It’s a beautiful day, the birds are singing and it’s Monday! That means I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her weekly meme, where we plonk things from our gardens into vases to share with the world! 🙂
This week I kept it simple and classic – what could be more elegant and modest than roses and lavender? Add some Alchemilla mollis (not too much) and a few strands of grass and voila! No more fuss and ado.
The light was not quite so harsh and I was able to take the photos on my patio with the top of the south-facing rockery behind.
The grass in the centre is Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ and I am in love with this plant. Its feathery flowers opened this week and transformed the rockery.
Here is a picture of it taken from the patio…
The sun was hiding behind a humid haze when I picked these flowers and I took the opportunity to harvest a few bunches of lavender before the flowers get burnt and lose their intensive perfume. When I looked back at these photos I realised the vase completely mirrors what is in the garden behind it!
Oh yes, and the other grass on the left is Melica ciliata, which I first saw growing wild in a nearby deserted stone quarry and knew it would look good in my rockery.
The pale pink rose is ‘The Fairy’, but the deeper pink one was inherited with the garden and is therefore nameless.
The scent of peonies has faded, allowing the lavender to take over, although you have to rub it to notice. The strongest scent out there right now is in fact the wild strawberries. Perhaps I will post about them another day!
What smells good in your garden today?
Have a good week, and don’t forget to visit Cathy and the Monday Vase crowd for some inspiration and smiles!
Words and Herbs 
Your vase is lovely. I can appreciate each and every flower/grass etc in it.
My garden is soggy wet for the first time this month. It is wonderful!
Happy IAVOM.
Thanks Lisa. Glad you are happy with your rain!
Your vase is so pretty and I like your background.
Thank you! The garden is the best backdrop with the best light for photos. 🙂
What lovely soft summery colours, Cathy, and the grasses are a real asset to the vase too. I think what I can smell here is the Rambling Rector – very pleasant and not overpowering
The smell of roses is lovely if they are not too strong. None of mine smell much at all but I prefer peony scent anyway. 🙂
Cathy your bouquet is magnificent, I love it. The Alchemilla mollis is beautiful. I like herbs very much. The two roses are very beautiful and their colors are wonderful. It is a bouquet so simple but so beautiful, divine. What a coincidence the first grass grows wild in my garden and I have left it alive this year, I have not cut it with the lawn mower. Although in my garden there are wild herbs of all kinds growing without stopping. For the weekend they announce that good weather finally comes! I will be able to plant the 3 Dahlias that are in pots. Cathy forgives me to tell you all my things, but for me you’re a friend. 🙂 Have a good week. Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
Oh, at last some warmer weather Margarita – I do hope that means your summer has finally arrived and you can plant your dahlias! Have a good week!
Cathy thank you very much! My summer does not come. Temperatures rise during the day but at night they stay the same, 7ºC. And on Sunday it rains. But I’m going to plant the Dahlias and at night I’m going to put on a protective veil that raises the temperature 2ºC and lets air, rain and sun pass. It’s white and looks like the coats you get to enter the U.C.I. in the Hospitals, but much thicker. I do not know if you’ve seen it, it’s to protect the plants in Winter. Well, I plant the Dahlias! On Saturday I plant them and that is what God wants. That you also have a good week and a good weekend. 🙂 Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
Oh, I think you mean ‘fleece’? Hope your weekend is a warm one! 😉
Beautiful selection, as ever. I love that it mirrors the background. It’s roses mainly perfuming the air at the moment, with a dash of peony.
Thanks Ali. I love the scent of peonies, but mine are over now.
Very Beautiful arrangements.
Thank you!
I do love the classic flowers in a vase and yours is perfection! My garden is showing similar flowers except for the lavender which is not quite flowering yet.
I knew you would catch us up quickly Donna! You’ll be overtaking us soon! LOL!
This is truly lovely. You already know I’m envious of your beautiful lavender. 🙂 I planted “The Fairy” rose a couple years ago but it barely managed to survive for two years and this year didn’t come back at all. Too cold here!
That’s a shame – too cold for the little roses? I hope you have some that can withstand your long hard winters Joanna.
Wonderful combination.
Thank you Laurie!
While all the ingredients in your arrangement are lovely, I’m most entranced with that beautiful grass! Is that odd? I’d love to have some more graceful grasses in my own garden. My garden guide claims that Calamagrostis will grow in my region but I can’t remember ever seeing it sold locally. Does it want a lot of water?
I don’t find it at all odd Kris! I am a great fan of seedheads and grasses too. Calamagrostis should be fine as it is quite drought proof and I never give it water even if we have weeks of dry weather… if you have a good nursery they would surely be able to advise you and order some? It is my absolute favourite as it grows upright provided it gets lots of sun. 🙂
Love this combination – so summery!
Yes, summer has definitely arrived! 🙂
Lovely summery vase. Grasses are so useful, I love them too.
I wouldn’t be without the Calamagrostis now!
The vase is so pretty and the rockery provides a beautiful backdrop. Lavender in my garden is only just beginning to open. Tomorrow my garden club is having a spring picnic at a lavender farm, so I’ll have a chance to gather some. Have a great week.
Ooh, lovely. I hope you enjoy picking some lavender then Susie. I have got four bunches tied up and hanging in a cool room. 🙂
Lovely bouquet, Cathy. I love Calamagrostis, too. Mine flowers with tall meadow rue and mauve poppies, a combo I love. But that won’t happen for a few more weeks. Now it is peonies, clematis and geraniums. This time of year is so lovely in the garden!
That sounds like a nice combination – mauve poppies… I am intrigued! Yes, it is a wonderful time of year. Have a lovely week Eliza!
Love the bouquet and scentsational experience.My neighbors’s Night Blooming Jasmine just opened, so early morning dog walking adventures smell sweeter here. The Fairy is my all time favorite rose.
Mmm, jasmine is so delicious! 🙂
Roses and lavender really are a classic duo but the grass is an unexpected addition, and I do love it! Your bouquets are beautifully composed in the vases each week. You have an artist’s eye, Cathy! I have gardenias currently adding their welcome scent. I don’t have that many fragrant flowers and plants, so the gardenias are a seasonal treat. 🙂
Yes, but why to roses and lavender go together? When I had hybrid tea roses, I did not think they needed any other flowers with them. (I am certainly no designer.) The grasses and alchemilla really finish the roses and lavender off nicely. When I lived in town, the neighbor put the flowers together for me because I never though of adding bits such as these.
Thanks Tony. The Alchemilla was just begging to be cut as it is overflowing the borders!
I just had to do that to carpet roses (not my favorite) that needed to be pruned for clearance in a walkway, as well as some Peruvian lily that flopped into a walkway. Whomever I encounter first gets the flowers.
How generous! 🙂
I do not like to waste.
Gardenia is a scent I have never experienced in person… only in the form of soaps or perfumes. It must be a delightful smell. Isn’t it a shame that so many of our favourite flowers only last a couple of weeks.
Such a pretty posy and vase and it doesn’t look ‘plonked’ one bit 😉 It’s funny this classic combination of roses and lavender as they really do have such different requirements. I mix them too but only with certain types of roses. Love the way you’ve photographed the vase with your brimming borders in the background. Happy days 🙂
Yes, even in the vase I see the lavender is not happy with too much water! LOL! My roses are all pretty tough at the top of the rockery and never get extra water anyway. Happy gardening Annette!
Everything looks so lovely and summery, Cathy.
Hi Jane. Yes, summer is here! 🙂
I admire the way you take photos outside without the background looking a mess. I can’t seem to do that. The grasses are beautiful.
Thanks Alison. I do always take care not to show the place where my tatty old watering cans and the water pipe stand! LOL!
There’s a reason things are ‘classic’; it’s a beautiful vase today. Do you dry the lavender or use it for making ice cream?
I haven’t made any lavender ice cream for a couple of years now, and doubt I will have time this year either. I shall simply dry this and either refill my lavender bags or put it in dry vases around the house for decoration. 🙂
Oh such a pretty vase Cathy which as you suggest is a mirror image of the background scene. I do like the look of that grass. Smelling good in my garden today is a clump of some pinks from my mum’s garden (name unknown) and my new rose ‘Boscabel’ 🙂
🙂 I would love a whole bed full of that grass Anna! 😉
Beautiful, as always, Cathy. I love how your vase mirrors the planting behind. Our lavender will be in flower in the next couple of weeks and then it will be covered in bees. We have honeysuckle and roses pumping out delicious scent at the moment.
Ooh, honeysuckle. 🙂 That scent takes me back to my childhood when our neighbour had one growing over our fence. I haven’t had any luck with them here though.
Love all the pinks and purples in your garden. The photo of the vase with the lavender laying on the table and the garden behind is beautiful.
Thank you Karen. The lavender is fabulous this summer. 🙂