Welcome to ‘In A Vase On Monday’ when I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to join her challenge to fill a vase for the house from the garden every week.

This week I am starting with a very famous line of verse by A.A. Milne:

‘They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace,

Christopher Robin went down with Alice.”

And a couple of pictures:

IMG_5238

Flowers in a Teapot & Horse Statue

So – who can guess where I am going this week?

Yes, I am off to Royal Ascot to see the Queen and watch some racing. This will be the third time we have been invited to join a table in the Royal Enclosure and later this week I will be sharing my day with you. I know very little about horse racing, so will be concentrating on photographing the flowers and the hats!

Astrantia

I decided to make a vase today that I thought might work in a little corner at Royal Ascot. A silver teapot filled with the flowers of an english garden seemed appropriate.  Sweet Williams, astrantia, dianthus, alchemilla mollis and some beautiful pink roses fill my teapot today.

Sweet Williams & Alchemilla

The rose is Gentle Hermione, another English rose by David Austin. This is a rose that looks perfect at all stages of her development and repeats extremely well in late August and September.

Roses in a Teapot

My teapot is part of a set that I found in a charity shop in town last year. There is also a coffee pot, milk jug and sugar bowl together with a silver tray. I also found a beautiful old bound music book that day – I must remember to include that as a prop with a vase one Monday.

Roses in a Teapot

The first year that we went to Ascot I remember the table centres were beautiful silver footed bowls overflowing with roses. Last year they had used tall cylinder vases filled with floating orchids. I am looking forward to seeing what flowers are used this year.

Rose Gentle Hermione

I am still enjoying peonies at home and have two jugs filled with them in the house tonight, but the roses are looking so good that I did not want the moment to pass without photographing them. If I have any peonies left later this week I promise I will share one last vase.

I hope you will pop over to Cathy’s blog and have a look at what she and the others have made today. And if anyone has any racing tips for Wednesday, please do share them!