IAVOM ~ Recycled

 

The last day or two have been decidedly autumnal and in the case of Saturday extremely wet. Gardening activities were restricted to mainly greenhouse activities where I have been pricking out some of the hardy annuals - calendula and scabious to date. They have mainly gone into three inch pots which I never have enough of. Hopefully more trays will be pricked out during the week to come along with more bulb planting. Today started with torrential rain and a Zoom committee meeting but there has been a let up in the weather this afternoon to enable to pick some flowers and to have enough light to take a photo.

Today's 'In A Vase On Monday' is a recycling job :

• The grass is the same one that I used in last week's vase and is panicum  capillare 'Sparking Fountain'. I performed some cosmetic surgery and peeled off the outer leaves which were looking rather tatty.
• To the grass I've added some rudbeckia hirta 'Sahara' which I've used before in vases this year. The plants started to flower back in July so certainly deserving of the label of a 'good doer'. They have become a firm favourite with me and I can't sing their praises high enough. I plan to start some off again early in the year in the heated propagator but will also leave this year's plants in the ground to see if they come through the winter.

The vase is also recycled as it' the same milk bottle vase I used last week although of course it was emptied and filled with fresh water to start anew.

Thanks as always to our hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for the inspiration and platform to make time to gather a vase together at the start of each week.

IAVOM ~ In The Pink

The post title accompanying 'In A Vase on Monday' this week is a reference to both the colour of the flowers within as well as to my return to my usual self. Thanks to all of you who offered good wishes and a speedy recovery after my last post. I really fall down with a good whack so although there was fortunately nothing bruised or broken I was very stiff and ached for a good few days afterwards. Fortunately normal service has been more or less resumed. I have enjoyed pottering about in the garden this just gone mild and dry weekend. I've surprised myself by making a start on planting my bulbs and actually enjoying it for once. I often manage to delay this task until early winter (quite often sporting numb fingers whilst planting) but there is no stopping me at the moment. A box of bulbs from Peter Nyssen arrived last Monday and inroads have been made into them. The tulips will have to wait until November though. I think that I'm relishing this task this year as last year bulb planting was out of bounds for me with my dominant right arm encased in plaster. Himself planted whilst I directed which I'm sure you will agree is not quite the same.

I've moved my vase indoors this week as my usual vase perch has had its leafy background decimated for now. The willow tree has just been pollarded again after some eight and half years or so ago since its last encounter with the tree surgeon. There were too many branches encroaching in the direction of the roof. In my vase this week are just the two specimens :

• Lathyrus odaratus 'Gewndoline' - I dismantled the remaining sweet pea wigwam yesterday and there were still a few defiant flowers clinging on. Most of them were too moth-eaten to pick but I thought that these few deserved to be cherished for a day or two longer. ' Gwendoline' is one of the strongest sweet peas I've grown, always performs well and has superb long stalks for use in vases. She is also highly scented which is a must. All my sweet peas were sown in the middle of March and only really got going in July.

• 'Panicum capillare 'Sparkling Fountain' is the second component in the vase.  This half-hardy grass was started from seed sown in the greenhouse on 5th March. The inflorescences really do sparkle on sunny days and it has grown well in pots this year although it is going over now. I think that it is possibly my favourite out of the handful of grasses I grew from seed this year.

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for being the perfect hostess. I hope that everyone has a good week and makes the most of the daylight before it goes! 

IAMOM ~ Glowing Embers

 

The flowers for this week's 'In A Vase On Monday' were picked on Friday afternoon in anticipation of a weekend of extremely wet weather. Saturday indeed saw heavy rain from when I pulled the curtains back to when I went to bed. In the afternoon the wind strengthened and it was absolutely the most dire day you could imagine. Hunkering down was definitely the order of the day. Sunday however defied the weather forecast when the rain stopped and the wind had died down. There was sunshine and blue skies and I had plans. Well I had plans until I went out to throw some odds and ends into the recycling bin and suddenly felt my feet slip from underneath me. I landed on my back. Luckily as I didn't get any warning I did not put my hands out to save myself and managed to keep my head up. Luckily I was saved from any serious injury by my ample posterior. Still I was rather stiff for the rest of the day and still am so have been taking it easy. We think that a wet leaf was the culprit so be careful out there!  My vase contains :

• Some rudbeckia hirta 'Sahara' flowers - I have already featured these flowers in a couple of vases this year. Grown from seed back in February they have been a joy. They have not needed any support but I did notice on Friday that some of the stems had been toppled over by previous inclement weather earlier in the week so decided to pick some whilst the going was good. I will be leaving the plants in the ground to see if they come through the winter. If things are not looking encouraging the heated propagator will be kickstarted towards the end of February.
• A flower of dahlia 'Chat Noir' which I have never grown before. How remiss of me as it's a beauty. Apparently it has a long vase life so I shall be checking if that is the case.
• Finally some stems of the perennial persicaria 'Blackfield' which I used in a vase back in July and which is still going strong. Although I'm not struck on the foliage the length of its flowering time is a winner. Perhaps a stem of persicaria 'Firetail' might have been more appropriate in view of what was to happen to me.

The vase is also a hardy perennial and in a former life before 'IAVOM' was used to store either pens or watercolour paintbrushes in the study.

I am still not sure about new Blogger but am getting there slowly. I've noticed recently though that I'm having some issues on commenting on Wordpress blogs and sometimes have to try a few times before I succeed. Sometimes changing my browser from Chrome to Safari does the trick. I'm wondering whether this is because of the Blogger changes or is a completely unrelated issue. 

As always a big thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who gets us together every Monday all year round to share our vases.