Rain!
Yes, we have had two more entire days of good rain and everything is turning green again. With heavenly temperatures below 20°C and a damp garden under cloudy skies the silvery plants in the butterfly and herb beds sparkled and I decided to use them for a vase so I could join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her Monday meme.
The glare of the sun has been a problem with photography recently, but today it was hard to find a light spot!
At the centre of my vase is white Echinacea Baby Swan, which was planted in the herb bed last autumn. It is a novelty not to have young plants nibbled by slugs and snails – Echinaceas were impossible to grow in my old garden! The blue Scabiosa was grown from seed: Scabiosa caucasica ‘Perfection Blue’. It has such a lovely large flower compared with the annual ones. Other flowers are white Cosmos (possibly ‘Purity’), Coriander, Borage, Perovskia and a sprig of Buddleia ‘Pink Delight’, which has indeed been delightful. The silvery foliage is Artemisia ‘Silver Queen’ and Senecio (with the yellow flowers chopped off!)
And to complete the silver theme I added a prop this week – my silver charm bracelet which has probably not been worn for over a decade, maybe two. But each charm was a gift and has happy memories attached. 🙂
I resorted to taking photos indoors with flash to get a picture of the entire vase…
As always, a big thanks to Cathy for hosting and encouraging us all to bring flowers indoors to enjoy close up – particularly uplifting on a wet day. I must admit we have been relishing this weather though and are not complaining!
Have a great week and hope you get the weather you and your gardens wish for.
🙂
Words and Herbs 
What a lovely vase full of flowers, and to have it decorated with your charm bracelet is quite novel. The silvers work very well together. I bet you had some very happy memories assembling and photographing this week’s IAVOM.
Thanks Noelle. Yes, several of those charms were gifts from my grandmother, long gone but not forgotten! 🙂
Glad you are finally getting some good rain. A parched garden is tough to witness!
I love your silver, blue and white theme this week, very pretty!
Thanks Eliza. Next week perhaps gold…. 🙂
Yay for rain! That silver bracelet is a sweet touch.
Thanks Laurie! ☔️😃
I love your charm bracelet accent, as well as the soft colors in your vase. Echinacea ‘White Swan’, similar in appearance to your ‘Baby Swan’, was the only member of that species able to survive my garden for more than one season. I’ll have to try it again one day. I envy you the rain and I hope your pleasant weather holds on through the balance of the summer for you.
Thank you Kris. We feel we can relax a little now it has rained. 🙂 I have been hesitant with Echinacea, but there are two others thriving in the garden so I will be adding a few more soon.
One of my favorite color combinations, silver especially and the charms are charming! I forgot about Scabiosa and must see about seed, I think it will grow here in winter.
The Scabiosa was brutally planted out as a tiny seedling in March…. it therefore needed several months to finally produce buds but it was worth the wait! 🙂
Beautiful. will try some.
A great combination Cathy. Your ‘Baby Swan’ is a keeper. Glad you received rain–we’re still very dry here. It has rained a few neighborhoods over but little to none here!
That is what happened here over the past weeks too – we could see the black clouds but didn’t get a drop! The past few days have rejuvenated the countryside though. 🙂
I love the addition of the charm bracelet. I would have never thought of that and it is a good use of a charm bracelet that I’m sure we all have tucked away.
They were all the rage back in the 70s and 80s weren’t they! LOL!
Great idea with the charm bracelet! Your arrangement, as always, is lovely. I really like the silvers with the purples and pinks.
Thanks Beth. These colours are what I am aiming for in the Butterfly Bed as a whole… eventually! 🙂
I’ve missed visiting your blog, Cathy. I’m happy to hear you have glorious rain and cooler temps in your forecast. Your vase is gorgeous. I love the addition of your silver charms. That is a clever idea. I hope you are doing well. With affection, Alys
Lovely to hear from you Alys. Have missed your posts too. Summer makes me weary and I am so grateful the heat is over and we can enjoy normal summer weather at last. Hope all is well. 🙂
Hello, Cathy. We’re now enduring the triple digit temps (100 F and climbing) but it should be short lived. I’m generally ready for autumn by this time of year, but we’ll continue to get hot, dry days till early October. I’m so glad your weather has finally normalized. It’s been brutal.
Ooh, that is hot! We just have one more hot humid spell forecast but the nights are cool and then the house cools down nicely overnight. 🙂 Hope you get some cool breezes soon.
Thank you, Cathy. We’re supposed to see a temperature drop tomorrow. It’s been too hot for my taste. I’m glad you’re seeing cool evenings. I’m ready for fall.
Hurrah for your rain, Cathy! Your vase made me wonder if I had any silver-leaved plants I could have added to mine, as they really add to the impact of the blue and white in yours. Your charm bracelet with its memories is a great prop today!
Yes, blue and silver is a lovely combination. I am trying to find more silvery foliage that would do well here. Can’t beat Artemisia though!
I just have one of the lamb’s ear stachys (although it might be on its way out!) – those leaves would certainly make a statement!
Have never tried them in a vase, but a good idea!
I love the arrangement and your clever addition of the charm bracelet! Very nice, Cathy, and I’d never know you had to make adjustments for lack of good sunlight. You made great adjustments. I’m taken with the white echinacea. I haven’t seen white before, and love the name, “Baby Swan.” Sorry I was so late to stop by, but here we are now, and I hope you have a good weekend. Hope the weather cooperates!
Hi Debra. The white Echinacea was chosen on a whim last autumn when there wasn’t much left in the garden centre… I wasn’t sure I’d like it but I am also quite taken by it! 🙂 Have a good week Debra.
There are great drifts of white Echinaceas in the Lurie Garden right now – beautiful. And I am growing white Cosmos in the Herb Garden. I love the blue accent from the Scabiosa.
I have white Cosmos mixed in with my herbs too and made a note today to repeat it next summer. It looks great with the Stipa tenuissima I planted there, and fennel too. Saw your post with the white Echinacea and never got round to commenting – I do enjoy your posts on the Lurie garden and that display was very effective. 🙂
Borage? I think of that as a sprawling plant that would not work well in a vase like this. I would not have given it any though. I do happen to like dusty miller, but again, would not thin of trying to find good stems for cutting. These vases make me rethink what is growing out there.
So glad to hear you are looking at plants in a new light! 😉
Cathy I’m afraid I have to give you very bad news. My Father passed away on Sunday 11th of this month after spending 11 days in the Hospital. We buried him on the 12th. That is why I have not written anything. Your bouquet is beautiful, he would have liked it very much. Cathy greetings from me xx
Oh, how sad for you Margarita. My deep sympathy to you and your family. All the best. xx
Thank you very much Cathy. Your words are a little balm in deep pain. Cheers xxx
I like that combination of colours. Very pretty together but not too show-offy. Thanks for sharing. I’m great at designing my gardens by colour, but really awful with inside arrangements.
With me it is luck – the vases that don’t work just don’t make it to the blog! 😉
Sure, Cathy! I don’t believe that. I bet you are as talented as you seem, which is VERY.
Awww, thanks! 🙂