IAVOM ~ Late Winter Gems

 

A speedy pick and plonk from me for this week's 'In A Vase On Monday'. In my vase are :

• The soft lilac flowers of cardamine quinquefolia. This is a hardy perennial which starts working it's magic in January when the foliage starts to emerge before it flowers in February through to March. Almost as quickly as it appears the foliage fades and retreats under cover by early summer. My small pot of this plant has now produced a pool of colour which combines well with snowdrops and hellebores. Here is is last year growing in the garden along with galanthus 'Blonde Inge' :

•  A couple of stems of of the dainty white flowers of oemleria cerasformis also known as the Indian plum or Oregon plum. This shrub is new to me, purchased last year and still I'm ashamed to confess in its pot awaiting a decision as to where it will be planted. I was tempted after hearing a description of it during a Zoom presentation by the Galanthus Group of the Hardy Plant Society. The speaker described it as being winter flowering and delightfully scented. I panicked somewhat after my purchase when I read another description of the scent being like cat wee but I'm pleased to report that the aroma is most pleasing to my nose.

Thanks as ever to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for her steadfast hosting. Do visit her blog and see what other bloggers are sharing in their vases this Monday.

 I've been absent for a few weeks but hope to be posting more regularly. The incessant grey and wet weather affected my gardening mojo but I'm glad to say that it's back. The weather has definitely been drier and warmer of late with a couple of positively balmy sunny days thrown in recently for good measure. The first seeds have been sown and there are more to follow this week. Spring is definitely knocking!

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Seedling

 

IAVOM ~ Stirrings

 

The garden is definitely stirring now and here in this week's Monday vase are :

• Galanthus 'Philippe André Meyer' - this has become one of my favourite snowdrops in the garden. It has a distinctictive marking, shape and clumps up very quickly.  If any of my UK snowdrop blogger friends would like a bulb just say so.
• Iris reticula 'Pauline' - I left it late to get my bulb order in this year and was sadly too late to obtain the irises on my wish list. I picked this one up from a local garden centre for no other reason that one of my first colleagues and oldest friends is a Pauline. She is growing in a pot under cover in the greenhouse. I prefer the lighter coloured irises but still she'a most attractive.
• Small cyclamen flowers - these have been in the garden for years and I imagine that they are cyclamen coum. They're planted in an old Belfast sink which was surplus to himself's workplace and was being thrown out. Alongside the cyclamens are snowdrops and ophiopogon or Mondo grass with its dark strappy grass like leaves.
• Finally a sprig of salix gracistyla 'Mount Aso', a bushy shrub bearing these lovely fuzzy pink catkins in winter.

As always thanks to Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In the Garden' and who gets us together every Monday to share our floral and foliage treasures. Do visit her blog if you haven't already.

The weather continues in a damp vein although we have so far been spared the excessive rainfall that has troubled some areas of the country. The main priority in any suitable dry intervals this week is to fill the green garden waste bin up in readiness for it's first collection early next week. There's still some space and there's plenty of suitable plant debris waiting to go in to it. I'm also looking forward to getting stuck into a new book arrival. More of that and gardening related podcasts soon.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Snowdrop Days

 

IAVOM ~ Gingerly

Any January gardening as well as other activities were severely curtailed after I sustained a nasty muscular strain in the area around my shoulder blade. Not only did it cause great pain but it greatly affected quality of sleep. I spent a fortnight or so wandering around like a zombie and barely functioning. Over the last few days I'm delighted to say that matters are definitely improving. I'm still moving around somewhat gingerly as I don't want to risk any sort of relapse. In the meantime though there have been definite signs of things being on the move and the garden is very slowly edging it's way to longer and warmer days. In my vase are a couple of hamamelis or witch hazel stems. An unknown variety sold to me in 2019 as 'Foxy Lady' which it is most certainly not. The nursery concerned apologised but couldn't replace it with the desired witch hazel. However on the plus side I received a full refund and was allowed to keep the shrub. 

Thanks as always to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for providing the platform for us to get together to share our vases each week.

My enforced idleness has had some bonuses, one of which was reading Mary Keane's 'Diary Of A Keen Gardener' which I can thoroughly recommend. It's available from various bookshops and online sources. I have also listened to gardening podcasts but more of that another time. 

I'm looking forward to doing more now including removing some of the tat from perennials when we next have a relatively mild dry day. Another task at the top of the list is to decide which tomato varieties to order. I no longer grow tomatoes from seed but order plug plants each year. My friend who puts in the order has just reminded me that we just have a few days to get the order in so I need to decide imminently. I will probably end up going for the same variety as last year but I may live dangerously. Looking forward to seeing what it's in other vases later on today and I hope that everyone is staying clear of winter viruses and muscle woes.

IAVOM ~ Suspended Animation

There's a reminder of last summer in today's vase. It seems a long time ago today after snow yesterday and a well below freezing minumum temperature last night. The sky is a beautiful blue, the sun's shining but it's bitterly cold out there. In my vase today are just a few stems of lagurus ovatus also known as bunny's tail grass. Its' a hardy annual grass which produces the softest to touch seedheads which look good in a vase as well as when they are dried.

Thanks as always to Cathy from 'Rambling In The Garden'  for gathering us together every Monday to share our vases.

With this current spell of wintry weather predicted to last a few days I think that gardening activities will be very minimal. I'm hoping that the extra layer of fleece and the small electric heater will give enough protection to over-wintering salvias and ranuculus as well as my potted snowdrops which were bought in at the very last moment. The seed box sort is nearly complete except the vegetable section so I will be able to get my seed order in. Maybe time to catch up on some garden related podcasts that I've been meaning to listen to 🤔 I hope that it's warmer in your neck of the woods this coming week and that you can get to spend some time in the garden. 

IAVOM - To Each Season

" At Christmas I no more desire a rose

Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled shows,

But like of each thing that in season grows"

Although I agree with William Shakespeare's sentiment I felt obliged to rescue this bloom before winter could cruelly nip it in the bud. Just a solitary bloom from me this Monday - a stem of the David Austin rose 'Lady Of Shalott'. I picked the last remaining bud on Christmas Eve thinking that it would stand more likelihood of flowering in the warmth of the house. Here on the kitchen windowsill it has indeed opened and escaped two heavy frosts which might have well been enough to do it fatal injury. It's a rose that was given to me as a birthday present and which has slowly grown on me. Apologies for the poor quality of the photo but it has been a lights on all day scenario today.

Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' as always for her gracious hosting. Now that the pre-seasonal Christmas rush is over there has been time to get out and spend a bit of time in the garden. One or two tasks have been accomplished including bringing some of my potted snowdrops under cover. A last minute decision. Indoors I'm mid-way through sorting the seed box out which is always a most enjoyable task. The next few days are promising to be bitterly cold with possibly the first snow of the winter so there will no doubt be time to finish that task and then to order any seeds needed to fill the gaps. I've also got a new gardening book to read - hopefully more on that soon. I hope that you find some gardening enjoyment in your week whatever you're up to.

In A Vase On Monday ~ Towards The Sun

My vase this week is celebrating the fact that in the northern hemisphere we are now turning our faces to the sun again - the shortest day of the year is behind us! Although painfully slow at first I know that by the of January the days will be noticeably longer. I enjoyed spending some time outside in the garden yesterday where after taking my photo I had a litle walk around. It's amazing how plants can creep up on you and I noticed that I have some cyclamens in flower and a couple of hellebores too. They have joined a few snowdrops that are well ahead of themselves.

Going into my vase this week were :

• A couple of sprigs of  jasminium nudiflorum or winter flowering jasmine. It first started showing colour in November and as always this sight is so cheering.
• A couple of twigs of lonicera fragrantissima also known as winter flowering honeysuckle. The shrub came from a small plant that I purchased some time ago at one of our our hostess's Cathy's open garden plant sales. Again as with all plants that flower at this time of year it's a star. I had read about it but had never seen it on sale before that day so I'm delighted that it came home with me that day. 
•  A splash of seasonal red from the crabapple fruits of malus 'Sentinnel' which has thrived this year producing an enormous amount of fruit. In previous years the tree has dropped nearly all the fruit by now but this year it's still hanging on to a good number of precious red jewels.

My vase this week just had to be my sun vase.

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for getting us all together every Monday no matter what season it is to celebrate our flowers, foliage and fruit. Wishing you all the very best for the season ahead and for Christmas too! 

A Week Of Flowers 2025 ~ Day 7

Sadly it's the very last day of Cathy's Week Of Flowers 2025. I'm rounding the week of with two later flowering perennials complete with visiting pollinators in Cathy's honour. Above you can see helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer' which is a hardy perennial and what could be called a good do'er. It did struggle a bit in this year's hot and dry summer and was the only well established perennial in the borders that I watered as it was positively flagging at times. The photo was taken in the first week of July but the plant was still sporting flowers well into September.

Secondly my favourite autumnal hardy perennial in the shape of aster 'Little Carlow' which relished this year's weather and looked as if it was on steroids. Here it is above in September and then still pumping away flowers in the first week of October.

A final photo and perhaps cheating just a little as this was taken on Christmas Day last year 

the cheering presence of a hamamelis with snowdrops nearby. It is already colouring up so the race is on to see when it will open - in 2025 or 2026. I think that it will be the former but whatever the outcome it isn't far away from doing so which is most exciting.

A big thanks and virtual bouquet must go to Cathy over at 'Words and Herbs' for her sterling effort of getting us together every day for the last week to enjoy some much appreciated floral fun and fond photographic memories 💐 ❤️

A Week Of Flowers 2025 ~ Day 6

Moving further into the year today as I join in with Cathy's 'A Week Of Flowers' 2025. Firstly allium 'Purple Sensation' on a mid-May day and my favourite time of year.

Then some three weeks later in the first week of June it's the turn of allium 'Christophii', geranium 'Rozanne' and astrantia probably 'Gill Richardson' or possibly 'Burgundy Manor'. I can distinguish them when in flower but not when looking back at photos. There is a clematis budding in the background but it doesn't join in until later.

A big vote of thanks must go to Cathy who blogs over at 'Words and Herbs' for her hosting. It has been a damp and dreary week with no sight in end so this has really brightened up my days.