Flowers at the start of August - In a Vase on Monday

Today is another very hot day, and we haven't had rain for weeks and weeks.  The range of flowers is minimal as plants dry to a crips, but I have been watering a few, and others seem to have been quite resilient.  I am joining with Cathy who came to start this weekly Monday get together on her blog, a fair number of years ago.

This week's arrangement is in the Caithness vase and by its side is the little crystal watering can which I have used many times before.  It signifies that watering is needed to keep the flowers alive. The little trio of seed head rounds are from seeds I purloined during my holiday from a plant with very red stems which I believe are from Lunaria annua 'Chedglow'.  

I wanted to feature the Amni majus, which I have grown for the first time. I have been watching the Amni at every stage loving it from its green frothy foliage stage right up to flowering. It came to me as small plants sent over from Ben, Maggie's son: both are keen gardeners.

The cosmos were a mixed bag of seed, and there are several forms including this sea shell form.  

The achillea Lilac Beauty is somewhat bleached, but still goes nicely with the other colours.  The regular IAVOM gang know that I like seed heads, and looking rather elegant are the seed heads of Betonica officinalis 'Alba', and Teucrium hiranicum. In the background but not easily seen is a leaf from  Japanese aralia 'Tsumugi-shibori' or Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web'

When I went to take back a couple of library books I came across 'Hortobiography' by Carol Klein. I was a little ambivalent about Carol Klein, and having read her book, mainly during our holiday away last week, I am now off the fence and will be looking out for other books, and perhaps searching for some of the TV programs she presented. I wouldn't have bought the book, but as it was one I could borrow from our local library, I am pleased to have read it. I also took some notes.  We are so lucky to still have free to borrow libraries, unless you reserve a book from a different library, for which there is a small fee.

 There is much about her life here, and interesting from a socio historic point of view. 

In a Vase on Monday - 13 July 2026

I am staying calm even if I am in a pickle!  That is what posting on IAVOM can do to be. It was Cathy's great invention and I say many thanks for this weekly habit, my contribution this week may be described as 'snippets'. It was a delight a couple of days ago to pick some lovely calendula and therein lies one of  the sources of my worries.

Accompanying the lovely pale cream calendulas in this week's vase is the grass Phalaris arundinacea var. picta which I love to call Gardener's garters.  The elephant also thinks it is too hot!

The seed was a gift received in the post from a blogging friend.  This year I was grateful to received seed from three friends. After sowing the seed, I must have discarded the envelope, what it you Cathy? If so, let me know, and would like to say thanks to you.  

Close up of Calendula from gifted seed

What is not to like about receiving seed and growing something that has been hand harvested and then sown again?  

These little violas/pansies are the smallest but still cute flowers from a garden cross seed which just found a little place to grow, either moved by the ants in the garden or just ejected to lie dormant in the soil. They were all from the same plant. I recently picked up this heavy cut glass vase from a local charity shop, and the watering can is a crystal miniature which once belonged to my mother, and I use it as a prop to indicate that we are in a drought situation and some plants need to be rescued with a little water.  I don't bother watering the violas as I now feel confident there is an abundant seed bank in the soil, and they will re-emerge as new plants when the conditions are right. They are all naturally pollinated so none will be similar

What a week we have had: it has been very hot and very dry, and today we awoke to strong winds and scorching sun by mid morning, which meant when opening windows early to try and cool the house we have a layer of dessicated pieces of grass and other plant material settle on everything in the rooms  at the back of the house!  I had to do shopping and go out to Knit and Natter, but Monday is Mr S's cleaning day, and I returned to a home put back in order: all ship shape.

I'm currently reading Mr & Mrs Disraeli: A strange Romance by Daisy Hay. I am pleased I picked this book following our visit to Hughenden back in May this year.  I thought I would read one of Disraeli's novels which are put into context in Hay's book as being the way Disraeli put into writing thinly veiled observations of his day and also trying to portray his own social and political thoughts and observations. I may yet choose one.  I am part way through this novel and it gives a good overview of society at that time. 

N is for Nasturtium

Hurrah it is Nasturtium time.  I knew it was time to feature some in a vase, as yesterday whilst having breakfast Mr S mentioned the vibrant red display at the end of the path.  I didn't see red but an orange, and when I questioned him he said it was on the plant I sometimes use in salads.  I knew it just had to be the nasturtiums for this week's vase. 

The seeds were kept from last year which I was pleased that I did.  Usually nasturtium seeds overwinter, but for the first time, none came up in the garden, and I started these in pots.  The original seed came from my friend Carolyn's old garden.  She has just moved to her new house after being in temporary accommodation of over a year and ought to ask her if she would like some seed back.

Although not obligatory, the Queen of this weekly get together Cathy always has a story: this week Cathy pays a tribute to her mother. This post will be linked into hers as will others.

I had a root around in an effort to find the old printers' block made of wood with the letter N. The ginkgo leaves which are the same as the ones posted a couple of weeks ago and are still fresh and a similar green to the nasturtium leaves.  My mind then wandered to things Japanese and the beautiful Japanese paintings of nasturtiums.  

As for books, it is along with the post on flowers that I sometimes show what I have been reading.

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon is excellent, and also enjoyed by Mr S. It is the second book by Ariel Lawhon for the book club, the first  being The Frozen River. The Outrun by Amy Liptrot isn't a book club book, and I love its sense of place, the story too.  I would love to visit those far away islands but somehow they are too far away, I had a good sense of place from Liptrot's narrative. As for The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr, I wanted more hours in the day but also wanted it to continue.....

Interesting online read:

Just a short quote from the article about Nasturtiums from the site of Isabella Stewart Gardner.  I'll be spending the hot afternoon exploring this amazing Museum, of course without having to put my foot out of the door.

It received its common name “nasturtium”—which in Latin translates to “nose-twister”—from Renaissance botanists due to its peppery flavor and spicy fragrance similar to watercress (Nasturtium officinale). 

In a Vase on Monday - The Florist Roses - 25 May 2026

It is really hot today, and after getting up early and throwing open the windows just to refresh the house, before closing them and the blinds and curtains on the sunny side of the house, which normally happens just after breakfast, I went for my usual early morning tour of the garden.  The first roses are fully out on the four Home Florist Rose Shrub collection with a lot more buds to come.  Early this morning I picked three one each from 'Timeless Pink', 'Timeless Cream' and 'Timeless Charisma'.

Rose Home Florist in a Vase

These remind me of my Parents who grew in addition to all their tropical plants and flowers, rose trees and the roses were a great attraction for bouquets in the tropics.  My father was a botanist entomologist and plant pathologist and run the growing side of things, whilst my mother was the business woman and florist, helped of course by a number of talented people. 

I myself favour the more relaxed form of domestic gardening and flower arranging.  When I was once looking at the rose bouquets from David Austen and saw 'Florist type roses' rather than their more floppy stemmed varieties, I thought they also sold those type of rose trees, it got me searching, but their roses for their bouquets are sourced from Kenya, so loads of air miles! A  few years ago the 'Timeless Collection' came to my attention, and their blooms really are like the long tall stemmed roses you buy as cut flowers. In bud and open too, they are superb, and the rose shrubs strong and healthy. To get the large terminal rose I find that a little disbudding helps.  I used to love helping my dad do this job on the flowers destined to be used as cut flowers.

These roses with strong thornless stems are in a large white jug, together with Sedum Hylotelephium  erythrostictum 'Frosty Morn', aka 'Alison's sedum', and some flowers from an unnamed heuchera. The heuchera has pretty leaves too, but not featured here. Since it so hot I have included the old elephant and my Mum's little crystal watering can.

Yesterday was definitely a 'getting out the deckchair day'. I has worked in the garden till lunch time, and afterwards started on my current Reading group book: apt really as it called The Gardener.  This month's book was my choice.  I do like her style of writing, topics and have read several of her other books.  Even only three chapters in I love it.

The previous two book were also interesting and worth reading: The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas and The Names by Florence Knapp.

I'm linking this with Cathy's post called 'Stately Spanish Galleon': the creator of 'In a Vase on Monday'.

In a Vase on Monday - 15 December 2025

After clearing the table quickly this afternoon, I took a picture of this little posy even as the light was starting to lessen.  We are not far off the winter solstice and soon the days will be getting longer again. A few years ago, when we first moved to Somerset, one of the IAVOM ladies realised that I was not far away and introduced herself. Since then Alison and I meet up several times a year, and today Alison came to lunch.

Posy for Alison

Can you believe it that I felt it was more important to pick a little posy for our lunch table than it was to get changed!  Anyway I apologised as Alison stepped through the front door, and she graciously allowed me a couple of minutes to change.

In the posy are five early flowering snowdrops all from one clump, some pale pink and darker cerise cyclamen coum, for foliage I have used some Pittosporum Tom Thumb, and some of the lovely soft green leaves of Corydalis ochroleuca which self seeds gently around the garden.  I first saw this plant in Alison's garden and it was from her that I got my first plant. At present I can't locate the label for these snowdrops but what I can say I haven't had these ones flowering so early before. 

I like stones, and at a local Calligraphy exhibition picked up these three beautifully decorated stones,  even though they have been on the table for several months, because they are suitable coloured, they are my nod to Christmas decorations

I had made a soup new to me and also a Pecan Pie which I have never made before. .  I love the flavour of pecans, and also maple syrup, and after two elegant servings you can see what is left.

On flower themed books, I have enjoyed The Book of Garden Flowers with the artwork by Angie Lewin and the text by Christopher Stocks.

On a more serious note, but one I would also recommend is Stuck Monkey: The deadly planetary cost of the things we love by James Hamilton-Paterson.  This book was on display when I last went to my local library.  I thought this would be a book I would dip into, and skim or speed read sections, but how wrong was I.  It was a page turner and an eye opener!  I was half way to understanding many of the aspects James Hamilton-Paterson was covering, but I learnt so much more.

Stuck Monkey  by James Hamilton-Paterson

I am linking in with Cathy the creator of In a Vase on Monday. 

The addition of books is just my own idea: a way of my keeping a record but by no means to I show all the books I read!

 

In a Vase on Monday

We had some hard frosts on Thursday and Friday nights and since we were to be away, I decided to pull most of the remaining Alstromeria Indian Summer and leave them in a vase to arrange on our return.  It is a good job I did that as the remaining blooms outside bear the scorch of the frost and even Persicaria Red Dragon which I was going to use for today's vase were damaged.  

The vase is a hand painted tankard which my sister brought as a present when she went to teach in France as part of her degree.  I think she lived in Rouen.

A few weeks ago I started to show the arrangements of seedheads from the garden. This week another vase on the other side of this table is full of dried seed heads: this time they are those of Phlomis fruticosa 'Bourgaei'.

Phlomis fruticosa 'Bourgaei' seed heads

Round this vase are a few of the shells that I collected years ago when I was a child and a lovely stone bird whistle which was a present years ago again from my sister.

I'm taking a sabbatical from my book group and  catching up with reading my own pile of books.  As you may have gathered from previous posts I do like rocks and pebbles, and I may have mentioned that I also admire the artist Annie Lewin's art. I've had The Book of Pebbles on my book shelf for some time, and enjoyed reading through that recently.  The book is beautifully illustrated with a generous amount of Angie Lewin's illustrations.  

I'm linking in this post with Cathy's whose inspiration and creativity is a pleasure to follow, and linked in will be other vases from gardens, so well worth linking it to view. 

In a Vase on Monday - 25 August 2025

Neither the garden nor this arrangement bears close scrutiny but it does give a colourful accent to the end of the mantlepiece. For more lovely vases of garden flowers the place to visit is 'Rambling in the Garden' by our leader Cathy.

Growing the nasturtium plants has been a bit of a challenge given the amount of watering they are needing.  The variety was unknown and have come out very varied, I guess that they were grown from home collected seed.  They have clubs up at the Bishop's Palace to teach children about growing and I surmise these were from such an activity.   The Dahlias were from plants bought recently whilst on a visit to East Lambrook Manor.  Some Aster Monch, a few twigs of a marjoram and Pseudodictamnus acetabulosus.

I've learnt a lot lessons from this year's gardening, and can now understand 'Fail to prepare, prepare to fail'! My orepartion this year also needs to be scrutinised, lessons learnt notes, and timely plans for sowing, growing, planting etc put into place. Visiting some splendid gardens last week whilst we were on holiday gave me several ideas to add to my plans as well.

Tagging on this post here are two books not yet completed...

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon,  I would recommend, though it is a little long. The suspense is good, and sometimes I have to put it down, then read on but not at bedtime!  I can't understand why the cover picture of a woman in red running along the river has someone in modern dress when the book is set in the late 18th Century! I read some of the reviews on Good Reads where I log my reading, when I remember, and came across a poor review.  I am not saying that the reasons the person did not like it are not valid for her,  but from what I gather the person has listened to the book rather than having a hard copy in her hand.  From the book, where there is a map of the various settlements at the front, and an authors explanations at the end, which I always read before starting the book, this would have helped understand the story and its origins.  There are a great many characters, and as usual I have some scraps of paper where I write down the name of the person, their relationships and the page they appear on, as I cannot hold all this in my head these days.  When I was working and had overview of more than one site as head of Personnel, I was forever designing and using organisation charts, so maybe that is a system that works for me.

The general discussion at our WI book club has often commented on the different ways of accessing a book, and the value and use of each type colours our understanding for example those listening to a book are often doing other tasks and miss things, just as those who skip or speed read. When we come together it is interesting to hear how some audio books cope with different accents which in their turn enhance understanding.  Some of our members have busy lives, and travel or drive for many hours, and wouldn't otherwise have time to sit down and read a hard copy. 

I am currently reading two books: one novel and a book about Creepy Crawlies, which is excellent though the turn of phrases a little dated, but given the age of the book not unreasonable. I picked this up in the NT second hand book shop at Barrington Court a couple of weeks ago.  Mr S picked up the book, only a couple of days ago, and read a little and praised the style, pictures etc.  

My books almost always have slips of paper at different pages, with notes for further reading, or re reading etc.  

In a Vase on Monday - Monochrome

 This morning we woke up to an evenly grey sky with no billowing cumulus nimbus clouds, and like the other days where we were promised rain but got none, today I fear that wind will be the on the agenda as Storm Floris hits the north of the country, with lesser winds felt this far south. The Storm is called Floris, so quite apt to mention it as the name means flower or blossom.

To reflect the storm and the grey skies this week I chose again a monochromatic selection which I think for three or four days will form a shapely arrangement in our living room.

There are four elements in this Chinese Cloisonné vase.  Central are the spikey rosettes of Eryngium 'Silver Ghost', and soft velvety whorls of  Pseudodictamnus acetabulosus form a lovely contrast in texture, again the  Hylotelephium × mottramianum 'Herbstfreude' much more easily referred to as Sedum 'Autumn Joy' is a favourite even before it is showing any colour, and appearing for the first time in a bouquet the delightful still green seed heads of Corncockle.  

I only got to grow Corncockle this year as they had a tray of 9 small plants up at the Bishop's Palace, and I like to buy something as it raises funds for the garden.  As a cultivar is had the tiniest of pink purple flowers not at all as shown in some pictures, but it did have good height, and I am so pleased that that I did not grub them all up straight away.  The stems of the unripe seed heads are to me very attractive and the grey green colour a perfect element in this vase. When we were down in Kent a few weeks ago I saw the white form of Corncockle with larger blooms grown to great effect in Great Dixter and also at Sissinghurst

Unripe Corncockle seed head

With winds in mind, armed with my bucket of water I had headed outside this morning and picked a selection of material including some roses, as well as doing some dead heading. Although I could have used the roses and changed the mood of the first arrangement completely, they did not go to waste. Here they are on the sideboard in the dinning room in front of a sampler made by a very special person.

The most recent read from the book club is James by Percival Everett. I found it well written and worth reading, but must say in parts I didn't feel brave enough to read it as a bed time read, as I found the cruelty metered out too upsetting.

James by Percival Everett.

I am linking in the In a Vase on Monday post to Cathy's blog, where in contrast you will be able see the sweetest of colourful arrangements.

 

Flowers and Books

 Although I have been somewhat lax in joining the rendezvous for In a Vase on Monday, that is not to mean that flowers have not been cut and arranged.  They have however been just simple affairs, and could not be called 'arrangements' in any sense of the word.  The vases  just hold a few flowers which have either caught my attention, or needed to be cut as part of the management of the garden or plant.

In the first instance below, this vase has been sitting on the mantlepiece for a number of months.  This is a rather special vase to me and the twigs picked up from under a road side growing tree after the storms earlier this year.  They are from The Alder Tree and although bearing both male and female catkins on the same tree, these little cone like fruits are the remains of the female fruit. I am often pulled towards monochrome arrangements and this has to be a favourtie at the moment.

I'm a little behind in linking in my reading and the best book that I have read for a very long time, and a good pairing for this arrangement of the Alder, is How to Read a Tree by Tristan Gooley, of which this is an excellent review.

How to Read a Tree by Tristan Gooley

For my next arrangement only picked earlier today it is roses, stems from a couple of the Rose Home Florist Timeless Collection. No greenery seemed to match the rich green of the healthy leaves, so none was chosen. 

To go with this arrangement 

This was one of the two books we discussed at our last WI Book Club lunch meeting.  I quite liked this book, and felt the style and perhaps simplicity implied to me that it would be the second book the main character Marianne Clifford would write especially as it is written in the first person.  I would give it a four out of five, but would quite surprised that few others in the group liked it at all. 

With having to clear a bed of old growth partly to mulch and to allow new growth to emerge for another wave of flowering, I just popped a few saved stems into a little vase.  Blue and white make for a nice combination and up close the structure is exquisite. White  Centaurea Montana Alba and the Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue.

The second book we discussed was There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak.  What a beautiful book, and a great story linking people across different eras, backgrounds, and continents.  Our group apart from two who gave up about a third of the way in, really liked it, and with their encouragement, those two were encouraged to persevere and it will be interesting to hear how they got on at our next meeting. 

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak

Some time ago I enjoyed meeting Elif Shafak, and also hearing her at a book presentation at Kenilworth library, and have read at least two of her books.  I really would like to read more of hers.  

Early spring flowers In a Vase on Monday

 All morning it was gloomy, and I set off to walk to meet friends for Knit and Natter, and when I got back home, whilst I was boiling eggs for egg and cress sandwiches I went out to bit a few blooms.  There is no much in flower except for the cyclamen and snowdrops.

These cyclamen needed a dunking in a bowl of water as they were covered in little bits of soil formed when the heavy rain drops hit the soil. I also needed to find my smallest vase which needed me to climb up to rummage round the back of the top shelf in the cupboard when I store the vases.  

Cyclamen coum in a vase

They needed a little greenery, and these fern like leaves of Corydalis cheilanthifolia were just the right size and tone of green.  The seeds of both these plants have been spread by ants, with this corydalis now growing in cracks in the stone wall.

Just behind in another vase are several of the blooms from Galanthus Diggory which also needed a wash.  The heavy rain sodden blooms were almost touching the ground, no doubt the remaining ones in the garden will stand back up once we have a little drier weather. These snowdrops are easy to identify as they mature the petals stretch, then draw up the lower part of their seersucker petals giving a balloon shape. 

I've just finished reading Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.  Some time. probably around two years ago,  Mr S explained to our grand-daughter the antics that an Octopus got at Plymouth Marine Laboratory where he went to survey as part of his work.  We had not realised that she had taken it all in, so we were completely delighted to receive the book unexpectedly.  She had found it in a charity shop read it, and then posted it to 'Grampy'.  Mr S loved it, and having read it too, I can repeat this.

Another book, which I came across on a 'Charity Book Shelf' as I was depositing books a few weeks ago, was How to Read a Tree by Tristan Gooley.  I love trees and I couldn't have picked a better read. 

Every Monday these posts link into Cathy's post and from there, there are further links to other vases.  Why not join us?

Galanthus gracilis in a Vase on Monday

It took a bit of determination to go out and pick a few bits just after lunch, but here I am joining in with Cathy's weekly In a Vase on Monday.

On this very dark dismal and damp day the snowdrops show up in the garden.  One of the smallest snowdrops is Galanthus gracilis 'Vic Horton', and I had sufficient out this early flowering variety to be able to pick a little posy.  The leaves of this snowdrop are small and narrow with a little twist in them.  

This is a distinctive snowdrop not only because it is so small about a quarter of the height of Galanthus Colossus shown last week, but also with narrow glaucous leaves with a twist in them.  With two mark one below the ovary and a pair each side of sinus.  The ovary is more of an olive green.  Alongside the snowdrops in the very small vase, are pieces of the little shrub Lophomyrtus x ralphii 'Little Star'. The little three sided cut glass antique vase is half the height of the vase shown last week, was probably designed to hold a little bunch of violets.  

On the mantle shelf behind the snowdrops is an abalone and I have placed the two birds.  

Tomorrow is book club day when a few ladies meet for lunch and discuss our book for the month.  I have really enjoyed 'A Terrible Kindness' by Jo Browning Wroe.  An excellent debut novel. 

During Tennis Week: In a Vase on Monday

 Just how the subconscious works is a mystery to me.  On 'Doctor's orders' to save my voice, what very little whispery words remain, I have been relaxing and watching Wimbledon this past week.  For me to just relax is a tall order.  I promise I have watched a few matches, have spoken very little, but have also been reading...and baking...and gardening.  All those are relaxing activities for me.

Was it some deep seated subconscious thought that made me choose the green, purple and white colours of Wimbledon?  All I can say that it may just be coincidence that two plants growing near to each other shouted out to be included.

The self seeded Verbena bonariensis is growing  as  high as I would be able to reach with my racket, and I didn't have to run far to reach the drops of  Fuchsia Upright Delta's Sarah. Isn't this a successful mixed double team?

Another big coincidence is that I am reading Andre Agassi's Autobiography 'Open'.  

It was chosen several months earlier, and bought along with the three other titles.  I really thought what a strange choice at the time, as we have only read novels and had yet to branch to biographies. However we have two very keen tennis players amongst our midst, and choosing the autobiography of a tennis player was no surprise.  I was captured from the very start, and it has given me an insight into the regimes that professional tennis players go through, and it has certainly increased my enjoyment of Wimbledon this year. 

Wimbledon may be on for two weeks only, but IAVOM is a weekly affair, and Referee Cathy tosses the coin and starts us off.  However there is nothing adversarial, there are no winners, comments are generous and kind and there is no trophy.  The training starts early with gardens tendered, watered and cultivated to yield the blooms and foliage, and vases sought high and low, or just from the back of cupboard    

 

A Magnificent Scilla Peruviana In a Vase on Monday

Earlier today I was walking around Dryham Park with friends from our club's 'Bloomin Fun' Group, and before setting out the weather was very gusty and some rain, but it was glorious on the other side of the Mendips. The outing with lunch to follow on the way back put me in such a good mood, that I felt energised and went out to select a few stems of things from the garden to arrange for today's In a Vase on Monday. IAVOM is a creation of Cathy, and in this weekly blog several of us join in showing material from our gardens.

As I had been chatting with my friend Jane who is designing some new beds with grasses, I mentioned that I had a large clump of Carex Comans Bronze and when divided I would be able to offer her some clumps.  I therefore had to include a few snippets of this to help show off the bloom from Scilla Peruviana.  

Just to add a green note, I only needed to have one of the now very large leaves of the Arum italicum 'Marmoratum'. This vase, a Charity Shop acquisition from a few weeks ago, is heavy and can take the weight of this large bloom.  The Art Deco Black elephant is there to give a little balance.

Scilla Peruviana

Not long ago I read 'The Maid', and so enjoyed this I ordered the sequel 'The Mystery Guest' by Nita Prose.  It is quite a easy going style and read, and again if you enjoyed the Maid you will enjoy this.

I've been interested not surprisingly in food, how it eaten and prepared, its  rituals, and the changing landscape across the world and in time, for almost ever.  This book by Bee Wilson is very much about the sociology of  food availability,  inequalities, preparation, and the way different people eat, and the pressures on our time particularly in the last fifty years, which has meant far many more processed foods are being pushed and consumed, on the time spent preparing food and whether we eat as a family or not.  

I do remember 'works canteens' and was priviledged to eat lunch in some very good ones such as the one at Hambro Life as it was know in those days, where a 25p free luncheon voucher could buy such exotic main courses as grilled rainbow trout and almonds, usually on a Friday, plus veg and a pudding!  We had exactly the same menu as enjoyed by the Directors . Plus we had an hour to enjoy our lunches in groups or on our own. In the evenings a quick 'high tea' would see any spaces filled before going out.

In a Vase on Monday

 We have had so much rain, too much.  If it seems that many of my posts over the last few weeks or indeed months, have had such a 'wet' theme, it is because it has been the wettest autumn and winter I remember.  Local rivers have burst their banks, or overflowed and many properties nearby have been flooded. I wonder whether we shall have an ever longer record broken since the 'Wettest on record since 1890' as quoted in the Independent for the period July to December 2023. I feel particularly sorry for all the people and businesses that will have to go through the whole trouble of bailing out, clearing up and starting again, possibly after having only tackled the problem just a few weeks ago.

Am I using this as an excuse for my less than perfect flowers? It does explain the rain drops and the saturated snowdrop petals.  

With the mild weather snowdrops are nearly over, but the late flowerers deserve their moment on IAVOM.  Here Galanthus Sprite mainly on the left hand side show their markings on their blunt outer petals. with almost all green inner petals. They are waterlogged and the green markings faded on account of the lack of light since they emerged.

G. Marjorie Brown is a strong 'girl' with strapping grey green leaves, and robust flowers.  It would be quite amusing when they have increased to place a plant fairly close to G. Charlotte just to show the contrast in size!  Here against the Terracotta soldiers and high against the Tete a Tete daffs you can have an idea of size. 

The leaves at the base are from one Cyclamen hederifolium that I selected for leaf form.  

As usual I am joining in with Cathy, and wonder how people in other parts of England are fairing.  We also have gardeners in other parts of the World each having from time to time their own weather and environmental challenges to face. 

I have mentioned any books for some time, and yes I have been reading.  In January my book club's choice.  Two of us gave this book a very high rating, but the rest of those who had completed it had lower ratings.  If you already have this book or can borrow it from your library, I was say read it, and it would be interesting to hear what you make of it.  Everyone thought it was well written. I really liked it

My current read for the club is 'The Maid' by Nita Prose.  This has been a page turner for me, but I am slowing down as I don't want it to end.  I have just a couple of chapters to read.  Again on Good Reads I see there are some severe criticisms. I would answer those on that forum, but I would rather be reading for myself, baking, blogging, arranging flowers etc.