Tag Archives: Seasons

In a Vase on Monday: Tantrums and Geums

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The tantrums in my title refer to the April weather, not me. Although, as you can see in the photo below, yesterday did almost push me to the brink of tantrum-throwing!

Fortunately the snow didn’t settle properly but it is still very cold.

You may be wondering what that pile of soil is, slap bang in the middle of my garden…. let me explain. In the middle of winter I had the brilliant idea of making a new bed… most likely the final one in the flower garden. It will be right in the middle of the garden, between the Moon Bed and The ‘Edge.

So all that green expanse in the photos above will be filled. There will be a seating area in the centre of it, and the bed will contain only (or almost only) scented plants.

So after a couple of weeks of dry weather, and temperatures in the mid twenties (Yes, Celsius!) my Man of Many Talents set to work peeling off the grass with the tractor…

And at the end of the day this is what remained, ready to be hauled off the following day.

But then it rained. And it rained and rained all of the following week. And then to crown it all, yesterday it snowed, hailed, sleeted and rained. So removing all that heavy soil/grass sods will have to wait until the ground hardens up a bit, or we will have tire tracks all over the garden! The next stage will be tilling over the area and spreading mulch. Then some plants can go in and the seating area will be constructed.

So I must try and remain calm, pot on all the new plants I had bought that are waiting to go in the ground, and be patient… The weather forecast is not brilliant…

Joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her In a Vase on Monday meme will certainly help distract me.

A few early Geum flowers which were braving the elements have been snipped and put in my Etsy vase, along with some of the lovely Spiraea ‘Magic Carpet’ and a few Pulsatilla seedheads.

The Geums do have labels, but the wind was so icy that I didn’t linger to read them! 😝

I do hope your weather is nicer than ours this week and your gardening plans for 2024 can move forward! In the meantime, do visit Cathy to see her pretty vase  today.

Happy gardening!

 

 

In a Vase on Monday: Winding Down

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The snow we had over the weekend has melted, but more is due later today… just in time for the start of Advent and the Christmas Markets. I always think Advent is celebrated so nicely here in Bavaria with the markets and with people putting up lights in their gardens and hanging wreaths on their doors. Advent wreaths for the table, with four candles – one for each Sunday in Advent – are also really popular and are on sale everywhere.

The garden season is winding down, with the last tasks completed just before the snow arrived; mulching tender plants, putting garden equipment away, and tucking my pots up tight against the barn wall in case of snow ‘avalanches’ falling from the roof. So, although it was bright and sunny yesterday, I opted for a vase that would reflect the fact that the garden is now resting.

I have been adding to this vase since the spring, and it has been waiting for its moment of glory on In a Vase on Monday. 😃

The fluffy round seedheads are Pulsatilla, gathered late spring. It was a gamble whether they would remain intact, and some did in fact disintegrate, but I must have picked and dried these specimens at just the right time. I love the tall, dark and rather dramatic Siberian Iris seedheads.. There are still a few standing in the garden. And I managed to save some poppy seedheads too – they often get bent in the wind or burnt by the sun, but these were picked fairly early and hung upside down in the cellar for a few months.

On the right is some Calamagrostis and Pennisetum. I find that the grasses last better if picked just as they are starting to ‘flower’. On the left is a golden sprig of Stipa gigantea. (Have they changed that name?) The dried pink flowers in the photo above are Helichrysum’Silvery Rose’.

And tucked into the vase on the right you can see some little white flowers which I dried successfully for the first time this year; Anaphalis triplinervis ‘Silberregen’ (Silver Rain). Again, these are best picked early if you intend to dry them, just as the tiny flowers are starting to show their golden centre.

Do you dry any flowers or grasses from your garden?

Do visit our hostess, Cathy, at Rambling in the Garden to see her vase today. We had a lovely zoom meeting yesterday with her and some of the other contributors to this Monday meme – I feel very self-conscious on zoom, but really enjoyed seeing your friendly faces again and hearing about your gardening experiences. ❣️A big thank you to Cathy for organizing it, and to Karen for her slideshow. 🤗

Finally, a reminder that my Week of Flowers 2023 will begin on Friday 1st December. Please join me in posting a photo or two each day for a week, to brighten up this dark time of year. Hope to see you then!

A Week of Flowers 2023:

Starting Friday, December 1st through to Thursday, December 7th.  

In a Vase on Monday: Falda

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My lovely friend Simone visited me last week and gave me a pretty miniature vase from the Rosenthal mini vase collection. There was a little leaflet inside the box, which read ‘You can never have enough vases’; she chose the gift well!

After some heavy rain I wasn’t sure what I would be able to find to put in it so I could join in with Cathy’s Monday meme. (See Cathy’s blog ‘Rambling in the Garden’) But I needn’t have worried as there is plenty of pretty foliage still, and the Herb Bed also had a few things to offer.

This vase is called Falda – from the Spanish for skirt. And, as you can see in the photo above, the top of the vase does indeed have a pleated frill at the top, like a pleated skirt, which is perfect for resting foliage on to form a kind of base to a floral arrangement. 😃

I used a deep purple Heuchera leaf, some reddening Geum leaves and a green Geranium leaf at the base. The flowers are Tansy and Fennel. And a sprig of dark green mint freshened up the whole thing.

Some Pennisetum and another grass (Panicum?) went in too. I do love all my different grasses, but can’t always remember their names! 😉

I love picking fennel seeds off the Fennel plant to nibble at when I am in the garden – they remind me of the aniseed balls we used to have when I was little! The plant is almost two metres tall and will probably topple over soon, as it has grown very lopsided this year and the sparrows and Great Tits love hopping around in it too. 😃

I wonder what is still flowering in your gardens?

Have a great week, and Happy Gardening!

 

In a Vase on Monday: Anastasia

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This is Anastasia, my pretty little pink Chrysanthemum.

She is the last flower to bloom in my autumn garden, after all the asters have gone over and the sedum has faded. Admittedly, she is a bit of a sugary shade of pink. And pink is not in keeping with the season. But she is loved nonetheless!

Rain is forecast for tomorrow, so I picked quite a few sprigs and gave her a vase all to herself, so she has the limelight indoors as well as out. I placed a few matching straw flowers around the vase for even more pink. Can a girl have too much pink? 😃

I am linking in to Cathy’s weekly meme at Rambling in Garden. Do go and visit her to see what she and other gardeners are sharing in their vases today.

Happy gardening and have a great week!

 

(Not Quite) Wordless Wednesday: The First Frost, October 2023

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As I mentioned on my post a couple of days ago, we had our first frost Sunday night/Monday morning and it was quite a beautiful sight. The low cloud and mist meant that the white frost hung around, clinging to the garden, for a few hours until the sun finally broke through at about 11am. So I managed to capture some of its beauty to share. Click on any photo for a  slideshow!