In a Vase on Monday: Summer Memories

Isn’t it nice to look back at photos in the realization that spring is not far off and soon our gardens will be performing again like last year? My arrangement this week brought back memories not only of my own garden, but also of the garden show I visited in Ingolstadt last September. (Above photo)

The crystal bud vase is filled with tiny porcelain flowers and butterflies I bought there, which I intend to give away eventually, one by one. But for now they are still sitting in waiting. 😉

And the pink dried flowers at the base are Helichrysum bracteatum ‘Silvery Rose’, grown two summers ago and saved. The three purple ones are Xeranthemums, which I grew last summer under the impression they would be like traditional strawflowers. They are much smaller though.

I was not terribly impressed with them actually, as they are flimsy plants which lean at the slightest breeze and make little impact in terms of flowers; only one or two opened at a time. I am returning to the original Helichrysum this year, with some more freshly ordered. 😃

Many thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting. 😃 You should visit her blog to see what Cathy and the other participants linking in have found to put in a vase on this Monday, which is, by the way, the last of January! Yippee! (Detect my dislike of January there? 😉)

Hope you have a flowery week and a good start to February!

🌷🌷🌷

In a Vase on Monday: Winter Colour

My hellebores are not open yet, so I have nothing but a dried allium flower to share this week. I picked it in the summer before the petals had completely dropped, and the hint of pink is still vaguely there…. if you squint a bit and use your imagination! But as you can see from my other ‘vase’ full of yarn scraps, and from the homemade crocheted doily, I am making the most of the winter months to be creative indoors instead of out. 😃 Crocheting is where I get my colour ‘fix’ when the garden and sky are grey. 😉

 

I am linking in to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her Monday meme. I am a bit behind on looking at blogs this week, having been distracted by a delicate pink scarf, a shrill woolly hat, a soft wavy blanket and other colourful crocheting projects that are in the pipeline. 🧶😊🧶 But I will be catching up soon!

Hope you have some colour in your world this week!

🤗

Wordless Wednesday: Finally!

I had a wonderful surprise this morning… my tiny cactus has finally flowered after a patient wait of about 3 years! 😃

 

😃😃😃

In a Vase on Monday: Carmen

I am cheating today, as I do not actually have anything new for a vase. But I do love joining in Cathy’s meme (see Rambling in the Garden) so here is a photo of ‘Carmen’, my gorgeous velvety red Hippeastrum which started flowering on January 2nd. 😃

It has a second bud just appearing, so will bring me pleasure for a while yet. And I have a pink one waiting to be brought into a warmer room for spring flowering.

And to substantiate the fact that my garden is offering nothing but soggy grasses here is a photo of the landscape at the weekend.

I look forward to seeing what other contributors to In a Vase on Monday have found today, especially those in warmer parts of the world!

Have a good week everyone!