In A Vase On Monday ~ Hanging On In There

Today's 'In A Vase On Monday' includes a couple of late lingerers together with a piece of leafy loveliness. The contents are as follows :

• A spray of flowers from Rosa 'The Fairy', a small shrub bearing clusters of little pink pompoms, usually from July onwards until late November/early December. Looking back she has occasionally flowered in June. She has fine glossy foliage and unlike a near neighbouring rose 'New Dawn' does not usually succumb to black spot.
• Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Blackfield' - another new purchase which has been giving me much pleasure. The flowers look darker to the eye than they appear on the camera.
• Some foliage from heuchera Little Cutie 'Frost'. Despite the irritating name this has a most striking leaf. As the leaves were attempting to merge anonymously into the background I removed one just for the purposes of this photo. It has since been replaced to plug the gap. Apparently there is a whole family of Little Cuties but this is the first that I've come across. 

I've just had a good peek over at 'Rambling In The Garden' and see that our hostess Cathy has also included a new to me heuchera in her vase this week. Coming across and learning about new plants is but one of the pleasures of sharing vases on Mondays. Thanks as always Cathy for the opportunity.

In A Vase On Monday ~ "Say Cheese!"

'In A Vase On Monday' is celebrating its fourth anniversary this week. Many, many thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for bringing this element of fun into the week and for your encouragement and generosity as the hostess of this meme. It takes much dedication and energy to grow and sustain a meme over this length of time. I'm in awe of your achievement.

My vase was picked yesterday when to say it was somewhat nippy is an understatement. The skies were blue and sunny but what a bitter north west wind was blowing about. Still I thought that I would wrap up well and get out there. Cathy had asked us to think outside the box when it comes to our choice of vases this week. Initially my mind drew a blank but when I saw this empty Stilton cheese pot in a charity shop early last week I thought that it might fit the bill.

Pickings are getting sparser as the weeks go on but I found a few bits and pieces namely :

• A few seed heads of lunaria annua.
• Some twiggy fluff from clematis jouiniana x 'Praecox'.
• Spent ivy flower heads.
• A couple of brunnera macrophylla leaves.
• Some chrysanthemum flowers - the plants came to me via a fellow allotment plot holder. The variety is unknown. At this time of year their colour is most welcome.
• Sprigs of the white flowering persicaria amplexicaulis 'White Eastfield'. This is a new purchase bought at a plant fair at the beginning of October. I am already smitten. Not only does it provide some late colour but it seems to fading gracefully.
• Especially for Cathy, a trio of galanthus 'Faringdon Double'. This is an early flowering snowdrop which seems to be especially early this year. I took the pot into the greenhouse for a couple of hours to encourage the flowers to open but they would not oblige. 

The little wooden mouse was a holiday gift from himself.

A big thanks Cathy for enriching the garden blogging community over the last four years with such fabulous vases! 

A Wednesday Worisit ~ Fishface

We came across this fungus growing in the shingle last month when we visited the fabulous RSPB nature reserve at Dungeness. Our fungus identification book has annoyingly disappeared, so until I find out a name I'm referring to it as Fishface. Himself says it reminds him of a burnt omelette! What do you see when you look at it? Maybe you know the name and can solve the mystery.

November Thoughts

"From the window of my writing room I look out over the garden. I shouldn't; my mind should be on the writing. But it's hard not to - especially this year, especially now, when the annual pageant of autumn colour has been playing out with even greater theatrically than usual. Sitting at my window , mug of tea cooling in my hand, I'm an audience of one, a packed house, all attention ......

While I sit glued to the window, the book languishes unwritten, the bulbs unplanted, the apples unpicked, the garden untidied. But there are two messages that should be engraved on every gardener's heart at this time of year: don't panic ... and don't feel guilty. Allow yourself time to enjoy the garden, time to look. After all the trees won't mind if the fruit isn't picked, and the birds will bless you for it - and for the straggle of dead and dying herbaceous stalks which will provide them with seeds and shelter all winter long.

And there is still time to plant those bulbs. I have often been reduced to planting tulips at Christmas or even on New Day's Day, and they seem to come to no harm. There is even an argument for delaying planting now that our autumns and early winters are so mild and wet".

~ an extract from 'The Morville Year' by Katherine Swift.
~ illustration by Rachel Grant.