It has been a decidedly spring- like Easter - blue skies, sunshine and warmth here until today. True to form the weather is now in typical bank holiday mode and it's raining. At least we were able to enjoy two consecutive completely dry days. It seems an age since that last happened. Fortunately I picked some flowers in the dry of yesterday to sit on the dining room table namely :
- narcissus - there are two different varieties here but I'm not sure what they are other than one might possibly be 'Tresamble'.
- A nameless white hellebore which has seeded in profusion. I spent some of yesterday afternoon removing the seedlings.
- A single flower of hellebore x hybridus (Ashwood Evolution Group) Yellow Double that himself treated me to this year for my birthday.
- Muscari - again I know not which variety.
- A couple of the lovely little crocus 'Firefly'. These have flowered late but then they were planted later in the autumn.
- Finally a couple of stems of the thug that is lamium galaeobdolon variegatum. It does look attractive in it's spring glory but oh what an absolute nuisance. I think that our hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' would use the term 'devil plant' to describe it. Thanks Cathy as always for hosting.
Whilst I was cutting my flowers I noticed that I must have nicked my index finger which was dripping a trail of blood. I had to to stop at that point but later returned and added three stems of pussy willow to give a bit of height to the back of the bowl. I forgot to take another photo at that point. I have to confess that the pussy willow were shop bought especially for Easter.
Here spring has well and truly sprung and all of a sudden that list of jobs to be done both outside and in the greenhouse is lengthening by the day. Seed sowing is in full gear now and this afternoon it's the turn of cosmos and sunflowers to be sown. I am sweating about the so far no sign of germination from the larkspur (despite the seed packet having a spell in the freezer) and disappointed by the appearance of only two snapdragon seedlings. I hope that they have some friends keeping them company in soon. The remaining sowings look promising and no doubt the greenhouse shuffle will ensue before long. I hope that spring is treating you all kindly too or if you're in the southern hemisphere that you are lapping up mellow autumn days.
Postscript - my trip to the greeenhouse this afternoon revealed one emerging larkspur - it was invisible this morning 😂
Now that is the prettiest arrangement I've seen today. I opened your blog link and smiled right away. The colors, the form, the base--lovely! Happy Spring!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your visit and kind words Beth. I'm glad that I bought a smile to your face 😀
DeleteWhat a lovely collection of pale blues and yellows, complemented by the pretty bowl, Anna - a real Eastery vase 👍 I have complete larkspur failure - absolutely zilch, despite the freezer trick. Very frustrating especially after such a success with blue and white varieties last year. Admittedly neither was fresh seed - but I have have some seed I collected so perhaps I will try that ps lamium is not quite there as a devil plant as it is fairly easily pulled out, but it definitely does have ideas way beyond its station! 🤣
ReplyDeleteI thought Easter colours too Cathy 😀 Sorry to hear about your no show with the larkspurs. My seed was left over from last year. Good luck if you sow another batch. I think that I left my lamium for too long before I started to pull it out in the first place by which time the damage was done 😫
DeleteI caught my breath when I saw your arrangement, Anna! It's a lovely collection of pastel flowers. The Easter bunny couldn't have put together a better mix ;)
ReplyDeleteMy own larkspur have been standing tall doing absolutely nothing for close to 2 months now, although I think they're finally getting close to blooming - I sowed the seeds in early November! My sweet peas are also behaving badly. One variety (out of 5 I sowed) has been blooming for more than 2 months yet I only just discovered a second variety making a tiny showing a week ago. It's a weird year.
Aaaaw - what a lovely thing to say Kris. Thank you ❤️ I am looking forward to seeing your larkspur in flower before long. Interesting to hear about your sweet peas - presumably they were sown at the same time 🤔 I sowed two batches - one at the start of March, the other in mid - March. The second batch germinated first and very few of the first batch are showing through!
DeleteLovely to see your soft lovely spring in bloom. Daffodils and muscari are a ways off still here.
ReplyDeleteThank you Donna. I hope that you're not waiting for much longer 🤞
DeleteWhat a festive spring grouping; the double yellow hellebore caught my eye first--so pretty, but so they all are! The bowl is a beauty too. Happy spring!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your visit and kind words too Amy. Wishing you a happy spring too 😀
DeleteSuch a lovely gathering of your spring flowers Anna. I especially love that pale blue Muscari and that gorgeous yellow hellebore. I am glad you at least had a couple of dry days. Hasn't it been such a wet winter! Seed sowing hasn't really got going yet here, but I sowed some larkspur last autumn and they germinated really quickly. Then I left them in my cold frame all winter. I have had to pinch out the tops as I want to wait for the perfect conditions (?!?) for planting them out. Hope the rest of yours show up soon!
ReplyDeleteIt was most lifting to get a couple of dry days - it's definitely been an extremely wet winter. I sowed larkspur in the autumn too but with no germination at all hence the spring sowing. I'm glad to say that as the week has gone on there has been more germination 😂
DeleteVery pretty posy! I love the double yellow hellebores. I have a single variety here. Happy days! Karen at bramblegarden
ReplyDeleteOh thank you Karen. The single yellows are beautiful too. I have a so far extremely small yellow single. Hopefully it will flourish 😂
ReplyDeleteThat’s such a very pretty arrangement, Anna. I absolutely love the vase you have it in too - it’s a style I particularly like. The yellow hellebore is beautiful and it’s perfect sitting above the purple of the crocus, and beneath the soft blue of the muscari.
ReplyDeleteI find larkspur notoriously difficult. The pastel colours in your display are very romantic.
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