In a Vase on Monday - WI flowers

Wednesday last week was a milestone in the WI.  Last Wednesday was our 100th Birthday, and the day of our monthly meeting.  I only just 'remembered' about half an hour before  leaving for our meeting, that we had agreed to 'dress up', and take a nice tea cup, saucer and plate!  What prompted me?  Hubby was watching the early evening news and I heard some local article in the distance.  I made the 'dressing up', gathered our everyday white Wedgewood China, and the little vase full of flowers for the Chairman's table.

Isn't that a lovely tradition?  Each month we have volunteers who make up a bouquet for the table, and also a posy for each person who has a birthday.  Sometimes one person volunteers to make both, or either the table flowers or the birthday posies.  I had agreed to step in to help out someone who was on the rota for the table flowers, but who could not make the meeting.  She was at Denman doing 'goldwork'.  I think Kay must have been on every Goldwork course since the year dot!  This was what I managed to pick quickly from the garden last Wednesday.

Of course there has to be two sides, so that the members have a nice view as well as the Chairman.

In this little Caithness Vase were leaves from Carex comans Bronze Form, which grows so well in the garden, and I usually have lots of little seedlings to give away, some lovely marjoram seed heads, some late flowering Lavender, the three asters as below, Coreopsis Sunfire, Rudbekia Goldstrum, Lysunachia clethroides also known as Gooseneck Loosestrife.  I had dead headed this a few weeks ago and it is paying me off with more blooms, and lastly a little spring of golden leaved Feverfew.

Our speaker cancelled at short notice and Victoria who has master minded and runs the Tree House Bookshop in Kenilworth, stepped in to give us an excellent talk on Vermeer, and the way he portrayed Women in the domestic sphere.  Dr Meir is a specialist in Art History of this period, but also a well loved and respected 'local'.  By the way a lovely yellow silk jacket/blouse the colour of the rudbekia turns up in several of Vermeer's paintings!

But this is In a Vase on Monday, so here is today's bouquet.

Picked again, as last week, in the pouring rain, I am happy with this medium sized arrangement.  The Vase is a rectangular one, which I picked up from an artist at the Cotswold Show in Cirencester back in the 1990's.  The shape was quite unusual then, but now it is everywhere.  There is a nice design etched on it, so even when empty is usually stays out somewhere.  Yes I can say this is still a WI arrangement.  The reason is that I ought to have brought one of the birthday posies home to give the following day to Pat who lives just round the corner from me.  She was out for the day to visit Lincoln, so I slipped the mag through her door, with a promise of a posy from the garden this week, when we got back from our weekend away.  As she called me back to say thank you and was particularly complementary about my flowers, I thought maybe this bouquet would do.

The pink feathers from the flamingos at Coton manor have a similar colour to the dahlias, which came to me as a rooted cutting earlier this year from the gardening club.  With some raindrops still on the petals of the daisies: Aster frikartii Monch, King George, and the smaller flowered one from my friend Penny.

 The pink sedum, I believe is Autumn Joy, and some stems of Rhamnus alaternus argenteovariegata complete the arrangement. Once I have finished this post, I shall take the arrangement round to Pat's.

Cathy is making sure that we think about the warm and sunny days this month with her arrangement, so as an antidote to this pink and mauve arrangement do go and enjoy hers, and see what other Vase on a Monday contributors are posting.