hi Christina. Yes, spring is gaining momentum now and I am hoping the storm will be over by tomorrow so I can go out again and enjoy it! I missed your vase this week, so hope all’s well and look forward to seeing some of your spring flowers soon.
So pretty! What a lovely array of spring flowers you’ve got – lucky bees!
Thanks Trixpin! I wish I had planted even more bulbs as the go over so quickly! 🙂
Very nice, I especially like the Glory of the Snow. I need to get some of those for my garden.
I need to get more spring bulbs in general, just the planting in autumn puts me off.
I always wish that I had planted more bulbs than I actually did the previous fall.
I’m glad you were able to collect this pretty bouquet before the storm reached you – and you made a bee happy in the bargain! Chionodoxa is another of those flowers that don’t grow in coastal Southern California but I guess that’s evident from the common name – snow never comes to my area.
I’m glad I picked them in advance as the storm has spoilt many of the flowers that are already out. Thank goodness the wind has dropped a bit today!
Nice flower & beautiful photography.
Thanks Roytanusree. And thank you for visiting!
Oh now that’s what I’d call cheating Cathy but creative thinking. The bee certainly appreciated it. We had a most turbulent Tuesday but today has been more like spring. Hope that is calmer in your neck of the woods too by now.
Hi Anna. Yes, much calmer today thank goodness! I woke up to a dusting of snow and blue skies. 🙂
So lovely! I’m afraid I haven’t enough for a vase, so I appreciate yours all the more!
Thanks Karen. Hope you’ll be able to fill a vase again soon! 🙂