Monday 12 October 2015

In a Vase on Monday ..New Vases

The apprentice is now on her own journey.

Yesterday I received this on facebook....

Izabelle enjoyed your 'in a vase on Monday' so much she started her own 'on Sunday' one. Here's her first vase (bought today in a charity shop) with garden flowers...    



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To be correct the first one bought by Izzi, maybe the first one was the one given by Grandma last week?

The composition is lovely, and I wonder whether she took on board some of the tips I passed on, or is it a question of DNA?

During an afternoon spent pottering in the garden yesterday, mainly replanting some over congested sempervivums, using my new lovely wooden dibber, my eye was caught by two pale pink blooms.  As I thought they would be spoilt by a probable overnight frost I cut them and brought them into the house.

The colour of Izzi's vase had been on my mind, and I was searching the 'dark recesses' of my mind, over the washing up this morning, when my eye fell on the very large jam pot, which stands as an ornament on a Kitchen shelf.



Yes that would be the one I would use for many reasons: it was blue and white, and there was a link between this pot, Izzi and I, a very tenuous link, but a link non the less.

When I first moved to Kenilworth, with very few friends, a lovely real 'lady' from the WI became good friends with D and I.  She has a lovely little dog Dudley, and they both come over from time to time, for jam and scones and tea etc.  In addition to the famous scone recipe which was given to me by Jean, and which has won me many prizes, Jean gave me this lovely Jam Jar.  I am in the habit of passing small jars of jam to her,  and she had seen my bowl and mug in the same design.  One day when I took over some jars of jam for her, she gave me the jam pot.  The potter is Laurence McGowan who has his studio in Wiltshire.

The connection between Jean and Izzi is that Jean gave Izzi her first soft rabbit as a Newborn's present.  Now Izzi has an extended family of rabbits!  I think I should take the dahlias round to Jean this afternoon.



For myself I picked a few blooms from the climbing Shropshire Lad.  Close up the blooms show the soft and peachy petals.


Supporting the blooms is some Pittosporum Tom Thumb, which is the dark purple one, and the two tone green and cream with a few pink 'freckles' is the Garnettii.  The vase is a simple, very well loved, and useful vase brought back from Japan by my father many years ago.

Cathy who is hosting this has a lovely collection of Dahlias this week, so do go along an see her entry, and others.                                                                        

15 comments:

  1. Wow, two lovely arrangements. I love the colors and form of both featured flowers.

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  2. Oh Noelle - what lovely links you have shared with us today, and I am so thrilled that Izzi is independently making her own vase after working with you previously. You have been so kind to her and who knows where the shared work with flowers will lead her... Both dahlia and rose are such a lovely colour, although I guess the dahlia flowers are quite large. Do they get top heavy? Where is your Shropshire Lad growing? Such a gorgeous formation of petals. Thanks for sharing all your joys this morning - much appreciated

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    1. I put in some stakes for the Dahlias, but still managed to loose one big stem which I had not tied in properly during the strong winds a few weeks back. Shropshire lad is against the West facing fench. It has been in two years now, and I am still working on the framework, making sure I bend down the stems...out of the reach of the squirrels!

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  3. Each vase is lovely and I think you have given Izzy so much to learn from....a perfect vase with the jam pot and then those roses....stunning.

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  4. Thanks Donna, we have been so lucky with the weather, and to have such good roses late is the season is a bonus.

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  5. The arrangements are both lovely, as is your granddaughter's latest creation! I think Jean definitely deserves some Dahlias.

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  6. Izzi's vase is so dramatic, I love the red with the blue, Noelle. Such a fun thing to do with your granddaughter. The blue and white jam jar was such a thoughtful gift, and looks so nice with the lovely dahlias, like peach starbursts. The roses are such a lovely old garden rose swirl of petals, they look wonderful with the burgundy leaves and the background stone mosaic table.

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  7. What a brilliant idea to use the stiffish foliage of pittosporum to support the rose. I loved reading about all the connections in this post, but I'm feeling a bit sad about losing my R. A Shropshire Lad this year. Still it gave me a good excuse to buy another rose from Apuldram Roses in Sussex on Saturday.

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    1. Which rose did you choose? For some of the roses with lax flower heads as you observe, something else is needed...If I had room for another rose, I would get climbing white Iceberg. I have grown it in several past gardens and with few thorns and hundreds of flowers with good reflowering, I am seriously thinking a tracking one down to plant this winter.

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  8. Thanks for your kind words about my arrangement. I love blue and white so I liked both your vase and Izzi's, but your pastel dahlias and roses are to die for. That rose is as beautiful as any I've ever seen.

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    1. Thanks, I have been getting so much inspiration by looking at what others are posting...I wonder what the bleaker months will bring....

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  9. I love the dark purple of the Pittosporum next to the soft pink roses. So pretty!

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  10. I love both your vases this week - A Shropshire Lad is such a beautiful rose and those pale pink dahlia are lovely - are they Park Princess? It is so good to see that you have inspired your granddaughter - hopefully one day I will be able to do the same.

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    1. Hi Julie, I'm not sure of the name...I had it as a cutting from the Horticultural Club...An exhibitor gave us his 'spare cuttings'...I shall ask around. It is quite pale, and is getting paler as the season progresses. It is quite a tall cultivar, so I do not think it is Park Princess, though it is very similar. I think with the lower growth, I would prefer Park Princess. Maybe you could recommend some other shorter dahlias for the smallish garden.

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    2. Julie, somehow there is a problem linking to your blog...

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