In a Vase on Monday: Happy Spring!

Before I present my vase for the weekly Rambling in the Garden meme, I would like to congratulate our host Cathy on her five year blogging anniversary! With “In a Vase on Monday” Cathy has inspired so many to go out into their gardens each week to find materials for a vase to share. Not only that, her regular and cheerful posts about her garden, along with her poems, are such a pleasure to read. So thanks Cathy, and here’s to the next five years!

To mark the first day of astronomical Spring my vase this week was photographed at the exact time of the March equinox – 11.28 a.m. I didn’t actually notice the sun crossing the celestial equator, as it had gone behind a cloud (and seems to have stayed there 😉 ) but I did then inspect the garden to find the first Narcissi opening, along with the first tulips “Early Harvest”. Bang on time! Here is one of those precious tulips, together with some Forsythia that came out today after being indoors for a few days.

I brought out my Forsythia vase, which sadly doesn’t get used very often, although it is always on display on my sideboard.

This is the cusp of Early Spring – in phenology Early Spring starts when the Forsythia opens and the Narcissi are in full bloom. Full Spring will be when the fruit trees start to blossom and the lilac is in flower. So we have plenty more of the season to come.

Happy Spring to all in the northern hemisphere, and to those in the south a very Happy Autumnal Equinox!

😀

In a Vase on Monday: An Early Spring Posy

This posy is posing beautifully for my Monday vase, as I join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden and the many other participants of her lovely meme.

Crocus in yellow, white and purple, red and white Hellebores, a snowdrop or two, a sprig of Mahonia foliage, and Dwarf Iris – the pale one with yellow markings and blue veins is ‘Katherine Hodgkin’, which loves this dry spot.

Which side do you like best?

Or how about this?

Or this?

I think she is rather vain, this posy… but doesn’t she have reason to be?

😉

 

In a vase on Monday: March Marvels

Another week has flown by, and some very mixed weather with it. Wind and sleet mid-week made me wonder if winter was back with a vengeance, but then an extremely mild 15°C on Saturday brought on a few early spring flowers. 🙂

As I join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden with my weekly vase, Snowdrops are of course in the forefront…

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And Amaryllis/Hippeastrum are flowering beautifully on my windowsill too…

But a few other spring flowers are making their debut appearance today: a white Hellebore, a single yellow crocus and one purple one, and three stems of this dear little pale blue Puschkinia that the bees were humming around on Saturday afternoon. Marvellous!

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I wonder how your March began. Was it in like a lion, as the saying goes… out like a lamb. We can hope!

Have a great week!