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!

 

Flowers from the garden at the start of December 2025 - IAVOM

During the hot and very dry summer it was impossible to imagine that well ahead of time late winter or early spring flowers might start making an early apperance.

Just after lunch today, I popped out in the wet windy weather to see what had survived the recent few days.

Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy' and feathery greenery from the Corydalis  ochroleuca are there to provide a green foil to the snowdrops, Cyclamen coum, and Jasminum nudiflorum. This vase could very easily be built up in January or February but by then the Aster Monch would be missing. I believe this snowdrop to be Galanthus Natalie Garton: it is flowering in the same place as the named one was planted.  The drops are quite large on this snowdrop but had not flowered this early in previous years.

My very first entry for IAVOM was probably in 2015 but it has only been in more recent years, with the advance of technology, that Cathy has organised annual zoom meetings. Cathy who started this weekly get together years ago called 'In a Vase on Monday' organised a zoom meeting yesterday, when some of us joined in from very different climatic regions.  We talked about the best doers in the garden, and in the second half another Cathy showed us lovely pictures of her garden focusing on grasses.

I am linking this post to Cathy's blog, and that is the place where several others link in.  New comers are welcome of course should you feel like joining in.

Six on Saturday - 29 November 2025

I didn't post last week, as I was otherwise occupied.  Since I am a glass half full sort of person, this week I am offering a full glass made up of a half full glass from last week, and a half full glass from this week, by this I mean three pictures were taken before the big frost, and three after.

1. This little alpine strawberry was still fruiting and looking lovely with its leaves, little white flowers and bright fruits.  This is one that does not make any runners and grows from seed.  It originally came from my volunteering days at Kenilworth Castle gardens, where I planted these, and the following years hand weeded the paths and found the seedlings.  The crowns get larger each year, but little seedlings appear around the garden and I have gathered sufficient to grow half a dozen crowns along the edge behind the shed.

2. A few days of cold wet weather arriving meant a few jobs were brought forward so that they could be completed.  Mr S used up some flooring, left over from another indoor project, which had been languishing in the loft for a number of years. It was time to replace the flooring in the shed, which had been made up of a patchwork of left over vinyl flooring.  The refurbishment of the shed is now complete.

3. Galanthus Natalie Garton is a little precocious this year. You can tell that this is from last week before the frosts, as the nasturtium leaves are still green.

4. I grew Lotus Berthelotii Orange through the summer on the circular table in the garden, moving it to stand on an old speaker stand under the canopy by the front door. As we were going to be away for the coldest of the nights last week I brought it into the conservatory.  However reading that it can tolerate temperatures down to 1 C, it is going back outside since most of the succulents are vying for space with a little warmth.  I hope to look after it giving it feeds in the spring so that it comes into flower next year.

Lotus Berthelotii Orange

5. These three pots of a fabulous little perennial Viola are  perched on soil where any number of spring beauties are likely to be lurking underground.

Viola cucullata alba

I've moved them to the top of my short side wall.  You will find a little more about this viola on an earlier post: Viola cucullata alba. 

6. Since I last posted the frosts have hit hard.  You don't need any pictures to conjure up the idea of general clearing of things from the garden. The cosmos have been chopped off a ground level.  These days I certainly leave the roots of annuals hence not disturbing the soil structure. Old rotten sticks and bamboo canes too old to safely use next year have been discarded, and the garden no longer has that late autumn look.  I decided to remove a big clump of Corydalis ochroleuca which had self seeded in the conservatory bed, and I found lurking under the foliage a little treasure another early flowering snowdrop, which I shall keep to show in my next post. Gold star if you can guess in advance the name. 

Stop Press this morning I learnt something worth sharing about Cyclamen Lysander. This link is to where I mention this Cyclamen hederifolium which I bought from Ashwoods. 

This is from the great plantsman John Lonsdale via Facebook: 

"Originally distributed by Ashwood Nurseries, it is a seed strain derived from material collected in the Peloponnese by Dutch nurseryman Antoine Hoog under the collector’s number AH8672A, and christened ‘Lysander’ after the famous Spartan general of that name."

John Lonsdale has grown some fabulous cyclamen and was showing the interesting 'Lysander Group' cyclamen.  Here is one from my sodden garden this morning.

Things in the garden to talk about are getting scarcer, so I am thinking that my next offering might be a 'flight of plants'* for SOS in three weeks time, two from each of the three weeks which will be the Saturday before Christmas.  That will mean two weeks off for me. 

Of course I shall be popping in to view the posts of other SOS contributors.  As usual I am linking into the centre of SOS over on Jim's blog.

* Continuing on my theme of glasses half full, recently we have found restaurants offering flights of drinks to go with a meal, sometime two glasses sometimes three glasses, which suits Mr S and I perfectly as we order just one flight with each having a little drink from each glass and the driver far less!

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. 

Visit to the newly opened Shoemakers Museum in Street

For Friday date day last week, Mr S and I took ourselves off to the Newly opened Clarks Shoe Museum in nearby Street, having booked our tickets on line before we set off.  The tickets for the Shoemakers Museum last a year and we shall certainly be returning.

As my school shoes even in the tropics were Clarks, I was really hoping that they may have a pair of those.

I felt that the finish on this sandal was rather flat, and when I used to go to the shop to get fitted up with a new pair, I always used to favour what I have just come to understand as flat grain. The leather was quite variable but always matched.  This flat grain leather is visible in the pair of red Joydance sandals further down.

My father had what I now realise as high standards and loved his shoes and clothes.  Although when I was living in Mauritius we had staff, he very early on taught me to clean shoes and that was my job first thing each morning to clean the shoes, and always outside if it was not raining.  In the tropics with the humidity at certain times of the year you could get mould grow on the outside as a slight bloom.  I am still the 'chief shoe cleaner' and love cleaning our shoes.  However I do insist Mr S removes the mud from the bottom of his trainers or boots himself!

When I posted the picture of the brown pair of Joydance shoes on my Facebook page, several of my friends from my youth posted memories of our school shoes.  It was interesting to hear that at some stage 

The description of these explained that The Joydance sandal was first introduced in the UK in 1933 for women and children. Later in the 1960s it was also being manufactured in Ghana and went under the name of Achimota sandals, named for the Achimota College in Accra, that led the trend in adopting this sandal as part of their school uniform with many other education establishments following suit.

A couple of my English friends posted that they had red pairs, and then uploaded this pair which I also photographed.

Clarks Red Joydance Sandals

Another local friend posted: 'My father went to Ghana to help set up the Happy Shoe Company as part of the training team back in the 60s . We also had two of the Ghanaian workers stay with us. While they visited Clarks quarters. We have photos somewhere.'

These are just a few of the shoes on display. The displays are well lit and nicely set out, and there were some delightful shoes where the design and quality are really lovely, and if for sale now, I would certainly buy.

For those who are interesting in advertising there were fine examples and this shop interior will no doubt spark memories.

You get a free 4 hrs parking ticket which needs to be collected from the Museum reception entitling one car to be parked in the Shopping outlet car park.

There is a very pleasant cafe in refurbished Old Grange Building. 

The Museum is very well set out, and for our first visit, we went quickly through the introduction taking you through the Clark's original business to the present day, when sadly shoe production is no longer in the UK and the Company is now majority owned by a Chinese company.

We shall certainly be returning, and I hope to go on one their guided tours too. 

Plain and Simple In a Vase on Monday

 I am going through my plain and simple phase in almost everything folks.  Will probably be that way for some time I feel.

Enjoying the details of the Cosmos picked yesterday in the anticipation of a frost.  We haven't had one so far!

Linking in with Cathy who was the creator of the weekly meme.

Viola cucullata alba

 

Viola cucullata alba photographed in April 2024

When I bought this viola on a visit to Broadleigh Gardens in 2024 ,  it came with a little hand written label 'Viola alba'. A few minutes of searching found the 2015 Broadleigh catalogue on line which gave the plants full name as Viola cucullata alba though it is wrongly spelt 'cuclulata'  The cucullata bit of the name which is the species explained much to me. Viola cucullata usually called marsh blue violet occurs naturally in Eastern North America.   

This year I thought I had lost it, but it was simply the case that it was in a position difficult to see,  hidden by overarching shrubs, and  being deciduous it was barely visible, quite unlike the other violas in the garden. Not knowing exactly where best to place it, I thought it a good idea to dig it up and pot it up, so that when it is in flower next year I can find the best position for it.  I can also keep it away from the slugs which rather favoured the plant this spring. I found the knobbly rhizomes to have increased and broken up the easily made three pots.  I shall trial them in different parts with differing sun and shade aspects.

Six things from the Garden in Mid November

I am writing this on Friday evening with the sound of very heavy rain outside, courtesy of Storm Claudia, but thankfully no heavy winds at the moment.  Maybe others are writing their posts, and I am sure Jim is just tidying up his, as it is always full of excellent garden plants, hints and tips etc.

1.  The three Cistus x hybridus 'Little Miss Sunshine' which I bought early September still has not been allocated any space in the ground, that is they have not been planted out yet. 

Cistus x hybridus 'Little Miss Sunshine' now repotted

They were starting to root through the base of their plastic pots into the soil.  With all the rain and very poor light this week, it was a treat to go out one dreary but not wet day and get these three potted up.  This picture was taken on the one sunny day this week. Each went into a vacant pot, and will hopefully add a little sunshine to the pot garden, and they can be moved around and again placed on the garden where there is a gaping hole.  

Described as being really compact relatively new hybrid variety of Cistus, it was its wavy edged primrose yellow variegated margins on mid green leaves which first attracted me. At the time, I thought they would look good in the front garden with all the other cistus, but I need to observe where the tulips and other bulbs are coming up before deciding whether and where they would go amongst the other Cistus. 

2. The forecast for next week is for night time temperatures to approach freezing, and the Canna probably won't like it in its pot stood in the wet and cold.  I definitely want to keep it for next year, and hopefully I shall be able to divide it.  Since its leaves are quite attractive could it be moved to the conservatory? Yes it could, but will the conservatory be too congested, if so it will have to sit in a corner of the shed.

Canna 'Tropicanna'

3. I've made little miniature gardens with  arrangements of one, two and maybe three plants in a little containers for as long as I can remember. When I came across the concept of Kusamono and Shitakusa I was beguiled by the various plants and ceramics used.  I rather like the characterful hand made pots such as the ones I saw when in Grange over Sands a few weeks ago. I have a few old bonsai pots which I pick up from Charity Shops which I used for my sempervivums. I took an empty one off the shelf in the shed, and enjoyed making this one up from plants I already had in the garden.  

The 'tree' is a rooted piece of Lonicera nitida 'Baggesen's Gold, and the low growing soft feathery leaved plant is Leptinella squalida 'Platt's Black. In the sun it will turn bronze black and should be a good foil for when the leaves regrow after I have attempted to 'bonsai' the little shrub.

4. When I visited Broadleigh Gardens early in 2024, one of the plants I came back with was Scilla hughii.  During the very hot and dry weather it died down completely unlike 2024, and thinking it was probably dead, did not give up and planted it in the garden.  Thankfully it is up now Comparing it with the Scilla Peruviana, there is a distinct difference compared with Scilla hughii, or at least the one I have. 

5. The Jasmine nudiflorum is one of the few original plants from the previous owners.  It is getting in the swing of things now, but not sure that this crop of blooms is bearing up well to all the rain.

6. Over the years I have grown several Pelargoniums, and have not necessarily continued all from one year to another.  Now I have very few, but one that did exceptionally well is Pelargonium 'Salmon Angel'.

Close up of flowers of Pelargonium 'Salmon Angel' in July

There are still a few flowers on it this week.

I took some cutting only a few weeks ago, and have repotted up three good ones to a pot ready for next year. Thank goodness I took them into the shed before the deluges of yesterday.

Succession planning with cuttings

Pelargonium cuttings can be taken any time of the right if you have the right conditions, so I am taking some stems to the HPS meeting today.  Some potted up Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White will also be in my basket: for why not spread the joy, if you can, by taking cutting and divisions and sharing them with other gardeners

From the garden on 8 November 2025

 This is the usual Six things from the Garden: a meme called SOS which links us all to Jim's post

Each week I wonder whether I'll have anything worth writing about the following week and I surprise myself.  

1. This has to be the best hardy Chrysanthemum in the garden this week.  It has stood all the various storms and droughts, since 2021 when I received this from Brenda.

Chrysanthemum Hillside Apricot

I was delighted when a friend who is a very good gardener dropped by this week.  I was able to share the garden with her, pointing out the various plants she had given me, and she was very taken with this Chrysanthemum Hillside Apricot, so that will be divisions made next spring when the new shoots start to appear. These give so many cut flower stems that I was able to send her home with a few with no visible depletion. If you are trying to guess where I cut them from, it was from the other large clump on the other side of the garden, 

2. There is only one Alstromeria in the garden, to be truthful it is in a pot rather than in the ground, and it is still flowering.

Alstromeria Indian Summer

I last divided it in 2022 and it is ready for that, though I have read that this is a job best done in the spring.  I've been moving my large pots around and I almost used one in which I was intending planting half of this clump, and stopped just in time. Diving this next year in 2026 means that it will have been in the pot for four years.  I think in future I shall make this a 3 yearly job.

3. Another plant that is sorely in need of division/repotting are the  Hakonechloa Macra Aureola.  They are now so pot bound, that the water just runs off the top of the pots.  I have read that early in the new year just as the shoots are emerging is the best time for this job.

Hakonechloa Macra Aureola 

There are two large pots each side of the bench.

4. Yellow in the garden, but only until the frost bites!  It was strange that the hot dry weather really did not suit the nasturtiums.  This is a self seeded one trying desperately to set seed before the end of the season.

5. I was actually not so very impressed by this little white Pelargonium recently, was it because it was overshadowed by everything else in the garden?  It was however the only small pot of flower, and a little bit of a preen involving removed spent flowers, and yellowing or nibbled leaves has restored it to a reasonable specimen rather than an eyesore to look at from the kitchen window. I may well keep this one, and take a few cuttings early in the new year. (*)

 

White Pelargonium 'New Century White'

6. The tall unknown variety of Cosmos have finally come into flower, so all the colours have been revealed.  During the winds this week I lost the very tallest comos with the largest blooms of the conservatory bed cosmos, but I was able to cut the flowers. I think the height and the large size of the blooms were its downfall in that they caught the wind so badly.  It is nice to see a white one amongst those growing in the old vegetable border.

This Six on Saturday of course it not about anything like keeping up with 'The Jones'.  You should see the other posts...fab photographs, plants and plantman/womanship which I can only but learn from, or at the very least admire.  I like it not only because of being able to read several other posts but to keep a record of my garden: how I like to grow things, and what may have been inspiring me to try different things.  Of course there is the repeat factor which is as much about celebrating how well old favourites are doing, and reminding me of cultivation needs and jobs.

(*) When looking up about this Pelargonium I came across an interesting concept: that of physiological aging in plants made me realise that by propagation from cutting or division over many years  means that my new perennial plant is similar to a 50 year old plant. Whereas of course grown from seed a plant is brand new. I found it here a little down the article under the heading What were the problems with old geranium varieties?  

Hidden Treasures of Humberside coaching holiday

 A couple of months ago we went on a coach holiday which with two days travelling gave us three days up in the Humberside area.  Again we used the excellent local Coaching Holiday and Days out John Martin Coaches. I had missed out on downloading the photographs, and it was only when I started to tidy my desk and go through all the papers in the holiday pile that I started to mull over the days we had there. 

Princes Quay Hull

We were only given one day in the City Center of Kingston upon Hull, and I wish I would be magicked there to spend a few nights in the City Center and have time to really enjoy the atmosphere, architecture, museums, galleries, churches and aquarium.  It is not an easy place to get to from the West Country, and I may well have to further enjoy my time by reading about the City and places which appealed to me.

We were dropped off on Victoria Pier in front of the former booking office for the ferry which sailed from Hull to New Holland across the Humber.

There were some interesting street art such as this sculpture called Voyage along the shore.

Just on the other side of the River Hull is the renowned aquarium 'The Deep'.

The local guide who gave us a running commentary as we toured the city suggested that even if we did not have time to visit the aquarium we at least enter the building to admire the view of the estuary.  We might just have spent more time there except being the last few days of the school holidays there was far too much noise from excited children, so having admired the views we decided to continue with our walking tour.  Not before I tried out the super sized deck chair!

There are so many places of interest to visit and we could only visit a few so the fact that the Maritime Museum was closed for refurbishment didn't worry us.  Here is Mr S in Queen Victoria square with the handsome Maritime Museum in the background.

Designed by architect Henry Wilson in 1935, for the founder of the Burton fashion brand Montagu Burton, this lovely art deco building recently refurbished with new polished granite cladding made such a statement reflecting the blue skies. It is just to the side of the Maritime Museum at the start of Whitefriargate which is the way we walked through to the Old Town.  

Burton House Hull

We entered through the Hepworth Arcade which I felt this picture did not do justice to. It is an L shaped arcade and this is where Mark and Spencers started up with their penny bazaar. I mentioned Burton's earlier and now Hepworth: both well know in  retail clothing. 

We then slipped through a corridor into the Trinity Market and were very impressed with the selection of different businesses offering an excellent array of tasty things to eat and drink, which would do us nicely for lunch later. There was also a pleasing seating area under cover within the market where one can sit and enjoy eating what one had bought.  I already had in mind what I was going to have, but would leave that for later after we had visited a couple of other places.

First we dropped into the Streetlife Museum had a quick walk around and very much admired the shop fronts and their contents, particularly this tin of Needler's Buttered Brazils. Needler's factory was in Hull. My mother particularly liked buttered brazil nuts and it was the one thing she would remind me to take for her when I visited. 

The next Museum we visited where we spent quite a bit of time was Wilberforce House. The building itself is well presented and of great interest.  It was built for a merchant with the back yard leading onto the river. Built around 1660. it was already 100 years old when William Wilberforce was born there. 

It would take more than the hour or so we spent there to even visit a couple of the areas and take in the exhibits and their relevance to Hull and the abolition of slavery.  Here at the top of the stairs the family added their crest of the black eagle to celebrate William's birth in 1759. 

In the West African collections there were some magnificent textiles. This one described as follows:

Man's robe Nigeria 1930-1960

A rayon and silk version of a traditional man's robe usually made in cotton, this luxurious robe has a finely embroidered' knife' and spiral pattern centre front and a second spiral on the back.  These designs were originally inspired by Islamic symbols of the Hausa and Fulani, and are now popular across the region. 

Details of the embroidery show the stitches and overall patterns.

We retraced our steps to have a late lunch at the Trinity Market but sadly the things we had been after were sold out!  During our quick peep into Hull Minster. we noticed that they had a rather nice looking cafe called Trinity Room Cafe, so went back there are enjoyed refreshments sat at the outside tables where a few mums and young children were enjoying the sun, and we were entertained by the little children running through the mirror pools in the large pavement area.

After that we meandered around the area taking in the vibrant rejuvenation projects and ending up at the Ferens Art Gallery. Again another excellent Civic establishment of the highest quality.  We could have spent a whole day there!  Here is just one of the pieces which appealed...

'Isabel' by Jacob Epstein viewed through the Sculpture Icon II by Barbara Hepworth

There are certainly many Hidden Treasures in Hull itself, I only wish it was easier to reach from where we live, and would recommend Hull as an excellent place to spend a few days, and would suggest choosing a hotel from which you can just step out into the City.

Days 2 and 3 I shall write about separately.