Monday, 16 November 2015

In a Vase on Monday - A little late in the season

Its a little late in the season to be picking roses, and I had not expected to find much at all in the garden.  It was not until the afternoon that I felt able to go into the garden to look around...



The rambler Ghislaine de Feligonde with her buds and small flowers has come through gales and heavy rains, with still a few pretty stems.  I love the way that the colour changes during the year, and there are purple blotches on the leaves, which appear to be an autumn colouring rather than a disease.  This inspired me to pick a few of the heads from sedum, and a spring of Lophomyrtus x ralphii Black Pearl, and a few leaves from my latest Hardy native everygreen fern Polypodium vulgare, whose spots of purple spores echo the contrasting theme.



The leaves may have finally been stripped off the trees, with many lying on the bed of heathers and conifers on the front garden, but I have this little vase to bring a little solace.  We were away in Cambridge when we heard about the dreadful atrocities in France, and this was very much in our thoughts, and we joined in with the prayers of the congregation as we attended Evensong at Kings College Cambridge.


Cathy has managed to post what I think is my favourite arrangement so far...so graceful, so elegant, so do go and let me know if you agree with me.
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10 comments:

  1. Donna@Gardens Eye View16 November 2015 at 19:06

    I am over joyed to keep finding roses in my garden too....I love the apricot rose in your vase this week.

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  2. Hannah16 November 2015 at 19:14

    I have Ghislaine also, Noelle, she is one of the tough survivors from my earlier days of collecting Old Garden Roses, still blooming for me too. I like the color of the new blooms best while they are still an apricot color, and your burgundy Sedum flowers and Black Pearl leaves complement them so beautifully. I feel like flowers are a solace from these tragic events too. I like your Chinese soldier prop, it speaks to me of the relentless march of human history.

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    1. Stasher17 November 2015 at 15:17

      Thanks Hannah, I picked up the Soldier when we visited the tombs in China many years ago, and I agree with you about Ghislaine. I find the colour is strong when there is little sun, and also early and late in the year...I love the fact that it is so variable.

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  3. Anonymous16 November 2015 at 21:31

    The blooms are all from the same rose are they Noelle? Aren't they pretty - and the vase is a lovely shape too which will always help to create a balanced arrangement. I am not sure I have got anything that shape. I wonder if the Paris atrocity is another incident where we will always remember where we were when we heard about it...? Evensong in Cambridge must have been very moving.

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    1. Stasher17 November 2015 at 15:21

      Yes the blooms were all from the same bush. My father bought the little vase on a visit to Japan about 45 years ago, and my mother used to have her flowers in it all the time. She also had other very beautiful vases, but I am very pleased to have this simple but very useful one.

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  4. Brian Skeys17 November 2015 at 08:25

    A very colourful arrangement for the time of year. Isn't it unusual to still have a rambler in flower.

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    1. Stasher17 November 2015 at 15:15

      Yes it is, but Ghislaine is well known as a little tropper, and continues to flower until the very hardest frosts. I learnt about this rose back in 2013 and if it was the rose of choice for the Vice President of the Rose Society...I was going to have it. Check up http://noellemace.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/roses-grace-and-ghislaine-de-feligonde.html for more!

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  5. Christina17 November 2015 at 09:53

    Amazing how many people have found roses this week. Yours are lovely.

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  6. Anonymous18 November 2015 at 11:46

    Sedums and roses go so well together, but it does seem odd to me to have roses in November. Mine are still sending up new buds too. Your rambling rose is very pretty Noelle.

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    1. Stasher18 November 2015 at 13:20

      Thanks Cathy, I had not thought of putting them together until I saw that the colour matched the splodges on the rose leaf, and that started me looking for other material. I really love your vase this week.

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