IAVOM ~ 'Just William'

"Soon will the high Midsummer pomps come on,

Soon will the musk carnations break and swell,

Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon,

Sweet-William with his homely cottage-smell,

And stocks in fragrant blow;

Roses that down the alleys shine afar,

And open, jasmine-muffled lattices,

And groups under the dreaming garden-trees,

And the full moon, and the white evening-star."

- an extract from 'Thyris' by Matthew Arnold, 1822 -1888

A quick and plonk from me this Monday in the shape of a jug of dianthus barbatus more commonly known as sweet william. I sowed them sometime in June or July 2019, fully expecting them to flower last summer. They put on a lot of growth by then but didn't have as much as a single flowering stem. I had passed some seedlings on to a friend and they became a regular conversation topic. As last summer progressed she doubted that they were sweet williams but at last there are flowers to confirm their identity. The centre of the flowers is a darker red to the naked eye but as always red shades are a challenge to capture on camera. Their outstanding quality as you will all probably know is their fragrance which I wish I could share with you today. I've just sown some fingers crossed for next year - a dark sultry colour and a neon pink. On the allotment sweet williams were short lived perennials when grown in a raised bed but were never as vigorous the following year. I shall pull these out when flowering ceases. One of the plants has a yellow anthemis growing directly behind it which might prove a rather offensive colour clash. Come to think of it the anthemis is going to be relocated later this year.

The jug was a buy from an Oxfam shop a good few years ago.

'Just William' in case unknown to you was the first in a series of books by the author Richmal Crompton. She was a prolific writer as there were some thirty nine William books which were published between 1921 and 1970! The central character was a lively soul and schoolboy called William Brown who got up to all sorts of adventures with his friends Ginger, Henry and Douglas. I have recollections of reading the odd one or two of the books as a child but never became addicted as I did to the books written by Enid Blyton. Was William part of your childhood reading?

A thank you as always to our simply brilliant hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who encourages us to share our Monday vases each and every week.