IAVOM ~ The Doldrums

 

Of all the months in the year November has still to persuade me that it has any attractive features. The fact that the last weekend of October sees the clocks move forward plunging us into darkness before the afternoon is done does not help it to get off to a good start. I know the month is still in it's infancy but so far we have been plunged into greyness with little or no sign of the sun reappearing this coming week! My post title this week is a reference to both my annual November grouchiness as well as a reference to the weather conditions when sailing ships struggle to make any progress. Such grey weather comes hand in hand with very little or no wind. Away from the doom and gloom of November and on the plus side it has been dry, relatively mild and there has been an opportunity to do some gardening.

In my smallest of small vases this week brightening up November are :

• A single albeit slightly fading and bedraggled flower of the hardy geranium 'Rozanne' which is an absolute star in my book. It has been in flower since early summer and is only just petering out now. A couple of years ago she hung on to some flowers into the second week of December. The Royal Horticultural Society has deservedly given her a well deserved Award Of Garden Merit. As well as being long flowering, she is vigorous and so far has been pest free. The bees love her too!
• Some flowers from a dainty little hardy chrysanthemum name unknown. I admired her in a friend's garden and she kindly gave me a couple of cuttings last year. I looked forward to seeing her in flower last autumn but last year's flowers were all munched up by goodness knows what. This autumn though she is in flower and is making a nice little clump in a container. From a distance the flowers en masse look white but when looked at more closely they have a pale pink hues.
•  A little sprig of evergreen pittosporum tenuifolium 'Siver Ball' which is growing in a container.

As always a big thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who whatever the months provides us with the opportunity to share our vases. It is much appreciated. Do visit to see what Cathy and other participants have in their vases this week.

IAVOM ~ October Days

Monday has come round again and I'm in joining in with 'In A Vase On Monday'. Tucked in to my  vase this week are :

• Dahlia 'Copper Boy' - on the whole my dahlias haven't flourished this year not finding the wet summer to their liking. I have two 'Copper Boy' plants which have been in the ground since 2022 so they have now come through two winters. I'm not sure whether to leave them again as although I'm partial to the flowers the stems tend to flop. We shall see, in the meantime I hope that our first frost isn't for a while longer so I can continue to enjoy the flowers.
• A few persicaria flowers - I'm not sure which variety. I had these arranged more closely together but on transporting the vase they decided to go their own way. I must look to adding one or two more varieties as they are such great perennials for late colour and also seem to flower for a good while.
• Some dangle in the shape of flowers from the deciduous shrub leycesteria formosa also known as the Himalayan honeysuckle. The flowers with bracts eventually give way to berries. It's particularly recommended for partial shade or woodland gardens. It self-seeds but can be propagated by softwood cuttings too. After years of very few seedlings appearing I'm now perhaps discovering too many but they are easily recognisable. Thanks as always go to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who invites to share our vases with fellow bloggers throughout the year. Do pay her a visit!

We were blessed with some calm weather last week and some gentle sunshine which has been good for getting outside. There has been much in the way of leaf sweeping to be done and although we make leaf mould there are so many trees around that some leaves have been filling up that green bin. After tomorrow we only have one more collection until the middle of February. Bulb planting is a work in progress too.

In the greenhouse there are a few hardy annual seedlings which are still too small to pot on namely ammi visnaga, daucus carrota and orlaya grandiflora. I left sowing them until the last week of September so must go earlier next year. I'm waiting patiently for papaver 'Amazing Grey' and larkspur 'Misty Lavender' to show signs of life. I'm also peeking every day at the six ranunculus corms that I've planted. Such excitement.

Also a cautionary tale - do not do as I did and leave horticultural fleece in the greenhouse over the summer. I had discarded a piece that I must have used last winter and left it in a corner. When I picked it up it disintegrated and covered me and the greenhouse floor with a myriad of fleece snow which was an absolute nightmare to clear up 🤬 😱 

Just Blue

 

In my little sunshine (or are they stars?) blue vase this week are a trio of blue cornflower like flowers. They are from the perennial Catananche caerulea also known as Cupid's dart. It's name derives from the Greek word katananke which means 'strong force' and it was used as an ingredient in love potions by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Sadly yesterday's morning skies didn't match the colour of the flowers. It wasn't just wet but it was also extremely windy. The rain petered out as the morning went on but the wind from Storm Ashley, the first named storm of the season, became more ferocious particularly during the evening. I was glad that my flowers were tucked in their vase on Saturday which was a beautifully warm, sunny and calm day.

I have grown this perennial from seed a long time ago but eventually the plant or two I planted petered out. I believe that although perennial they are quite short lived and I think that perhaps a mainly damp and shady garden is not ideal for them. Still worth another go. I came across a well established plant on the sales table in what was otherwise a disappointing visit to St. Andrews Botanic Garden in Scotland during August. The plant sales area however was excellent and if we had not been away on holiday I would not have limited myself to departing with just one plant. I'm not sure whether it is usually in flower so late in the year but it will be a silver lining if it is. 

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for providing us with the platform to share our Monday vases.

Here today the weather is thankfully much calmer and there is bulb planting to be done, perhaps an autumn sowing of sweet peas and the continuation of my ongoing disposal of sycamore keys. I imagine that quite a few more are dotted about the garden after storm Ashley's visit.

IAVOM ~ The Northern Lights

 

This week's vase is really last week's vase - all picked in good time but I got distracted so it was never posted. It was a quick pick and plonk effort. In my vase are :

• Rosa 'Luisa's Daughter' - this is the rose that my lovely sister had named and then sent it on to me for my birthday not long after my mother had died. She is a healthy rose and what could be described as a good doer. She's lightly but pleasantly scented. I'm going to take some cuttings soon as she is too big for the place she occupies in my snowdrop border. I had realised that I hadn't included her in a vase this year so thought that I must remedy that.
• Red foliage from a perennial evergreen that is planted in a big pot at the front of the house. I am trying to remember the name. I know that Cathy from 'Words and Herbs' identified it for me previously.
• Some froth from panicum capillare 'Sparkling Fountain' - a half hardy annual which I grow from seed every year in March. It looks good in containers, sometimes self-seeds but not to nuisance levels like briza maxima.

For once my post title doesn't refer to the contents of my vase but to the fact that I caught a glimpse of the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) last Thursday night! My very first sighting of them. I was so excited. I have perused the skies on other evenings when I've known that there was a chance of seeing them but so far to no avail. Alerted by my sister who lives much further south and by himself who was out for the evening I peeked my head outside. We live in a well-lit and built up area, so not as a stunning as some of the photos that were featured in national television and social media outlets, but here is the magical sky I saw from my porch at 10.14pm :

and my sister's glimpse of them :

In other news the u3a Wordpress website that I have been working on finally went live earlier today. It has been a steep learning curve and has occupied a lot of time since June. All I can say is that it helped that we had such a poor summer. I'm looking forward now to having more time for blogging, gardening and other activities. Who knows as the winter months approach I might finally move this blog over to Wordpress! in the meantime I'm heading outside now to dismantle the sweet pea wigwam. There are still a few brave flowers out and buds to come but their time is up and the green bin garden waste should be emptied in the morning.

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden'  for her constant hosting skills each and every Monday. It's much appreciated. Do go and see what is in other vases this week.

IAVOM ~ 'Pinky But Not Perky'

Again with one eye on the weather today's vase was picked yesterday afternoon. Just as well as the skies opened yesterday afternoon and apart from the odd pause, it's raining again heavily now and is predicted to continue into the early hours of tomorrow morning.

In my vase this week are :

• Rosa 'Gertrude Jekyll' - one of the most bright pink and beautifully scented roses you could wish to come across. Although my sense of smell is impaired I've no problems appreciating 'Gertie's' aroma. These blooms are from a second flush of flowers and there are still a few in bud.
• Anemone huphensis splendens -  a late flowering perennial. I've never picked anemone flowers before so am wondering how long their vase life is. Does anybody know?
• A chive flower which you may be able to make out just lurking behind one of the roses. There are two chive flowers in there but I'm not sure where the second is hiding. As I was picking the flowers a bee landed on one of them and was most reluctant to leave.
• Some flowers from begonia grandis subsp. evansiana - a bit of a mouthful for a late flowering rather lovely tuberous perennial. It is always late to show and I always think that it has not come through the winter. I have a pink flowering version to but prefer the white.
• Finally a few whispy showings from erigeron karvinskianus - this must be the longest flowering perennial in my garden, flowering from early spring right through to November. It's the cause of some disharmony with himself declaring it as a pernicious weed. It does seed about prolifically but I've no problems with that.

The vase is a new addition to the vase family and is a preloved Caithness rose bowl, bought via Etsy. My post title was inspired by memories of a childhood television programme 'Pinky and Perky', which featured two little piggy puppets. The vase and some of the contents were on picking most definitely pink but one of the roses was definitely not perky. It was overblown and annoyingly dropped petals as I arranged the flowers so needed something strategic covering it to hide the gaps.

A big thank you to Cathy over 'Rambling In The Garden' who is the steadfast custodian of this weekly get - together of vases. Do have a look at other vases from near and far. After today's deluge the rest of the week promises to be dry so I'm looking forward to catching up with a few gardening tasks.

IAVOM ~ "Summer's Lease"

With my eye on the weather forecast and William Shakespeare's words coming to mind I picked the flowers for today's vase on Saturday afternoon. It proved to be a sound move. As 'The Bard' succinctly wrote "summer's lease has all to short a date". It was the day before the autumn equinox and we had enjoyed a wonderful few days of soft and warm September sunshine and glorious blue skies. The imminent equinox was heralded in by some heavy rain later that same Saturday afternoon, which persisted throughout Sunday before finally petering out at lunch time today. There still could be more today - the skies look as if they haven't quite decided. In my vase gathered before the deluge are :

• Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer', a perennial helenium which has been in flower for a good spell. It started life as a division from a plant that I admired in the garden of a cottage where we were on holiday. The owner who had called in answered my query as to it's identity and then most kindly pressed a pot into my hands as we handed the cottage keys back to her on leaving. It seems most easy going only perhaps flagging a bit in dry summers. Not a problem this year!
• Some angelica seedheads which were cut down earlier that afternoon as  didn't want them to set seeds. Unfortunately I was too late with one or two which had already turned brown and generously scattered seeds around  as I dealt with them. Grrrrrr ....
• A single no name hardy chrysanthemum. I bought it as part of a collection and will have to check whether the stockist still sells the same collection for identification purposes.
• A couple of flowers of  dahlia 'Kick Off' which was new to me this year. I like the flower but am puzzled by the name.
• Finally and a bit of a blur a couple of stems of foliage from a shrub the name of which is eluding me. Cathy of 'Words and Herbs' originally kindly identifed it for me some time ago.  Cathy if you see this and can make out what it is could you please jog my memory

Thanks as always to Cathy our hostess over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who kindly invites us to share our vases on Mondays all year round. Gardening plans may have to be fine tuned this week as we're threatened with more rain, wind and cooler weather as the week goes on. Time to clear the greenhouse maybe. Autumn is well and truly here! 🍂

Wordless Wednesday ~ Tatton Hall, Cheshire , September '24.

 

IAVOM ~ 'Last Of The Summer Wine'

 

It's good to be back with Cathy and other blogging friends today with a vase on Monday. It's been a few weeks since I last participated. It was a very wet day yesterday, misty and dripping this afternoon but the sky turned blue and the sun made an appearance this afternoon. In my vase this week are ;

• Sweet peas - still hanging on but probably for not much longer. They were sown in the middle of March and planted out at the back end of April. The foliage is now mildewed but the flowers and scent are still coming.
• A couple of sprigs of the dainty flowering perennial aster 'Little Carlow'.
• Some astrantia 'Gill Richardson' which featured in a vase at the start of July. These are from a second flush of flowers and one of my two plants is producing more flowering stems than first time around.

I remembered that this particular vase was loitering on the Welsh dresser when we recently spent a few days in our caravan in Cumbria. Whilst there we visited a craft fair that is held at regular intervals throughout the year and came across the potter that makes these vases. They are most useful as they come with holes all the way round to insert your flowers and foliage in. Here it is when I last used it in IAVOM back in 2016 :

I must bring it our more often! 

Thanks as always to Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' and is the lovely custodian of 'In A Vase On Monday'. Do visit to see what everyone has in their vases this week.

Here the forecast is set for a few fair and warm for the time of year days so I'm looking forward to getting out into the garden as much as I can. My Wordpress marathon is nearly complete so I'm really looking forward having to a bit more spare time and hopefully some reasonable autumn weather to catch up on a lot of jobs. Top priority being to complete my late as usual spring bulb order.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Kellie Castle Gardens, Scotland, August 2024.

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Cambo Gardens, Fife