Vase on Monday: Happy Solstice

Seasons collide.

Pelargonium, marigold, viburnum and a lychnis all in the celadon glazed Japanese green-tea cup. The silver date card holder is there to mark the wonder of these summer blooms remaining in flower at the Winter Solstice.

A date to celebrate above all other in my world! Now the days get longer!

Hallelujah! 

Happy Winter Solstice one and all!

The perpetual calendar (does it have a different name) is precious to me as it belonged to the parents of my beloved step-grandmother whom I called Dabbity. As a toddler I couldn’t say Aunty Margery.

Grandad, Dabbity and I used to go and stay with her parents in a tall narrow town house in Winchester. So many happy memories – they had a basement where the laundry was done and I was fascinated to see how the water squished out of the clothes when they were put through the mangle! I loved that place, I loved them and they adored me, having no grandchildren of their own. The calendar lived on the mantlepiece and I was allowed stand on a stool to change the date each day by turning the cards – it was thrill to the 4/5/6 year old me, and somehow it still is!

Pelargoniums flowering outside in December – I want to be delighted, but such signs of global warming are alarming. They are growing in a pot outside my front door (crushed eggshells cover the soil).

Also in flower is this gorgeous verbascum ‘Clementine’, normal flowering time June – September.Still in a pot as I haven’t found the right position for it yet, I will have to provide it with more drainage than the soil in my garden allows, but I just couldn’t resist that colour combination.

And my houseplant of the week and also entry for Cee’s Flower of the Day is the Lipstick Plant, (Aeschynanthus) so called because of how the flower emerges from its bud, although my orange one doesn’t seem to do that lipstick thing.

Oooof! That colour!

I grew it from a cutting and it didn’t flower for a couple of years but oh boy it was worth the wait. Easy to grow, so long as you don’t leave it sitting in water when flowering – if you do, it drops its flowers in protest (I know, cos I’ve done it 😦 ). It sits in my bedroom window on a gorgeous plant stand, with side shelves, I found in a second-hand warehouse in my local town.

I love that view, it’s why I bought the house. I write most of my blog posts looking out of this window, I’m looking out there now as I type watching the dog walkers go along the footpath and a pheasant strutting through the maize stubble – sometimes it’s hard to leave it!

Pop across to join the ‘Vase’ party that happens each Monday on Rambling in the  Garden. Such a fun meme to join in with thanks to Cathy’s wonderful hosting.

May we all look forward to peace, joy and happiness as the days are filled with more precious light.