It's a glorious late spring day here but had 'In A Vase In Monday' been a couple of days earlier it would have been night on impossible to pick let alone photograph a vase. We had an absolute hooley that whipped itself up on Friday and only finally blew itself out yesterday afternoon. Some rain would have been more than welcome but not a drop fell. Our garden was littered with willow and sycamore branches but luckily no serious damage was done. At the allotment my plot neighbour's polytunnel covering flew off leaving his tomatoes and various annuals exposed to the elements. He is not convinced that they will make a full recovery.
My vase this week was mainly picked from the garden but there is one contender from the allotment in the shape of :
- Allium schoenoprasum or chive flowers. These are appreciated by the bees and usually have a second flush later in the year. Both the leaves and the flowers are edible but my preference is the leaves especially finely chopped in scrambled eggs. I'm always intrigued by how wiry and strong the stems of the flowers are.
- From the garden are stems of rosa 'Luisa's Daughter' now in its fourth year and most floriferous. I've mentioned before that my dear sister had the rose named and sent to me as a birthday gift in memory of my mother. I wish that it retained the creamy colour of its buds but these gives way to large and blowsy white roses. Still they are most pretty and have a most pleasant light lemony scent.
- Lastly a couple of annuals that were sown in the greenhouse in the third week of September, namely nigella damascena 'Double White' and orlaya grandiflora. Now these are himself's pride and joy as he sowed the seeds under supervision when my right arm was in plaster. The rest of the journey from seed to plant though was left to me but I'm most grateful for his efforts. I'm hoping that these will flower for some time and will self-seed. I had hoped that the nigella at the allotment would have self-seeded but there's not a single peek of it. Maybe it was a result of all that February rain.
Thanks as ever to our lovely hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden', who this week has some delicious sweet peas in her vase. Do go and have a look!