In a Vase on Monday: My Christmas Tree

On Friday I took my daughter and her children to see the Ignite Garden display at Kingston Lacy

Which was a magical way to meet outside at the start of their Christmas holidays.

This is Little Miss M, in a pixie hat I knitted, who just seemed to feel right at home in the Fern Garden

As we were walking round, we were talking about Christmas trees and I was telling the children how I used to take my children into the woods to collect fallen branches, that we would take home, and decorate for our tree as I did not want to kill a tree for Christmas.

Nowadays, I don’t ‘do’ Christmas and haven’t put any Christmas decorations up for years. I will be in a caravan by the sea this year, and I am really looking forward to it.

On Saturday, Little Miss M walked over to my house with a present

…….a branch they had to cut off their tree to balance it, topped with a decoration I had made with the children a couple of years ago

and some pink yarn because I like pink. She carried the lametta in her pocket so it wouldn’t blow away and then put it on the ‘tree’ as she gave it to me.

Heart-melting! I will take it with me to my caravan by the sea!

Joining Cathy for In a Vase on Monday.

In a Vase on Monday on Scrap Happy Tuesday

It was my son-in-law’s birthday yesterday – Happy Birthday Mr. M!

You might remember he is the farmer who likes supporting my crazy crafty ways.

You can see him and my daughter in this post.

I had meant to post this yesterday, but the day did not go to plan, never mind it now doubles up as a multi-functional post, two memes in one.

In true Scrap Happy Style I made Mr M a card out of old used teabags and some of the old wire fencing he brought for me to play with.

Each element, a symbol of members of his family. The heart with gold kisses represents my daughter – her name means ‘beloved’. My two Granddaughters’ names are represented by the fern leaf print and the ‘pearl’ and my Grandson’s by the red beads.

In the Chive vase are a couple of Robin’s Pincushions found on a wild rose in my garden

Intriguing, I love the colours and texture – they have a touch of magic about them

and the wonderfully shiny hips reminding me of the school nature table, when each year in primary school we seemed to do something about hips and haws.

Joining Cathy for In a Vase on Monday.

Kate and her fellow scrappers for the monthly Scrap Happy Day

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra (me), Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera, Del and Nanette

and Cee for Flower of the Day, with a link to her post with some graphics on the state of the fires and air quality on the West Coast of the US.

In a Vase on Monday

Self-seeded Calendula and aster with ripe and ripening pears.

It is a challenge to catch the pears at the the right time to pick them before the wasps get to them. A good crop this year.

Joining Cathy and her joyful meme: In a Vase on Monday

I am completely replanting the bed behind the espalier pear trees. Everything has been taken out because the ground elder and marestail had taken over.

Looking from North to South

I dug it over, took everything out, and dug it over once a week for 4 weeks in the hope of getting every bit of weed root out. I saved all the bulbs and have replanted them in a completely random fashion and planted new and old irises

Looking from South to North

A rogue sunflower which grew in the pot I had the tiny fuschia (Jollies Nantes)  in.

I have also scattered seed from Nigella, calendula, cerinthe, aquilegia, foxglove and purple loosestrife.

It will be fun to see how this looks in Spring.

The daughter of a friend of mine is just starting her garden and liked my scattergun way of creating a border, so I have collected seed for her to try it out.

I found this You Tube clip

 

made some little seed packets out of a Gudren Sjoden catalogue

I loved making these, I like the way they are in the shape of little flower pots.

Joining in with Cee’s Flower of the Day

 

Fennel and Irises

My daughter and her family have been away for a few days and I wanted to put some flowers on the table to greet them on their return, but right now my garden doesn’t have much to offer. (Must do something about that for next year.)

Sometimes something quick and simple hits the spot nicely.

and I like the way the fennel echoed the spectacular light fitting in their sitting room

Fascinated by the delicate lines of the fennel flower heads I had a play with them against a rust-dyed background

Placing a piece of glass over them to flatten them against the fabric.

Now it is decision time – do I recreate these shapes in stitch, or paint, or try some other method, using them as a resist. My sister suggests Brusho paints – I had never heard of them before, so that is an exciting new media to experiment with.

I am also wondering about using the Cyanotype Process, but that would take some practice. I am going to allow the thought to bubble away on the back burner of my mind for a while.

Onto the Irises – I am including this bit as a Garden Diary entry to help me remember the names of the new Irises I have just received from Chailey Irises

4 new Irises

Grindelwald,  white, fragrant, mid to late flowering with some blue markings

Hi, white, mid season and fragrant

Summertime Blues, pale blue and highly scented

Raspberry Blush, pink with a long flowering season

Irises are my favourite flower, especially when they are scented. I love their sculptural shapes and the way they look like flamboyant dancers with wide wavy skirts. I have cleared a patch of ground to fill with irises and bulbs, these are the first ones to go in – looking forward to Spring!

Now to think about planting for some colour in August. I look forward to seeing what others have in their vases for inspiration – I need something perennial, bug and slug resistant and low maintenance.

Joining Rambling in the Garden and other garden bloggers for In a Vase on Monday.

 

In a Vase on Monday: Altered Art

In my vase today is a posy of Pink Dandelions, thank you so much for the seeds Cathy, they are such gems! And twigs of snowberry bush, well that’s what I called it as a child, don’t know its proper name.

These were picked to accompany a card and three figs from my fig tree, for a dear friend, for her birthday. I also gave her a book, ‘Waterlog’ by Roger Deakin, which I forgot to take a photo of. She loves swimming, in fact she was a swimming teacher and taught all my children to swim.

She is an artist and I absolutely love her sketches and paintings, but she often struggles to like them herself. She tore up one of her paint sketches and gave me a piece folded over into a card for my birthday in November, I tore it on the fold line and did some stitching to make a card for her.

Then I took some of the paper I coloured with Koh-i-Noor, watercolours,

looking for colours that would make a good background

I chose this one

I was a bit apprehensive to see what J’s reaction would be to what I did to her painting

It took her a little while to realise it was one of her painitngs. I think she liked it.

Do you have any blooms to pop in a Vase this Monday?

Joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

In a Vase on Monday: Pink Dandelions

These pink dandelions are SO pretty – I love them

and don’t you think they look just right with the chartreuse green of Lady’s Mantle

They are the colour of Rose Quartz and shell pink

I am completely in love!

Joining Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday

and

Cee’s Flower of the Day

 

In a Vase on Monday

Nigella seed heads sit in a beautiful Green Spode jug, given to me many years ago by my mother-in-law.

It sits on the turquoise crocheted mandala which I have just finished, at last! It has been sitting in the WiPs pile for far too long. I will write another post soon about the edging I made.

I am joining in with In a Vase on Monday, Cathy’s weekly meme, where gardeners from all over the world pop things in a vase for us all to enjoy.

Gardeners are a generous lot and sharing seeds and plants is one of the great joys of gardening.

Cathy, very kindly, sent me some pink dandelions seeds last year. I sowed some in the garden but none came up. This year I sowed them in a Veg Trug, and the first one came into bloom at the weekend

So pretty.

Another gardening triumph this year are these

my friend Anne’s Angels Fishing Rods, grown from seed harvested from her garden at least 6 years ago – this is the first year they have flowered. I am so proud that I have managed to keep them going for 6 years not knowing if they would ever flower or not – it is a minor miracle. They are tall and beautiful, but hard to photograph to show their full splendour, dancing in the breeze.

Friend Andy is represented in my garden in Loganberry form 🙂

I gave him a plant from my garden in about 2004, I moved a couple of times and then, when I moved to this house, he gave me a plant from his.

Then there is the gorgeous Hot Princess! My Flower of the Day, given to me by Nanacathy for my birthday.

She is such a gorgeous rose, all pink perfection with a beautiful delicate scent. She seems very happy here and has given me the confidence to try a few more roses in the border for next year.

I am also joining in with my daughter @newgatenarcissi for her  #gardencollagemonthly

She is just getting into gardening and was so thrilled that a few of you joined in last month. Thank you ❤

I chose all the pinks for my July collage.

It is a great way to feel good about the garden and ignore all the work still to be done.

Happy Gardening!

In a Vase on Monday: Cool

It has cooled down now, but there were a few days last week that were so hot.

I picked a few stems to cool things down a bit.

Stacchys, Gardeners Gaiters and Quaking Grass, with a few tiny white pebbles collected from the beach.

Joining in with Rambling in the Garden.

@newgatenarcissi

My daughter is getting into gardening and has an Instagram page @newgatenarcissi where she posts photos of her new garden and asks for advice. This month she has launched a new idea – a picture collage of blooms in her garden, which she intends to make each month for a year, with the hashtag #gardencollagemonthly.

She would love others to join her each month with a collage from their garden, and I wondered if any of you would like to join in.

I had fun creating mine and was quite amazed at all the flowers I found. Most of my garden is frankly, a bit of a mess! But this was a wonderful way to show off the best bits, and such a good record of June 2020.

Also joining in with Cathy and her happy band of gardeners forIn A Vase On Monday.

Dianthus Carthusianorum, bronze fennel and stacchys in a kettle on top of the woodburner.

I grew the dianthus from seed and at last, in its 3rd year it has come into a decent sized plant with healthy looking flowers.

It grows up through the bronze fennel in my long border – a combination I love.

Hard to see the joy of it in a photo, but I love the mix of textures.

Also joining Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Now, it is a weeding day for me today, let’s see if I can get some of my garden under better control!

 

 

In a Vase on Monday

Quaking grass, sisyrinchium, and nigella sit in a nightlight holder above a few blooms of hypericum. I particularly enjoyed the way the setting sun played with the grass, making shadows.

Joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

Life continues to be distracting in these weird times. I have been perked up by some lovely warm messages and a delicious gift of goodies last week from Feed the Soul

There is plenty of crafting going on, to keep me on an even keel, but I seem to have no ability to order my thoughts into blog posts about it.

If you want to see what I am getting up to, look to the right and see my Instagram posts. Even there, my garden features strongly – it is my haven of peace and happiness at the moment.

Astrantia is one of the stars of the show, joining Cee’sFlower of the Day.

A plant I bought at a garden gate in Weobley in 2015.

I do hope you are able to enjoy some good weather and sunshine, even down under where you are approaching midwinter. We are enjoying some fabulous weather here.

 

In a Vase on Monday: Pink, White and Grey

The colour combination that is floating my creative boat at the moment is pink, white and grey.

In the vases (two jam jars and an old Victorian ink pot) are Stacchys, a white perennial wallflower with a delicious scent, red campions and a pink geranium.

The crocheted doily is from a pattern by Zoya Matyushenko – oh I do love her patterns – but oh boy! you do have to concentrate very hard when making them. This one is Birgitta and has yet to be blocked. I am thinking of putting it on a wire hoop to hang on the wall.

I used a 3mm hook and Junaluna gradient yarn, which is a 3ply cotton and not the easiest to work with, but it looks fabulous and it so wonderfully soft, it would be gorgeous for a shawl.

I am joining Cathy as she gathers lilacs from her gardentoday, with lots of other locked down gardeners from all over the world – and what a wonderfully colourful lot we all are, to be sure.

In a Vase on Monday

I was standing at the kitchen sink wondering what to put in a vase today and saw these 3 right in front of me on my windowsill – odd bits and pieces, picked up at various times as I wander round the garden and a cutting from a succulent house plant.

On the left, in a Chive vase, is a perennial white wallflower, grown from seed harvested from a friend’s garden. The scent at dusk is divine.

My sister and I were amazed and delighted to be photographed for the Chelsea Flower show magazine and website when we were on the Chive Stand in 2016

I didn’t take the name of the photographer, so I can’t credit her, but she took the photo because our colours matched the stand.  🙂

Oh, that was such a special day. A day on which I was so excited to meet Dorris!

The feather is from the guinea fowl who often visit from a neighbour across the field.

One on my roof one frosty morning in March

Strange creatures! Making strange noises ……..

and there is a pigeon nesting in my bay tree, constantly cooing all day

Sparrows are nesting in the cotoneaster and under the tiles on my garage roof, twiitering away …….

I have had to get the tinsel out to stop them from eating my salad leaves

April and May are my favourite months in garden

It is all very sensual and sexy out there!

This year I am missing the Brompton Stocks and wallflowers which provided so much colour last year, but my new long border (see the the beginnings of it here) still gives me huge amounts of pleasure as it wakes up in the warmer weather.

I am joining Cathy and her happy band of gardeners from around the world for this week’s In a Vase on Monday, pop along over there for a mass of floral delights.

Also joining in with Cee’s Flower of the Day with my very favourite scented Iris, smelling so sweetly of pear drops

Stick your nose in here!

Happy Easter Vase on Monday

Happy Easter Monday Everyone!

What a blessing a garden is at any time, but most particularly at this staying-at-home time. I give huge thanks every day.

And look who I discovered in mine yesterday, a very welcome resident

I put the photo onto our family WhatsApp group for the children to guess what it is and to give him or her a name. At his second guess, Big Bro got it right and decided it was a male called Walley.

Having found this description on the internet:

“The slow–worm is much smaller than a snake and has smooth, golden-grey skin. Males are paler in colour and sometimes sport blue spots, while females are larger, with dark sides and a dark stripe down the back.

Average lifespan: up to 20 years

Length: 40-50cm”

I think it might be a female, although it doesn’t have a stripe down its back. Amazed to see that they can live up to 20 years.

I am very happy to see her, but wish she would eat more slugs as I am finding masses of the little blighters munching away at my irises and hostas.

My daughter and her children brought me a wonderful food box full of delicious goodies from a local vegetarian cafe called ‘Feed The Soul‘

The box included some delicious cakes, and drinks, boxed mixed salad meals and chia pudding – health in a box YumYum!!!

The children had picked the flowers for me from their field of scented narcissi. My daughter calls herself a beginner gardener and you can follow her progress on her Instagram Page – @newgatenarcissi

You might like to see the fun we had with the narcissi last year – here

This year is different.

How are you doing during this time of lockdown?

So far, I’m loving it. It feels like a gift to me. Time for quiet crafting and gardening with very few interruptions.

I feel extremely fortunate that I have a garden and neighbours who wander past and stop for a chat every now and then. They are all at home, so a close feeling of community is building like never before. It feels like it must have felt about 100 years ago. Everyone working in their gardens or on DIY projects – there seems to be always a power tool whirring away somewhere in the village.

My daughter lives just across the field from me, so she can come over with the children and we can have a catch up across the lawn.

It would feel very different if any of my children were in danger, out there on the front line. Or if any of my family or close friends contracted the virus. But for now the best thing I can do is stay at home alone and I am more than happy with that.

I do hope you found a satisfying way to celebrate Easter and wish you and your families and friends all the very best in the weeks and months to come.

Joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday

and

Cee’s Flower of the Day

 

Stay Safe

Stay at Home

Amelan Cheer!

Joining Cathy and gardeners in the UK, America, Australia, Italy and elsewhere and popping a few blooms from our gardens into a Vase on Monday. (link later)

Amelanchier, pulmonaria and cerinthe in glass vases. The dinky one on the right is a discarded Victorian ink pot I found in my garden about 45 years ago when I lived in an old thatched cottage at White Horse Farm.

The leaves of the amelanchier are a rusty brown so, of course, they reminded me of the rusty wire my star of son-in-law gave me.

Those of us with gardens are the lucky ones in these lockdown days. I am so grateful and thoroughly enjoying immersing myself in mine.

Looking up through the amelanchier at a blue sky tells me that Spring has sprung

I have transplanted some strawberries into one of my waist-high beds

and sown some salad leaves in the other one

The tinsel is to keep the pesky sparrows away – will it work I wonder?

A beautiful pink anemone has appeared in the garden, I can’t remember where I got it from, but I just love it

Can you see the little white crab spider

A spider that does not make a web – fascinating.

I hope you are able to enjoy a garden or park, or at least have a walk that takes you past other gardens.

Also joining Cee’s Flower of the Day.

In a Vase on Monday

I love this meme

but life gets in the way sometimes – the last few months have been ridiculously complicated with family stuff to sort out – nothing bad – just a lot!

Being creative is my way of coping, but I don’t seem to have enough free time and head space to write about it.

Today I put a posy together to take to a friend.

I splashed across my puddle of a garden to see what blooms I could find.

Hebe, cerinthe, daffs, viburnum and pulmonaria.

All popped into a little glass mustard jar. My friend placed them in the middle of the table while six of us who have known each other since our teenage years had lunch together. What a happy oasis in a crowded time, and glancing at these little flowers every so often gave me such a feeling of joy and calm.

Joining Cathy and her happy band of gardeners from around the world.

In a Vase on Monday: Garrya Elliptica

Garrya Elliptica is such an elegant shrub and I have put it with some over-wintering cerinthe in a pottery vase bought about 45 years ago from Honiton Pottery in Devon.

The little blue square pot is a vase from Chive and it sits on a piece of burnt wood I found on the beach. I have scrubbed it and waxed it and to me it is a fine piece of sculpture.

Joining Cathy as she Rambles in her Garden for In a Vase on Monday.

 

Anemones in November

Those little buds from my 11.11 vase have just decided to open.

Sometimes we push ourselves forward in the wrong season, we do not shine so brightly, we are much smaller than we could be, but still we insist on flowering.

Will they flower again in Spring, I wonder, or will they have exhausted themselves.

Joining Cathy for In a Vase on Monday

Celebrate!

It is Cathy’s 6th Anniversary of In a Vase on Monday!

Congratulations Cathy you have brought together some wonderful gardeners from all over the world. Warmest heartfelt thanks for the floral camaraderie and all the knowledge (and plants) shared.

Cathy has set us a challenge to celebrate with a miniature vase, but as you can see, I have not stuck to just one.

I have combined the meme with my birthday celebrations and here we have Hot Princess, and there is the rose on the left of her (corny I know, but hey it’s my birthday, I’m allowed!)

On the right are some anemone buds (!) and wallflowers (!) – what are they thinking?! They need to pipe down and wait til Spring.

And the dianthus continues to produce sweet pink buds, even if the flowers do get a little frosted.

All put together in a bit of a rush between birthday shinanigans, but I did not want to miss out on celebrating with Cathy. ❤

In Jam Jars on Monday

Despite the grey skies and the weeks of battering from wind and rain, there is still a lot of pink in my garden.

The Argyranthemums have formed huge clumps and have been flowering prolifically since May.

The self-seeded Antirrhinums have been a self-perpetuating surprising array of colours.

The red Achillea loves its new position in the new border.

The Kaffir Lilies have survived their many transplants.

The Phygelia stays in a raised bed waiting for a permanent position and seems to love it there, so perhaps it will have to stay where it is.

And my lovely rose, Hot Princess, after a promising Spring flush, sulked all Summer only to burst forth now in early Autumn – so I think she will still be flowering for my birthday, which is particularly apt as she was a birthday gift, last year, from NanaCathy. Thank you Cathy.

Joining Rambling in the Garden for the joy that is: In a Vase on Monday.

In a Vase on Monday: Indian Summer

A very hastily plonked together vase as I was taking them to a friend’s 70th birthday party and was running a bit late.

I am thrilled with this clump of Alstroemerias, variety Indian Summer, which I bought at the Rare Plant Fair back in June. Not that they are rare, but they are beautiful and are the only plant of the three I bought that have survived.

They have such long stems and you pull them up rather like pulling rhubarb, instead of cutting them.

They are growing very happily in my new border – I wonder if they will survive the winter, when that border gets very wet. I have mounded up the soil, in the hope that their roots will be kept out of the swamp.

I love this group of colours together: the hot pink pelargonium; the alstroemerias; the bright pink argyranthemum, which has been the star of the show since May – what an amazing plant; the purple toadflax, much loved by the bees; the deep bronze heuchera leaves, just peeping through, back right; and behind them the red achillea.

This video was taken a couple of weeks ago

You can see the beginnings of this border here .

Pop across to Cathy’s post to see what other gardeners are putting in vases today.