In A Vase On Monday ~ Towards The Sun

My vase this week is celebrating the fact that in the northern hemisphere we are now turning our faces to the sun again - the shortest day of the year is behind us! Although painfully slow at first I know that by the of January the days will be noticeably longer. I enjoyed spending some time outside in the garden yesterday where after taking my photo I had a litle walk around. It's amazing how plants can creep up on you and I noticed that I have some cyclamens in flower and a couple of hellebores too. They have joined a few snowdrops that are well ahead of themselves.

Going into my vase this week were :

• A couple of sprigs of  jasminium nudiflorum or winter flowering jasmine. It first started showing colour in November and as always this sight is so cheering.
• A couple of twigs of lonicera fragrantissima also known as winter flowering honeysuckle. The shrub came from a small plant that I purchased some time ago at one of our our hostess's Cathy's open garden plant sales. Again as with all plants that flower at this time of year it's a star. I had read about it but had never seen it on sale before that day so I'm delighted that it came home with me that day. 
•  A splash of seasonal red from the crabapple fruits of malus 'Sentinnel' which has thrived this year producing an enormous amount of fruit. In previous years the tree has dropped nearly all the fruit by now but this year it's still hanging on to a good number of precious red jewels.

My vase this week just had to be my sun vase.

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for getting us all together every Monday no matter what season it is to celebrate our flowers, foliage and fruit. Wishing you all the very best for the season ahead and for Christmas too!