In a Vase on Monday - Rose Grace

Another week and another vase, a little routine is soothing, and I shall be anchoring this post to Cathy's.  Others will also be sheltering there, so for a little calming distraction, do go there to look at other vases of garden flowers. Just by coincidence Cathy has a 'nautical' inspired post, so whether you are anchoring against being blow way by the wind, or seeking refuge in a safe port, may you find moments of calm this week.

 If Grace can withstand the rains and winds then she deserves to make this week's vase.  I have posted vases with Grace as late as December, but there are not many more buds forming at present, maybe because we have been lacking in Sunshine.  Here against the yellow lampshade the blushes on the outer petals shows up nicely.

The Arum Italicum is showing nicely in the shady border, and the sedum is on its last legs.  Over the stormy period I have watched as  gusts tug at and cast the many petals like confetti, but now is the time to bring a few of the last buds indoors.

In a Vase on Monday - Party Games

 Firstly:  here is my vase this Monday.  I watched the strong winds and rains bash the garden, and like Cathy last week, I decided to go out and cut all the flowers off my two new rose bushes during a lull in the rain Sunday morning.  I have had so many blooms this autumn, there were just a few blooms left this month, and I had been hoping to keep them a little longer.

  This week again Cathy too has picked roses from a December garden and celebrates 'getting to know your garden'.  With our paths now complete and being free draining I can venture out between showers and being a small garden and see almost to every tiny bit of the garden.  An alternative is of course to check out via Cathy's blog the lovely blooms and foliage from other contributors from around the World.

The foliage is left over from a party game.....

It was Henton and District  Horticultural Club's Christmas Party last Wednesday.  During a committee meeting a few months back when we were discussing ideas for the party, I put forward the idea of a game which I had first experienced a few years ago at the Warwick Tree Warden's party.  There we had far more twigs of trees to identify in the ready made arrangement.

With all the weeks of In a Vase on Monday under my belt, I worked out a slightly different format, and the practicalities were discussed and fine tuned over the last couple of months during committee meetings. 

Sally Gregson and I walked round her winter garden , trying out material and by the time we arrived at the potting shed I had a rather lovely arrangement of items in my hand.  We took these to the committee meeting to which all of us had brought interesting foliage and berries, if we could spare about ten to allow for all the tables to have one stem. My contribution was variegated Ivy.  I thought it would be a good idea to whittle down the numbers to the best twelve representing the 12 days of Christmas.

Here are just the left overs crammed into the handiest pot on my kitchen counter.

We decided to decorate the tables in the Hall with the material loose laid...of course our members had no idea that we were have this game, but in the meantime admired the novel 'not in a vase' decorations which even in this state would have been quite lovely as they were,  for any party or meal.  We did give out the warning of no eating of berries, and please wash hands before supper!

With one of each of the items, the table as a whole were asked to make up an arrangement...ribbon,  raffia, and tall empty jam jar provided. (Hartleys Jam jars saved over from the Harvest Festival Party arrangements).  The second part of the game was for the table, working as a team, to identify and  name the items.......They all laughed when I said that more than four or five latin names meant they we would have some candidates to act as substitute speakers in the situation that one of ours doesn't turn up or is late.  

Golden Privet: Ligustrum ovalifolium aureum

Pittosporum Tenuifolium Variegatum

Wisteria Seed Pods: Floribunda Alba...

Rosehips Rosa Seagull

Rudolfs Antlers     Horse Chestnut Aesculus Hippocastanum

Hazel: Corylus Avellana 

The black berries of Winter Box: Sarcococca hookeriana humilus

Pine Pinus Wallichiana.........................which is with Grace in my arrangement

Salvia seed heads

Cotoneaster: Aviestdonum Diana (Bird's Gift to Diana)...a seedling arrived you know how Thanks to Google for the Latin!

Skimmia 

Variegated Ivy Hedera Helix Variegata

The following day a couple of members living locally took all the arrangements to Wells Nursing Home in the Village.  Another excellent idea which came about as a result of pooling ideas during our committee meeting.

In a Vase - Three Graces

Its not that roses have fallen from favour, its just that there were no roses in my new garden.  The rose I missed the most was Grace.....I have won prizes with Grace,  and even picked Grace at Christmas Time.  Of all the roses I grew in my last garden, Grace was consistently my favourite.

I also loved Ghislaine de Feligonde, and Mr S Open Arms...and I had taken a few cuttings of these two, and have one of each well rooted here in the garden now.  Ghislaine de Feligonde is a perfect match in a vase with Grace, and as I write this, I have come up with the perfect spot in the garden to plant Ghislaine which was taken out of its pot and positioned temporarily in the ground last autumn.

I had planned on ordering bare rooted plants and planting them this winter, but when I read Cathy's blog about her new roses arriving from David Austin...I knew what I had to do.  Life is too short now, and I want to get the bed by the Conservatory planted up.  It will be a mixed bed.  The plants were ordered on Monday, and arrived around lunch time Wednesday, and planted in the afternoon...probably less than 48 hours in their box...that's smart logistics for you.

This morning the small damaged side shoots were just picture perfect:  I give you Three Graces...well three stems of Rose Grace.

The rose bushes arrived by courier and here they are ready to be opened.

Cleverly packaged with just some plastic tape, to hold the plant pot steady and upright...

The two rose bushes are having as good start as possible: a large and bountiful hole was dug, with plenty of compost added, well watered, with a sprinkling of David Austin Rose Food, and some fairy dust....then more mulch all around.  

They may be small now, but will have plenty of time to send out good roots and get established well before the winter.  Then next year they will be ready to romp ahead.

A few hours later this morning, the blooms are unfurling...and outside the plants had an additional good shower of rain.

Thank you Mr Austin and thank you Cathy.

In a Vase on Monday - Grace

My little apprentice has taken up The Vase Challenge again now the school holidays are here...home made vases and daisies, and butterflies too.

This week Cathy's Vase is a blaze of colour, she just kept adding more and more..and turned up all sixes.  Do go over there and see the wide variety of flowers and from there vases from far and wide.

After a severe prunning a few weeks ago, Grace is looking bonny again.  I love that apricot colour contrasting nicely with  pale green leaves.  In the vase, to 'support' grace in more ways than one, are some stems of Leycesteria Formosa Golden Lanterns.  The Lanterns have started to have purple berries, and to complement them, I popped in a few stems of Sedum Purple Emperor still in bud,and  a piece of floppy euphorbia.  I'm not sure which it is.  It self seeds around the garden, is a little prone to mildew, and is often cut down with the expectation of fresh purple leaves within a couple of weeks.  It may be amygdaloides purpurea, but I would welcome suggestions.

 Finally a couple of fern leaves which don't really show up well in this picture: Athyrium Noponicum, and Athyrium Otophorum 'Okanum', which either have a purple stem or purple bits.

It is now getting so hot that the only room to put flowers in where they will last more than a day or so is the north facing living room.  I posed the flowers with some shells which I have had for many years.  The large one is almost the same colour as the rose, my mother had this Triton Trumpet Shell up on her pelmet for many years.  Its one of my many lovely treasures.  I made up this vase a couple f days ago, when I got up early to cut the flowers, and I knew we would be lolling around Saturday and Sunday and could enjoy this one over the weekend.  Monday morning is a bit of rush for me

June Garden Update

It been a rather strange year weather wise...and over the last few days we have had some torrential downpours, where within ten minutes our patio has been under water, but ten minutes after it has stopped raining, everything is clear again.  We have had hail too, and some of the delicate blooms are battered and bruised.

Starting at the bottom of the garden in the shady area, I've left the wild yellow poppies to do their thing.  They start to flower early in the season, and the bees love them.

Just up from the gazebo the Valeriana Officinalis is in full bloom, and the scent fills the garden.

The flowers are perfumed and stand above the other plants on their tall wiry stems.  Close up, you can not only appreciate their beauty but the complexity of their structure.

The roses are doing particularly well this year.  Ghislaine de Feligonde

Princess Anne with its lovely glossy and healthy leaves, somewhat overwhelmed by the Astrantia.  Once it has finished flowering, I shall be splitting it up, and replanting as as to give the rose a little more space.

Grace, which having first been grown in a pot for two years, is not spending her third year in the garden, surrounded by love in the mist!

and Munstead Wood with its glorious maroon many petaled blooms:

The climbing rose are all doing well but need to be tied back and have their summer prune ready for the next flush of flowers.

This is a plant given to me by my friend Diane last year: Stachys Byzantina or Lamb's ears, and it is just coming into flower

I bought a collection of Penstemons last year, but this is one I was given by the Handyman at my last place of work.  It flowers its socks off each year, however hard I cut it.

I've had two superb foxgloves in the garden this year, and most likely there are big bumble bees visiting in between all the showers, or even taking refuge in the blooms:

I love this pale pink poppy.  I got it from Waitrose last year but I think the label is somewhere in the garden.

After flowering early on the year, the Fothergilla gardenii Blue Mist is living up to its name with its lovely blue green leaves:

In this pot I have collected some offshoots of some little plants and they are coming on nicely:

In the front of one border, I'm pleased to see that the Hardy Fuchia Tom West is showing some pretty colours.  I shall be taking some cuttings of this.  Over the years I seem to like one plant over another, and this year I have increased my little collection of Hardy Fuchias, after a talk at the gardening club.

I'm growing them in pots this year, and love the way the light shows up the stems on this one:

In a Vase

I used to love joining in with Cathy for in a Vase on Monday...but then things got hectic, and it was easier to just look at the flowers in the garden, maybe cut for the odd vase, without taking pictures and posting.  I have, when time has permitted looked at what others have come up with.  This week Cathy's vase was very cool and calm.

Last week I visited a Friend's Open Studio event, and when she said how much she loved my vases which I put up on my facebook page,  this revived my spirits, and yesterday when I went out to deadhead the flowers, I came in with some, perhaps too many.

The apricot coloured rose Grace is doing beautifully, as is the very dark red rose Munstead Wood.  I've had many blooms on the climbing Etoile de Hollande, and now fully deadheaded and fed, I hope it gathers itself for another good show in a few weeks time.

As well as blooms I am also really attracted to the seed heads.  This year the self seeded acquligia have performed beautifully, so I thought to include their seed heads, and one from the Patty Plum poppy,

This has been the first year in which this poppy has bloomed, but I am not sure I like the colour of the bloom, or it may be better moved to another part of the garden with different coloured plants around it.

Then I spied that the love in the mist was going to seed, and its red stripe picked up the red of the rose.

I had been working hard at dead heading the centaurea, but must have missed some, as in the evening, we had gold finches visit and eat the seeds.  It was a delightful sight, so I may leave a clump just for them.  Also in the vase is alchemilla mollis, and a stem of yet to flower sedum, a clump of which was subjected to a late Chelsea Chop.

The astrantia continue to delight me, and the bees and hover flies too!

I realise that by making up a vase on a regular basis one does develop a certain elegant style.  After a break, looking at the pictures now, I realise that I picked too much, and could have done better.  However better to do than not do at all!

In a Vase on Monday - Paradox?

Cathy is runs this meme was still up for this despite being away from home.  Her entry is really beautiful and reminded me of the pale moonlight nights we have been enjoying.

This word: Paradox has been like a word worm in my head every since Christmas Eve...maybe my mind is in a bit of a scramble, and I haven't quite used it right, but with the other wormword: dilemma, I have reached the situation, where I shall post late ....

Whenever there is a full moon I seem to feel a little 'strange'...and surely I felt that the night was not quite right as I wondered to the back of the house and looked out, and saw the garden absolutely bathed in light, with strong moon shadows.  A huge clear moon was in the sky. Probably the most rational explanation is that when there is a little light around I don't seem to sleep so well.  But I have felt really well, full of energy, happiness and have been out for lots of walks.  I do have really thick curtains with blackouts, but I just seem to sense the light!

Then there is the warm weather...when its my birthday it is really supposed to be cold and frosty...but it is so warm, that we have had to remove the winter duvet and revert to much lighter bedclothes.

When its my birthday the florists are still usually closed if a bank holiday is declared in lieu, and I have no flowers at all...but there are roses still in the garden.

I could have posted this yesterday....but I had other things to do.  I had thought of having a 'holiday'...its such a strange time.  Everyone seems to be 'resting' up after the big day...so today I went out and cut some roses, again a couple of stems of Grace, and there are similarities between my arrangement and our meals...using left overs, and adding salady things etc.  I added some white crocheted 'snowflakes' when the vase was in the living room to remind us of what it ought to be like outside.

So I give you my Paradox:  Roses in the middle of Winter from a British Garden together with the left overs from last week's arrangement.  I use the meaning of Paradox as 'combining contradictory features or qualities':  Summer Roses with winter berries and heathers, here with the Christmas Tree in the foreground, just to prove that this is not a joke picture taken in the summer with red plastic berries.

In a Vase on Monday - Now it is Grace's Turn

Last week it was Princess Margareta's turn...this week it is Grace's.  Grace would have looked really elegant on the catwalk...and she did become a Princess.

I have been watching the rose bush Grace, in the bed just by the patio, and have been wondering for the last few weeks, whether it was time to do a first prune.  That is the prune to cut longish growths that when caught by winds tends to cause the rose tree to loosen in the earth.  Our garden is very well sheltered, and I have been hanging back on this.  Now I am rewarded..those rose buds are starting to open, and today I have three stems for an arrangement.  I can hardly believe it...it is so close to Christmas.

Towards the end of the garden I have a Cornus Sanguina Midwinter Fire, which has bounced back from its severe pruning this spring.  I have since read that it is advisable not to overprune this one!

When I got in inside I realised that the stems are both red and yellow..I think they are red on the lighter side of the shrub.

Then I added the three stems of Rose Grace

and as I zoomed into the picture found that I had brought in a ladybird.

Then just to prove that it is really winter...added some of the Variegated Holly

Cathy who hosts this meme is casting her spell again, so do go over and have a peep!

Just smelling the roses

Its nearly the end of October, its dark when hubby arrives home from work, so I pick the roses to scent our home.  I am also so pleased that the squirrel is eating things other than my rose buds!

Today a big bunch again of Etoile de Hollande

 And a few Grace stems.  I see picking roses at this stage as dead heading three days early.

My June Garden

I love roses, and this year have a few more, as a result of planting some bare root bushes from David Austin last November.  I don't feel that they have all done that well, but with the very heavy rain, lack of frosts, and hot weather, I shall forgive them.  A couple have yet to flower, but buds promise some later flowers.  The first flush is well and truly nearly over, helped by the exceedingly heavy rain storms over a couple of days.  Of course we needed the rain but even the carnations had their buds whacked off by heavy raindrops.

This is the first flower from Crown Princess Margareta, it is very similar in colour to the much smaller Ghislaine de Feligonde nearby.

This is Gertrude Jekyll, the scent is heavenly, but the bush is a little small, so I have removed all the flowers, and hope the plant will grow more strongly.  I think I shall move this a little nearer the front of the border .  I envisaged it growing into a shrub/climber, but I wonder whether it is grafted onto different root stocks.  I now know the answer as I broke from writing this to phone up David Austin, and the rootstock is exactly the same.

This is a close up of the climber A Shropshire Lad.  It has made some strong shoots and the flowers are really fine, and were not much spoilt by the rain.

Munstead Wood has the deepest red flowers, and a very good scent.  The bush is clean and very healthy.  Sadly the climber Etoile de Hollande is covered with black spot, and also Grace is looking a little poorly.  I hope a feed and some Epsom Salts will help them continue a little better this season.

Princess Anne with its shinny glossy leaves, but with lots of thorns, is a real show stopper.

I've had Open Arms for a few years now, its towards the end of the garden, and with its single flowers, a favorite for the bees and hover flies.

My clematis Comtesse de Bouchard is in full flower

This morning during a couple of hours weeding I had time to consider some of the changes I want to make to the garden for next year.  I was on my hand and knees on the stones preparing some patches to plant out some new thymes.  We had been to the National Herb Centre on Sunday, and I bought three plants as 'consolation' for not getting some ferns when I ought to have done from Upton House.  The Herb Centre is not far from Upton House, and we had toured the garden which was looking superb, but did not feel like walking back after our picnic to tour the house.  I enjoyed looking around, whilst Mr S looked over the various vintage cars parked up, and then a snooze!  If I enjoy looking around a nursery, I inevitably end up spending some of my pocket money, even though the garden is really overstocked.  I am sure that I am not the only one who plays little games to validate their spending...mine is that each time I pick some flowers for a little posy, or an arrangement or give a bunch of flowers to someone, or give a present of propagated plants, I offset this against my treats of new plants!

I already have a couple of very low growing thymes in the stones, and some others in the borders.  They do well here, and again loved by the bees.

The garden is well sheltered, and as I worked a wonderful smell was wafting around.  I traced it to a small clump of Valerian.  I bought a small pot a couple of years ago from our Kenilworth in Bloom Sale, and the rain seems to have brought it on.  I've read that it is apt to attract cats, can't say that I have seen any, though they would be shooed out of the garden it they did come.  And some say that the scent is not too pleasant, and elsewhere that extracts of the flowers were used as perfume in the sixteenth century.  Isn't scent such a personal thing?

In the more shady area of the garden I have a few ferns coming on: Athyrium Niponicum, which I bought on holiday to Frome

A small fern, the name is lost, which I bought when on holiday in the Lake District.  It has faltered for a couple of years in the ground so I have put in a small pot..

This one just grew in a pot which was planted up with succulents.  It was 'under' a suspended fern which had long hairy roots, name gone, plant gone.  I've separated it out, and planted it in a very characterful pot which Penny brought for me recently.  We could not work out what it was used for, but it had looked as if candles had been burnt in it.

For some reason only the white love in the mist plants  seem to have germinated from last year's seeds, and there were no white flowers last year...often the little pops ups around the garden give me great delight...if they do not. they get pulled out!