In a vase on Monday – sweet peas two ways

Two vases this week, both made last Thursday evening in honour of the mother-in-law’s visit. The first, above, in the second outing of the new vase, was made for her bedroom and has been a little tweaked this morning to add some fresh sweet peas and roses.

It consists of this lovely geranium (which doesn’t last long in the garden, but has actually done well in the vase).  I haven’t got any G ‘Rozanne’ but perhaps I should, as I understand she flowers for a long time.  Any thoughts on how well she does as a cut flower?

Added to this was the rose (inherited so names less),

some Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ (which has lasted very well)

and of course the ‘Winter Sunshine’ sweet peas – really pumping out now.

The second one is definitely fading so no close ups!

This one has the lovely peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ together with non flowering spikes of Euphorbia characias Wulfenii and pink sweet peas, but the real success here is the Diascia personata.  I just love the dusky pink colour and it’s survived really well bearing in mind this one’s been in a hot kitchen for four days.  I think you might be seeing more of this!

With thanks to Cathy who host this lovely meme.  And I’m not even going to talk about the news this week, but instead concentrate on the flaaars.

In a vase on Monday – more Birthday celebrations

Although my daughter’s not 18 until the end of July, she decided to have her party to coincide with the end of her A Levels, and so Friday saw me running around getting ready before her arrival back from her last exam after lunch.

She only had around 20 guests and wanted them all to sit down to eat so we borrowed next door’s garden table, and, lacking the pre-planning to have organised a table cloth,  I fiddled about with flowers.  I thought about some prettier vases but was concerned they might get damaged and so plumped for rustic tin cans.

The choice of flowers was very much governed by what was plentiful or shortly to go over.  As some of you will remember, I’m opening the garden next Sunday for the local hospice and so was reticent to pick any ‘important’ blooms like peonies, which will hopefully still be blooming in a week’s time (and would probably have tipped the cans over anyway!)

I didn’t take any proper photos as there was a marquee to erect and decorate, a cake to make and a lot of furniture to move, so these are just zoomed in from the original.

The bloom, included Sedum, Pinks, Alchemilla mollis, Ranunculus, Lychnis, Sweet Peas, Nepeta Six Hills Giant and the lovely blue spire at the top of the photo above.  I have two quite big clumps of this and love it in flower arranging as I like the way the flowers curve.  The question is, does anyone know what it is?  I think it could be a Veronica or a Veronicastrum but I can’t seem to find the lable and I’d love to know.

I’m delighted to say the party went without a hitch, and even more delighted (and astonished) that a number of guests admired the garden – I don’t think gardens were on my radar at 18!

Why don’t you go over to Cathy’s at Rambling in the Garden and see what others have in their Monday vases.

In a vase on Monday – Original pickings

Today’s vase is all about things I’ve never picked before.

Firstly the Sisyrinchium striatum which is taking over the Swing Beds.  It occurred to me that both the creamy yellow colour and the gentle arching of the stems could work quite well in a vase.

Secondly the Rose, which I think is Snow Goose.   I now have two separate plantings following an ordering mix up I mentioned on Saturday and so plenty available.  I like the fact that the buds are a darker yellow matching the centre of the Sisyrinchium, whilst the more open flowers are paler, matching the Sisyrinchium’s petals.  Although I might have picked a couple of short stems of this, I’ve never realised how long the stems are and so haven’t ever used it in a tall arrangement.

I thought about leaving it just as a creamy concoction, but in the end decided to add in the Nepeta Six Hills Giant as a contrast.

I decided to photograph it in the kitchen, and for the shot below couldn’t resist adding Nimbus (well strictly he added himself), to the creamy mix!

With thanks again to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this Monday vase meme.