In A Vase On Monday ~ Gleaming In The Gloaming

"We are into December, Mid -winter-monath in old Saxon, and what a difficult time it is to fill even a few vases in the garden" ~  from "The Illustrated Garden Book' by Vita Sackville-West. 

It was one of those December weekends when it was thoroughly dark, cold, wet and miserable throughout here on the Costa del Merseyside. The sort of weather which made it so much easier to get on with seasonal tasks such as card writing. During the odd break I wondered round and looked out of the windows. I was cheered by the sight of my prunus subhirtella autumnalis, aka autumn flowering cherry in full flow. It positively glowed in the gloom. Yesterday himself who is taller than me was dispatched in waterproofs to cut a few branches. He returned with what initially looked like half a tree but he assured me that it was just the lowest branch. I don't think that the flowers will last long as there was a considerable confetti shower when I filled not one but two vases ~

Getting a photograph to do the subject justice was a challenge, thanks to the quality of light, but here is one taken under sunny blue skies at the end of March 2012 ~ 

This is a most generous tree as it produces a second flush of flowers in the spring. It's the autumn blooms that are most precious and the show this year seems particularly floriferous probably because of the mild autumn we've experienced.

This afternoon I've got to concentrate on wrapping up and prettifying the seasonal pot pourri I mentioned in my last post, as I'm meeting with the recipients tomorrow. However I'm looking forward to sitting down this evening to do some virtual vase visiting. Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' as always for being such a brilliant hostess.