In A Vase On Monday ~ A Backwards Glance

It's a backward glance for this week's 'In A Vase On Monday' with some sweet peas picked back in the already distant days of summer. The photo was taken at the end of July, just after we had got back from our holiday in Wales. I'm not sure why I didn't post it at the time but maybe I was just busy catching up with various odds and ends.

It was very much a case of a tale of two wigwams when it came to the sweet peas this year which were all grown as usual at the allotment. The wigwams were constructed in raised beds on opposite sides of the path that runs down the allotment. The first lot were sown at the beginning of March, whilst the second batch were sown in the middle of the same month. They were all sown in the same compost under cover in deep root trainers.

On planting at the allotment the earlier sown plants never really flourished. They grew and produced flowers but the plants were straggly and the stems were short. Wigwam Two on the other hand generously produced flowers with the bonus of long stems. However even wigwam 2 didn't produce the sheer volume of flowers that I had picked the the previous year despite the drought conditions. On reflection I think that it may have been down to the extra special attention that I paid to my sweet peas during that long hot summer.

As usual I sowed a small number of several varieties of sweet peas. I forgot to note the contents of this year's mix at the time but they definitely included some constants including 'Gwendoline', 'Erewhon', 'Eclipse', 'Mollie Rilestone' and 'Matucana' which is possibly my favourite. I'm already looking forward to choosing next year's assortment.

The vase is one that has been used before and is a small Emma Bridgewater pink hearts milk bottle acquired via eBay.

A peek over at 'Rambling In The Garden' reveals that our hostess Cathy has concocted a vase containing visions of summer and all in real time rather than a retrospective. A real treat for the eyes lightening up a dreary November afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing what magic there is in other vases this week.

Wordless Wednesday ~ R.H.S. Garden, Harlow Carr, November 2019

In A Vase On Monday - Teeny Tiny

A late in the day post from me to celebrate the sixth anniversary of 'In A Vase On Monday'. I was ahead of the game with my photo taken on early Sunday afternoon but sadly then was suddenly hit by a horrible tummy bug. I was out for the count yesterday and unable to put any words to my photo. Cathy came up with the challenge of filling a little vase this week and I used a glass bottle that usually resides on my dressing table. It's a little short of three inches high. I did pause to take the stopper out of it to insert :

• An ivy flower head.
• A few flowers from the long flowering erigeron karvinskianus.
• A rose from 'Luisa's Daughter', a gift from my sister.
• Some snippets of a persicaria which is still looking vibrant despite all the recent heavy rain. I used it in a vase about a month ago unsure whether it was 'Firetail' or 'Blackfield'. Our hostess Cathy suggested that it is probably 'Firetail'.

Many thanks and much love to our excellent hostess Cathy for all the encouragement, sense of fun, inspiration and dedication she has demonstrated over the last six years.