IAVOM ~ The Northern Lights

 

This week's vase is really last week's vase - all picked in good time but I got distracted so it was never posted. It was a quick pick and plonk effort. In my vase are :

• Rosa 'Luisa's Daughter' - this is the rose that my lovely sister had named and then sent it on to me for my birthday not long after my mother had died. She is a healthy rose and what could be described as a good doer. She's lightly but pleasantly scented. I'm going to take some cuttings soon as she is too big for the place she occupies in my snowdrop border. I had realised that I hadn't included her in a vase this year so thought that I must remedy that.
• Red foliage from a perennial evergreen that is planted in a big pot at the front of the house. I am trying to remember the name. I know that Cathy from 'Words and Herbs' has identified it previously.
• Some froth from panicum capillare 'Sparkling Fountain' - a half hardy annual which I grow from seed every year in March. It looks good in containers, sometimes self-seeds but not to nuisance levels like briza maxima.

For once my post title doesn't refer to the contents of my vase but to the fact that I caught a glimpse of the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) last Thursday night! My very first sighting of them. I was so excited. I have perused the skies on other evenings when I've known that there was a chance of seeing them but so far to no avail. Alerted by my sister who lives much further south and by himself who was out for the evening I peeked my head outside. We live in a well-lit and built up area, so not as a stunning as some of the photos that were featured in national television and social media outlets, but here is the magical sky I saw from my porch at 10.14pm :

and my sister's glimpse of them :

In other news the u3a Wordpress website that I have been working on finally went live earlier today. It has been a steep learning curve and has occupied a lot of time since June. All I can say is that it helped that we had such a poor summer. I'm looking forward now to having more time for blogging, gardening and other activities. Who knows as the winter months approach I might finally move this blog over to Wordpress! in the meantime I'm heading outside now to dismantle the sweet pea wigwam. There are still a few brave flowers out and buds to come but their time is up and the green bin garden waste should be emptied in the morning.

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden'  for her constant hosting skills each and every Monday. It's much appreciated. Do go and see what is in other vases this week.