In A Vase On Monday ~ First Frost

One solitary bloom in this week's 'In A Vase On Monday'. The final flower of the year from rosa 'Crown Princess Margareta', which was cut last night to save it from the jaws of the first predicted frost this autumn. She is a new to me rose arriving as a bare root plant last November so still settling in. The skeletonised leaf which was already on the wall seemed to pick up on her colours. Crown Princess Margareta was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and was an accomplished landscape gardener and artist.

I also rescued a few unopened buds from the rose 'Luisa's Daughter', a gift from my sister and a rose which my sister had named in memory of our mum. This rose opened its first flowers in early May and was still hanging on in there last week. That first frost did indeed materialise this morning and another is forecast for tomorrow so I'm glad that I gathered these flowers and bought them into the sanctuary of the house when I did.

With thanks as always to our lovely hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden'.

October Musing ~ "Delicious Autumn"

"Is this not a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

Words by George Eliot, in a letter to Maria Lewis, October 1st, 1841.

Illustration by Clara Atwood.

In A Vase On Monday ~ Still Shining

A few snippets in today's 'In A Vase On Monday' gathered before the next lot of rain arrived on the horizon. An almost dry day was most most welcome though. Dry days have been in scant supply so far this autumn. In my vase some still shining late colour in the way of :

• Aster cordifolius 'Little Carlow' which is not only a beautiful colour, dainty, late to flower and also attractive to pollinators. I am aware that it has been renamed but as I am unable to pronounce or spell the new name I'm sticking with the old.
• Persicaria amplexicaulis-  I think that this one is 'Blackfield' but it could be 'Firetail'. I must confess to not really liking the leaves but the flowers last for such a long time.
• A sprig of salvia 'Nachtvlinder' - not only does this flower over a considerable time but the foliage is deliciously scented. I started off with two sprigs but one came to grief as I was putting it in the vase.
• Finally some leafiness in the form of panicum elegans 'Frosted Explosion'. These were grown from seed sown in the greenhouse back in either March or April. 

Thanks as always to our hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for her kind invitation to share our vases on a Monday.

Wordless Wednesday ~ The Biggest Spider Ever!

In A Vase On Monday ~ Not Quite What The Packet Said

Another simple pick and plonk for today's 'In A Vase On Monday'. A BIG thanks for the lovely supportive comments on last post which were much appreciated 😘 I was released from the plaster cast on my right arm on Wednesday. It felt like the limb belonged to somebody else for the first day or so but I can now feel some improvement. My right hand is becoming more supple although it still definitely has some way to go before it is back to full strength. I was also slightly alarmed as I was experiencing incidents of sharp shooting pain higher up the arm before the plaster came off - the sort of pain that made me gasp aloud. I was advised at the hospital that this sort of pain can occur when you have had a limb in plaster for some time. It could last for anytime for a couple of weeks or so up to a year and a half! Anyway whatever happens I will not be in a hurry to pick up a spade in the near future. I can see a long list of jobs to do in the spring. I am pleased to say that all my left handed seed sowing of hardy annuals have germinated but I will need to do some thinning out sooner than later as I simply tipped too many seeds in. In other news himself is giving the greenhouse a spruce up and has taken the heated sand bench out for some repairs in readiness for spring. It is we think ten years old and has given good service but was in need of some minor surgery.

Just one flower in my vase this week in the shape of cosmos which were sown in April. They were according to the packet cosmos bipinnatus 'Purity' which is an old favourite of mine grown most years. Instead of those anticipated all white flowers some pink came out in the mix too. As well as the pink in the above photo there is also a deeper shade of pink at the allotment. Not quite what the customer ordered but still they are all most pretty flowers which will go on until the frosts arrive. A note has been made to order a new packet of seed for next year.

Thanks to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for being such an excellent hostess and inviting us so nicely to share our vases of flowers each week.

P.S. My joy in discovering the microphone facility on my iPad to send emails etc. whilst incapacitated was short lived - too much gobbledygook emerged. However the predictive text came in useful.

In A Vase On Monday - Fall

                                 The title of today's 'In A Vase On Monday' post, is not only a nod to the arrival of a new season but also a reference to the fact that I recently had a rather nasty fall. A holiday in France and Italy had to be cut short when I took a tumble downhill on our way out for lunch and a glass of vino. Unlike Jack and Jill in the nursery rhyme I couldn't be mended with "vinegar and brown paper". Would it were that simple. I am sitting here not only looking slightly like a panda but my right (dominant) hand is now encased in plaster as I have a broken metacarpal. The long to do gardening list is on hold. I did have a go at sowing some annual seeds on Saturday and discovered that it is not easy to do using the wrong hand. I ended up with a mountain of seeds in the middle of one tray. On the plus side though I'm not in any great pain and the various cuts and bruises are now healing. I have also recently discovered the most useful dictation feature on my iPad which is making one aspect of life easier.

It was a bit of a challenge to snip and plonk a few flowers for vase but I got there and felt a sense of achievement when I did. Himself kindly took the photo for me. Just a couple of varieties in the mix :

• Rudbeckia hirta 'Sahara' - grown from seed sown back in February. This is the second year that I have grown these and the plants have been so much sturdier and productive than last year. Maybe the drought conditions that we experienced last summer didn't suit them. A definite candidate for next year's seed list.
• Dahlia - possibly 'Henriette' and only just into flower but most pretty.

With thanks as always to our lovely hostess Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for all her gentle encouragement to get out there and snip.

In A Vase On Monday ~ Sizzle

Although this weekend's temperatures were down a good few degrees on the previous weekend and the weather has been most unsettled the flowers are sizzling. In my vase today are :

• Amaranthus caudatus 'Viridis - grown from seed sown in the greenhouse back in March. The plants are at the allotment and are looking rather aenemic. My allotment plot neighbour who has an exotic jungle of a a plot has plants that have reached dizzying heights. I will have to ask him his secret.
• A single flower from dahlia 'Sarah Raven'. This is new to me and I don't like it as much as I did when it was looking at me from the pages of a catalogue. My dahlias have been an unmitigated disaster this year. With the exception of  the dark leaved 'Magenta Star' and one to still to flower plant, all the allotment dahlias were either nobbled in the winter or came through only to fall victim to bunny or mollusc damage. Our wet summer meant that there were more of the latter pests out and about. I was especially upset to loose 'Henriette' which had been so productive last summer. Time soon to start thinking of replacements for next year.
• Phlox drummondii 'Cherry Caramel' grown from seed again sown  in the greenhouse on 11th March. I like the colour of this and it seems to be trouble free so will probably sow it again next year.
• A single flower of the perennial helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer'. This came to me as a division from the owner of a cottage that we stayed in back in 2009. I had asked her for the name of the plant having admired it both in the garden and in a vase with other late summer flowers and was delighted to come away with a living souvenir of our holiday.
• Flowers of rudbeckia hirta 'Sahara' grown from seed started off in a heated propagator in February. Two of the plants that I planted at the allotment last year survived the winter but fizzled out in spring. I still haven't seen the full colour range of these flowers as promised by the seed packet but maybe next summer. They are beauties.
• Some foliage in the shape of physocarpus probably the variety 'Diablo'.
• A very dark scabious which has appeared of its own accord at the allotment. Last year I grew some scabious from a packet of allegedly mixed coloured tall flowers. They all turned out white. Whether this is one that did not reach maturity land flower last year I just don't know or maybe it is a self seeder? There are white flowers too which came through the winter.

Thanks as always to our hostess the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' . Do join in the fun!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Ninety Not Out

In A Vase On Monday ~ The One That Nearly Got Away

My vase this week is one that missed being posted at the end of July. I'm not quite sure what happened at the time but thought it a shame to let it vanish into obscurity. All the flowers in it are still flowering today.

The contents are as follows :

• Erigeron annuus - I first saw tall billowing clouds of this white daisy at Great Dixter a few years ago. I thought that it would be easy to raise from seed but my attempt last year didn't produce as much as a single daisy. Earlier in the spring I had an email from Special Plants Nursery  to say they had some small plants for sale including erigeron annus so I placed an order. My plants have been much more floppy and not as impressively statuesque as the ones I saw at Great Dixter but I'm quite taken with them. Whether they become nightmare self seeders remains to be seen.
• The yellow daisy is anthemis tinctoria 'E.C. Buxton' taken from a cutting I took at a propagation workshop held in 2010 at local to me Bluebell Cottage Gardens And Nursery. This anthemis has attractive ferny green leaves and the long lasting flowers are a soft pale creamy-yellow.
• An annual that I have not grown for a long time and I'm not sure why in the shape of nicotiana 'Lime Green'. Definitely on next year's to be sown list.
• A new to me annual and also to be repeated next year is phlox drummondii grandiflora 'Isabellina'. The seeds were from Chiltern Seeds and were sown in the greenhouse in March.
• The delicate white flowers of thalictrum delvayi 'Splendide White'. I bought this dappled shade loving perennial a couple of years ago or so and it's rapidly becoming a favourite.  It is sterile so has a long flowering period. I've still to work out how to support it properly and it will be moved further back in the snowdrop border next year.

As always a special thank you to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting. I'm off to find pen and paper and go vase visiting. 

Wordless Wednesday ~ In The Waiting Room