Although the winter solstice is still a few days away it certainly felt like winter good and proper on Saturday, with storm Deirdre knocking loudly on the door for a few hours. Sunday was much calmer and drier at least during daylight hours and the bitter wind had worn itself out. Time for a walk round the garden and to snip the heads off a few real hardy perennials for this week's 'In A Vase On Monday'. Into my vase went:
- A stem of helleborus niger also known as the Christmas rose. I purchased a tray of six plug plants back in November for a most reasonable price from the German supermarket name beginning with an L. I bought them on a whim, only spotting them as we had exited the shop with some food shopping. Himself was duly patient waiting in the car whilst I dived back in the store to get in the queue again. Fortunately it was a short queue.
- A snippet or two of jasmine nudiflorum also known as winter flowering jasmine. It provides a most welcome ray of sunshine in the darkest of days.
- A couple of leaves of arum italicum which seem to last forever in a vase. I have resolved to buy another plant to plug one of the gaps in the snowdrop border.
The vase itself is a newcomer to the growing collection that has been slowly multiplying since I've been participating in 'A Vase On Monday'. For some time I've hankered after some smaller vases and this is one of a recent arrival of a set of four different coloured glass vases, making use of a gift voucher my dear sister sent to me some time ago. I'm delighted with them especially this green one. No doubt the others will make a debut on the blog sometime in the future. Thanks as always to our lovely hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for brightening up Mondays.
Love the simplicity, just gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI thought that was an early hellebore.
ReplyDeleteSo very pretty, a perfect vase to celebrate the solstice.
ReplyDeleteOh that is a perfect winter vase, Anna - was the hellebore bloom from one of the plug plants? That's brilliant if they have had flowers already. I no longer have H niger but there are buds on others and a flower on your red namesake - but I shan't be cutting that! The jasmine and the arum leaf are ideal vase fellows, and you are so right about the longevity of these leaves...the only difficulty sometimes is finding a perfect leaf. I love your new little vase and wonder what colours the others are...?
ReplyDeletePerfection!! That is exactly the kind of vase that makes my heart sing! Amanda
ReplyDeleteOh yes, this is truly beautiful, Anna! Less is always more. Have a peaceful christmas and enjoy your winter break xx
ReplyDeleteIt's just perfect, Anna. I'm impatiently waiting for my own hellebores to bloom - I guess they need a really good streak of cold weather to get their bloom on and our winter temperatures seem more erratic with each passing year. We've been in the low 60sF (15-16C) but forecasters are predicting we may hit 80F (26C) later this week!
ReplyDeleteJust lovely....clean and crisp. Three different plant materials and colours so complementary.
ReplyDeleteVery bright and fresh. It's good to know we are heading for the shortest day. That is something to celebrate!
ReplyDeleteThis is so lovely - a perfect winter solstice vase. I definitely need an arum after seeing yours and how others have used leaves recently too. :)
ReplyDeleteA lovely little vase and it suits your pretty arrangement perfectly. The arum is great for winter arrangements, it looks good with snowdrops too.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your kind comments. I think that I perhaps used the word 'plug' inappropriately Cathy. Come to think of it the hellebores were in one of those standard six packs but were still small plants at the point of purchase. They had buds on at that stage so I knew that there were would be flowers soon. The other vase colours are shades of purple, red and blue :)
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