A couple of weeks ago I shared a new cut glass vase my Mum had sent me, engraved with daffodils. Well, today it is being put to use again, displaying my first tall Narcissi which have opened in our exceptionally warm weather (over 20°C!) over the past few days.
It is a fortunate coincidence that the orange tulips (Ballerina?) and pheasant’s eye Narcissi (N. poeticus ‘Actaea’) actually flower next to each other in a corner of the Herb Bed, where Narcissi Cheerfulness and Yellow Cheerfulness are also planted. The larger white flowered Narcissus is Thalia, growing in the Butterfly Bed among the rapidly fading Primroses.
Talking of fading, the Hellebores are also beginning to fade, but slowly and gracefully, and picking them now is such a pleasure as they will last much longer in a vase. This one is Yellow Lady.
Last week I was also given a beautiful bouquet of flowers by my Man of Many Talents – no occasion, although we are celebrating 30 years of togetherness this week!
The bouquet contains several plants I cannot place, but a yellow rose, some orange Gerbera and two Strelitzia.
The Strelitzia are amazing flowers and although they would look completely out of place in a garden here I have grown more fond of them and other tropicals as I learn more about them from Amelia, The Shrub Queen. Her Florida garden is full of fabulous flowers, fruits and foliage, including tree orchids. Do take a look at her last post here.
So once again the house is full of flowers, and the garden is bursting to life too. I will be enjoying it from indoors today though – not only does my back need a rest after doing some edging (see here), but there is a very strong wind whipping up pollen and Sahara dust that has been transported our way on the warm currents from the south. It has created a strange haze over the last few days, preventing the sun from being too strong – perhaps a blessing in disguise as early heatwaves finish off the spring plants far too quickly. I just hope my tulips and tall daffodils stand up to this wind!
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this meme. 💕
I hope you have all had a relaxing Easter weekend and can make the most of the extra hour of evening light now the clocks have changed (in Europe).
Happy gardening!
Words and Herbs 
Oh, your lovely vase from your mum again! It is so pretty and I spotted the hellebores immediately. You must be so excited to see so much colour in your garden now, as your weather warms. 🙂
Isn’t it wonderful how much we learn from each other? I too enjoy Amelia’s blog, and will visit her tomorrow. It’s quite late here now, but I had to admire your lovely vase full of flowers before turning in for the night. Two things I wanted to mention – it is almost 30 years to the day since we moved into our house where we still live – and congratulations to you and your Man. <3. Also, our temperatures are currently the same as yours; we are having just over 20C each day, and our weather is much cooler!
Hi Joanne! It was fabulous being out in the garden without so many layers of clothes! But today the cold wind had us back in our winter jackets. 😆 We almost forgot it is our 30th anniversary. I hope we will manage to stay in this house for 30 years and enjoy some shade from the trees we have planted – your garden must be so well established despite changes over the years. April is known as being changeable here – April showers bring May flowers. 😉 I wonder if you have a month in your spring that is the equivalent?
Gorgeous blooms and colour co-ordinating crochet! ❤
Thanks Sandra!
A beautiful spring bouquet. I particularly like the color of the tulips. We also get the Sahara dust all the way over here and it will make the sky hazy. I heard the dust also nourishes the Amazon with minerals. The world is quite interconnected.
That is amazing that you get the Sahara dust too! It happens perhaps once a year here and creates a spooky kind of light.
Lovely bouquets, Cathy, and the daffodil vase is very attractive. Good on Hubbie, I love a man that brings flowers. 😉
I love your crochet pieces, such a gift you have.
Winds from Africa, very exotic! Hope it settles soon. 💨
Thank you Eliza! 💕 Hopefully the dust will come down in some rain they have forecast, but we may get more next weekend…
Between air and water currents, we really are ‘all one,’ yes? 😉
Yes, it is a small world!
Oh yes, those are certainly cheery, and beautiful combinations! There’s something about those peachy/apricot colors that really attract me. What a wonderful gift from you Man of Many Talents, too. 🙂
The florist’s bouquet is a lovely change from flowers from the garden, but I do love picking my own too. 😃
Beautiful bouquet, the narcissus is so pretty! And a nice gift from your MOMT.
Thanks Tracy!
Oh, how lovely to be able to pick tulips for a vase – I am hopeful for next week! 👍 Yours look lovely with the various white narcissi and your creamy yellow hellebore, especially in your new vase, It must be strange having that haze from the Saharan sand – and temperatures of 20 degrees too!
It was wonderful to be out in short sleeves again… back to the winter jacket and scarf today though!
Not quite winter jacket and scarf weather here, but at least some of my rambles this week haven’t needed a fleece 😉
Your tulips look gorgeous accented by the Narcissus ‘Actaea’ – serendipity! Your Man of Many Talents is very thoughtful too. I’m sorry to hear that weather conditions are sending the Sahara’s dust your way – that sounds dreadful.
The Sahara dust wasn’t very pleasant. I kept thinking my windows were so dirty or my glasses needed cleaning! LOL! It also made the light a bit strange. We thought it was pollen at first, but then saw on the weather report what it really was. Hopefully jt has passed over now. I saw photos of where it rained down onto the snow in the mountains and turned it rusty red!
Oh that’s a lovely display of flowers for Easter Cathy. Funnily enough my first ‘Ballerina’ tulip opened yesterday and my ‘Thalia’ are just opening. The ‘Ballerinas’ have made for a great display over the last few years but are not so prolific this year. Maybe all the rain 🤔 We’ve not got to 20c yet but I’m happy to wait a while longer. I do hope that the Sarahan dust is not heading this way. Many congratulations to you both on your anniversary 💐
Thank you Anna! The dust was quite horrible – I didn’t realize just how bad it had been until I looked out at a clear sky this morning. We had a heavy shower overnight and the difference it made was very noticeable. Hope it doesn’t go your way!
Beautiful posies. The orange tulips are just gorgeous.
Thanks Donna. Wish I could send you a bunch!
Two lovely bouquets. I like them both, but i think Ballerina stole my heart. Thank you for the link, I feel the same about the tropicals and would not want to try them as houseplants. Congratulations on 30 years together. The Saharan dust boggles my mind as to how far it travels, we get it here in the summer. I hope the weather cools off for you soon.
I am amazed the Saharan dust reaches you too Amelia. Certainly food for thought when we hear about smog in Asia or chemical accidents in Ohio! We are back to winter jackets again at the moment, but our forecast is in the twenties again at the end of the week. 😎
The dust actually makes it to Texas another 1550 miles west. We had a warm spell and now it cooled down..hope you get some warmth.
The vase from your mum is beautiful and well deserves such a lovely bunch of spring blooms! I love the combination of Actaea with Ballerina. The pheasant’s eye daffs are some of my favorites, but I haven’t tried them here yet because I think of them as late-blooming. Maybe not? as you’re certainly not seeing late spring yet.
Congratulations on your anniversary! And what a gorgeous bunch of flowers, with that Strelitzia to top it all off!
Thanks Amy! You are right – the pheasant’s eye narcissi are usually a bit later but always flower at the same time as those tulips. They get a lot of sun and that bed warms up very quickly in spring.
Cathy, the glass vase as a gift from your mother is beautiful. I love daffodils, tulips and yellow hellebore. Congratulations on your 30th birthday with your charming man who gives you that divine bouquet of flowers that I love! The flower of paradise is a paradise: fantastic. In Spain, due to Climate Change, it is becoming very common for the sand from the Sahara (here we call it “calima”) to be on the Canary Islands, while it reaches the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands more often, when before it was a rarity. . If it is very abundant, it is better not to go outside; It will stain your flowers brown (dirt) and if it rains it will rain mud! Cathy, I really enjoyed writing to you again after so long. All the best. Very loving greetings from Margarita xx 😀🦋🌷
Dear Margarita, how lovely to hear from you! Thank you for your kind comments and I do hope you are keeping well. Luckily the Sahara dust has gone after we had some overnight showers. And fortunately I haven’t noticed any of the dust on the ground. I hope it has blown back out to sea! Best regards! 😘
Such a lovely spring bouquet. The dark centre in the pheasant’s eye really pulls it all together. Congratulations on your 30th anniversary and another fabulous bouquet.
Thank you Sharon. 😃
Cathy, you have the most unique and wonderful vases to place your beautiful flowers in!
Thank you! My collection of vases is quite extensive now and I have had to reorganize my vase cupboard! LOL!
The vase from your mum is on display again! It really is very classy. I love your arrangement – my ‘Ballerina’ Tulips are a mere 4 inches above the soil right now but it’s nice to be able to admire yours. Congratulations on your 30th Anniversary – the bouquet from the man in your life is perfect – so bright and happy.
I’m terribly envious of your 20C+. Want to know what it is here? No? I must tell you anyway. It’s 7C, feels like 4C, and we’re back to wind and rain. Never mind – it will change at some point! Enjoy the rest of your week, I hope the weather remains warm for you!
I hope your weather has taken a turn for the better now Catherine! We went back to cold winds and single digits again on Tuesday, but we are back into the twenties this weekend. Sadly that means the daffodils are going over really quickly. But there are tulips everywhere! 😄
Oh, that pastel orange tulip is pretty. I know I am not so proficient with color, but I do happen to like that color. My paternal paternal great grandmother probably did not have a favorite color, but did happen to grow several that were orange and pastel orange, including ‘Seashell’ rose.
Colours can evoke good memories. 😃 I do like the colour orange, both in spring and autumn.
At my former home in town neighbors likes my yellow and orange nasturtiums, and had be grow yellow and orange gladiolus and sunflowers. For that particular home, yellow and orange worked much better than white. (White would have looked cheap.) I never would have selected orange on my own. I knew that the neighbors knew something of color.
Both bouquets are beautiful, Cathy, and you have me excited for my daffodils. My very first bloomers, the King Alfred types, are starting this week, but have been slowed down by some unseasonably cool temperatures and a little spring snow. I love ‘Yellow Cheerfulness’ for its scent! I also love your collection of vases and doilies under them! Congratulations to you and the MOMT, and best wishes for many more years together!
Thanks Kimberley! The daffodils have beenstanding up to high winds and a chill after last week’s warm weather, and now we are expecting temperatures in the upper twenties!!! So they were nice while they lasted! But that means the tulips are now starting to appear. 😃 Hope you get some warmer weather too.