A visit to the seaside last week was a real delight – here in Bavaria we are pretty much landlocked, so the smell of the sea air and the sight of such a huge sky, the glittering sea and the long horizon were quite magical. Memories of childhood holidays on the North Norfolk coast have been flooding back since, so now that I am back home I thought my Monday vase should adopt the seaside theme…
“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky”
(from Sea Fever by John Masefield)
Cosmos Xanthos, Scabiosa ochroleuca, Succisella inflexa, Miscanthus, Tanacetum (Feverfew), and Ceratostigma (Leadwort).
Cosmos Purity, Caryopteris, Feverfew, white Lavender, and lilac Aster.
Zinnia, Tithonia and Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’
“I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied…”
from Sea Fever by John Masefield (Read the whole poem here)
The two little vases and the beach hut were found in a gift shop next to Blakeney Quay, and the windmills possibly came from the same shop many years earlier! The shells were collected on Norfolk beaches over the past years as well. 😀
I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden once again for her Monday meme. Do visit her to see her rich choice of flowers this week, as well as all the other vases linked in from around the world!
Have a good week!
Words and Herbs 
I love your vignette. It would also make a nice center piece.
Thank you! Thise little vases will no doubt be used frequently now as table decoration. 🙂
I imagine dunes! Sit back watching the slideshow and dreaming of the Seaside.
There are dunes on part of this coast too Uta. It is a wonderful part of England, if you ever do any travelling I can recommend it!
It´s defintely on my to-visit-list, right behind the Channel Islands.
Nice display…so lovely
Thanks GoldenBrodie!
I can feel your joy….lovely flowers too.
I am so glad it comes across! Yes, it was joyful. I mustn’t leave it so long before returning to the sea next time!
The call of the sea is indeed a loud one. I’m glad you got a chance to visit the beach, Cathy. It is a balm for the spirit, isn’t it? Love your theme this week to further hold on to that luscious feeling. 🙂
Thanks Eliza. Yes, it did my spirit good, and looking at my little arrangement every day keeps bringing it back to me. 🙂
We hold onto that feeling as long as we can!
There is something about the North Norfolk coast, isn’t there? Lovely vases and props to evoke memories of the sea and sky.
Yes, I feel I am drawn there again and again Sam. A very special part of the coast. 🙂
Treasured moments, lovely.
Thanks, and these vases are keeping the memory of that brief trip alive this week! 😀
Your vases are full of charm and I can relate to your longing for the sea. Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ is fabulous.
Thank you Susie. That part of the English coast is like a magnet. 😉
It looks as though there’s abundance in your garden borders too! I love that pale yellow cosmos, which I wish I could find locally but, as I can’t, perhaps I can hunt down seeds to try next year.
I grew it from seed too, as it is relatively new and our garden centres never stock any cosmos with a label on them anyway! 🙂
A very creative composition, Cathy!And such a beautiful collection of flowers!
Thank you Anca! 🙂
Your visit to the sea clearly touched you – and I was already quoting the poem in my head when I saw your title so was sharing your experience. What an evocative display, bringing so many memories. How long have you been away from Norfolk now? I especially like the two smaller vases with the white and blue. Will you be growing Xanthos again? Not sure I will, although it has flowered prolifically
I can’t decide about Xanthos either. It is pretty, but with small flowers and a shorter growth it didn’t make a big impression. I think Inwill go back to the pink shades of cosmos next year as there are just so many to choose from! The trip to Norfolk was overdue… it must be 5 years or more since I last went. I will definitely not leave it so long again!
Likewise with me and Xanthos – same reasons, and the flowers cluster closely together making it hard to remove just a single dead head
Cathy, I found out his week that Xanthos doesn’t last as long in a vase as other cosmos either, so the decision is made! 😉
Ah yes, I found that too… Definitely not on the list next year!
Gorgeous display of seaside flowers!
Thank you Julie!
A most charming display and quote, Cathy, Nice to get back to the roots from time to time. Have a fab week too xx
Thanks Annette. It was especially nice to return to that part of the coast with my sister accompanying us – we both love it there!
How lovely! I adore the cosmos especially.
Thanks – the cosmos are always later getting going than I expect. But now they are at their best. 🙂
We live fairly close to the sea but it does not dispel the yearning.
I suspect it is something to do with the tides drawing us to the ocean… I hope to visit the northern coast of Germany one day too. 🙂
Nothing rejuvenates body and soul more that a trip to the shore.
Just the memories of that day are doing me good Ricki. I should go more often, but it is such an awful long way!
Welcome home! Or welcome back, since you were home…in England. Oh, how confusing. Your tiny vases have so much charm. I’m glad you got to spend time at the sea. Lovely flowers, lovely vases and lovely scene-setters to match.
LOL! Home is where the heart is, as they say. 😉 My little beach scene is making me smile still!
Nice! You’ll have to pull it out again mid-winter when you’re really missing the shore. 🙂
I can easily imagine that you drank in that sea air! You need to get enough of it to last until your next visit. I love the theme of this week’s beautiful arrangements, Cathy. Each is very pretty. I noted the Tithonia. I’m not familiar with that flower and it has really caught my eye!
It may be a while till my next visit to the sea, and you are right – I gulped in that sea air with that thought in mind! Tithonia is also called Mexican sunflower. I grow it as an annual from seed. It is really pretty and the bees love it! 🙂
You can certainly feel your love of the sea and happy times spent there in in your sweet little flower arrangement.
Thanks Karen. It’s nice to look back now and then and get all nostalgic. 🙂
One of my favourite memories from school is this poem, thank you for reminding me. The Caryopteris is such an intense blue, it looked almost like the flowers of grape hyacinth.
You know, a few years ago I bought myself the poetry book we used at school because there were so many favourites in it! (The Dragon Book of Verse). The Caryopteris and the Plumbago are adding a lovely splash of true blue at the top of the rockery. 🙂
[J+D] We’re more West/North/Mountain folk, and neither of us had visited East Anglia before 2001, and alas not since then, as our life here in Uist keeps us from travelling. The holiday we had was to the Norfolk cost and somewhat inland too, exploring with our motorhome. We loved it!! The next year we moved to Uist … but ironically as well as mountains and moorland, we also have here the most extensive dunes (together with extensive sandy hinterland) in Europe! We even have islands-off-our islands which are almost entirely dunes, complete with a big lighthouse (that’s the Monach Isles). But beautiful as these are, they don’t in any way compete with the wonders of Norfolk, and our holiday there remains a great memory for us, and hopefully one day we will return there.
Oh I do hope you will be able to return one day! Norfolk has so many beautiful things to offer – the landscape and wildlife, and the pretty little villages and towns full of creative people and lovely gardens. I know I will go back time and again, but it is never for long enough and my visits are always too far apart!