IAVOM ~ Is This The Way To Amaryllis?

Well 'In A Vase On Monday' is coming from indoors again this week and it's the turn of the hippeastrums still fondly known as amaryllis by many of us. The bulbs both came from a certain German supermarket and made their way into my trolley sometime in November. They both came into flower a tad too early for my liking and probably will be on their way out in the next few days. I may move one into a slightly cooler room. Both are on the kitchen windowsill at the moment and provide a welcome splash of colour whilst I'm pretending to be a domestic goddess. 

The stem in water bears a good sized flower. It came already planted in a pot and showing green. This is the second flowering stem - the first has gone over already. The second one in a festive vase rests on a nest of moss and what look like wood shavings. There is no compost or grit in the vase which I considered to be a good buy as it it is reusable as are all the festive trimmings. I have another vase like this from last year but the amaryllis in that is a a rather lopsided one flowering stem effort which is looking rather sad for itself. Meanwhile I have another two bulbs waiting to be planted later this week, which hopefully will provide some colour later in the winter.

A big thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting this most enjoyable and informative meme.

There seems to be little time to venture out into the garden recently - a combination of seasonal preparations and the weather have got in the way. We have just had 48 hours of gale force winds and more rain. However after today it looks as if it will be mainly dry and comparatively mild for the next few days so I will be getting out there to see what's happening. I already have some snowdrops flowering both outdoors and under cover and no doubt there are more stirrings afoot. I am also looking forward to sitting down on Boxing Day to sort through my seed box with the new Chiltern Seeds catalogue to hand, just in case any top ups are required. Wishing all my blogging friends a most Happy Christmas! 🎄

IAVOM ~ 'Baby Love'

 
There seems to be little in the way of flower or attractive foliage to snip at the moment and what there is I'm reluctant to snip, so I've come indoors for today's 'In A Vase On Monday'. Flourishing under the protective gaze of The Garden Angel who had to come here after I saw her sister on Cathy's 'Words And Herbs' blog are some cuttings from crassula ovata otherwise known as the jade plant. I bought the parent plant home with me from my mother's house before the house was sold. It did well for almost eight years but then during this year it has slowly collapsed, becoming increasingly straggly and lopsided before limbs starting falling off. There is very little of the original plant left now which I do feel rather sad about but given my track record with houseplants is hardly surprising. However I now have sufficient babies as you can see above and also on the kitchen windowsill to start again, with some to spare which will be heading in my sister's direction.

My vase is a little propagation set which came from a certain well known Swedish home furnishing store. When I saw it online I thought that it might be a nice way of displaying snowdrops or other small flowers but for the time being it has been highjacked by the babies.

Thanks as always to Cathy over at 'Rambling in The Garden' who today has made a valiant effort to host as usual under trying circumstances. Do have a look to see what she and others have posted. It has been a calm and dry day here after a wild and wet weekend during which storm 'Darragh' raged outside. Here we were under an amber weather warning from the Meteorological Office on Saturday for extreme winds so I cowered inside for the day. Fortunately the garden survived with nothing more serious than some broken branches and many little twigs scattered about. There are a handful of brave leaves still clinging on! There will not be much in the way of gardening this week as festive preparations take hold but I may just have to have a browse of the new Chiltern Seeds catalogue which arrived late last week. It's just too tempting not to I'm telling myself.

A Week Of Flowers : Day 7

 

A flashback to late May for my final 'A Week Of Flowers' post to one of my favourite combinations of the year. It features allium 'Purple Sensation', geum 'Totally Tangerine' and the deep wine red flowers of astrantia 'Gill Richardson'. The latter had an even more impressive second show of flowers later in the year. 

A BIG thanks to Cathy over at 'Words and Herbs', for once again inviting us to share our floral highlights at this time of year. As always it's been a most pleasant experience looking back at what has caught my eye during the last twelve months, as well as seeing what blogging friends have captured. 

A Week Of Flowers : Day 6

 

For the sixth day of 'A Week Of Flowers' I just had to include one of my favourite flowers and most anticipated flowers of the year which are galanthus, more commonly known as snowdrops. I grow a good number both named varieties in pots and in the ground as well as the more common galanthus nivalis. Above is the named variety 'Trumps' with beautiful distinctive flowers but a most unfortunate name.

Thanks to the lovely Cathy over at 'Words and Herbs' for hosting such a fun floral gala. Do pay her a visit if you haven't done so already.

A Week Of Flowers : Day 5

Starting with five flowers from me today as I join in with celebrating 'A Week Of Flowers', a great idea from Cathy who blogs over at 'Words and Herbs'. This floral extravaganza is now in it's fifth year and brightens up what can be a dull and gloomy time with colour, cheer and inspiration. I have been away for a few days with himself, celebrating our ruby wedding anniversary and wasn't organised enough to prepare some posts in advance so I'm only joining in the party today.

My five flowers today are : 

A hamamelis or witch hazel which was ordered online but it was an imposter. The nursery refunded me the cost of the purchase and I have enjoyed their error even though I don't know which variety this is. It flowers at the back end of the year overspilling into January.

A lost label epimedium in the first week of April - flowering nearby but not in the photo were a white hellebore orientalis and a pink chequered snakeshead fritillary, which made for a pleasing combination.

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A couple of flowers belonging to rosa 'Bathsheba', a climbing rose which was a gift from himself and planted on our wedding anniverary in 2020. Here she is flowering in the first week of June this summer.

Fast forwarding to the end of July is the hardy geranium 'Rozanne', beloved by bees in close companionship with seed grown achillea 'Summer Pastels'.

 Now into August a frilly flower head belonging to helianthus 'Astra Rose'. This was a new to me sunflower which I grew from seed sown in April in the greenhouse.  A must grow again seed next year and time soon to check that I still have enough seeds in my seed box.

Thanks to Cathy for providing me with some fun and fond memories on a rather chilly and at times foggy December day. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone else's flowers soon.

 

In A Vase On Monday ~ Anniversary Celebrations

It's certainly a red letter day today celebrating eleven years of 'In A Vase On Monday' a brilliant meme started by Cathy. I was slow to participate so my first vase which you can see below wasn't until April 2014. Unfortunately my imagination has been thwarted by domestic concerns over the last couple of days so my vase above doesn't reflect the eleven theme but I'm sure that Cathy will understand. The dominant colour of my vase is red and in it are ;

• Chrysanthemum 'Bigoudi Red' which is a deep red perennial hardy chrysanthemum Unfortunately I've allowed the plant to become rather leggy and must do better next year.
• A stem of one of Cathy's signature plants in the shape of persicaria 'Red Dragon' which I know she has shared with other bloggers as well as no doubt with other folk.
• A couple of berry carrying stems from the decidous shrub of symphoricapos or snowberry, a gift from my parent's garden. Unfortunately it has a thuggish suckering habit which I know Cathy has had problems with it too. Oh well the berries do look most pretty at this time of year. 
• Some stems from leucothoe also known by the intriguing name of dog hobble - a small evergreen shrub which occupies a pot near the front door kindly identified by Cathy over at 'Words and Herbs'. Now I need to try to work out which variety it is - the leading contender for that title is currently 'Scarletta'.

I have used my hearts shaped vase for such a special vase to reflect my affection for the blogging community spirit fostered by Cathy as we share our vases each week. I've also included eleven other vases posted over the years. At first I was going to include one for each year but then realised that I would only have ten so instead I've included a mix from over the years in no particular seasonal order. They include favourite flowers such as snowdrops, sweet peas, hardy geraniums and rudbeckia 'Sahara', as well as one or two photos remembering special occasions.

My Very First IAVOM 

My Cup Runneth Over

Of Course There Had To Be Some Snowdrops!

Summer Sizzle

Shimmer

Celebrating Easter

Sunshine

Sweet Peas - An Absolute Must Every Year

A Family Wedding

I Saw A Mouse

Celebrating A Graduation 

As always a ginormous thanks to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for coming up with the inspiring thought of starting each week off with flowers to be shared with friends. My wish list has grown each year along with knowledge of plants we do not usually come across in the UK, lots of hints and tips as well as my expanding collection of vases. 

Now I'm off to cover the seedlings in the greenhouse - there's a chance that we may have snow overnight and temperatures are set to plummet as the week goes on reaching levels normally seen in January and February. I've managed to bring my potted snowdrops under cover just in the nick of time (you could say at the eleventh hour) and hopefully some of them might feature in Monday vases in the very near future. 

P.S. I've amended the second line of this post - thanks to Cathy for pointing out my chronological typo. 

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.