Welcome to this weeks ‘In A Vase On Monday’. Before I show you my vase I must share my exciting news – today I contributed a guest post to Sarah Raven’s lovely blog Garlic & Sapphire. Please do pop over and take a look – I would be very happy if you could leave a comment there as well.
This week I have pulled together a vase at the last minute. After feeling unwell for much of last week, I was relieved to wake up this morning feeling much better. The sun was shining and I decided to make the most of it with a walk around the garden. Much is stirring at the moment, although the main acts are undoubtedly the snowdrops and hellebores. You can imagine my delight as I turned a corner and saw a drift of yellow daffodils that had just burst into flower. I headed back to the kitchen for my scissors and shortly after was able to make this.
I have used large headed yellow daffodils (possibly King Alfred’s) and lonicera fragrantissima in the main vase and a mix of the tiny narcissi Tete a Tete, iris reticulata Harmony and muscari in the tiny glass bubble vase given to me by a friend a few weeks ago.
The fragrant winter flowering honeysuckle, lonicera fragrantissima, was planted in my woodland border in our first winter here four years ago. It is now quite a bushy shrub and is evergreen in all but the harshest of winters. It is covered with these tiny white flowers at this time of year and smells divine.
Underneath the honeysuckle are a few clumps of this large headed yellow daffodil. I do not grow many of this type and these clumps pre-date my arrival in the garden, but I would not be without the cheer that they bring the first time I see them flower each year. It is like the sun has been turned on and the wheels of spring are speeding up. I know that all manner of other beauties will be hot on their heels.
To compliment the main arrangement I added some tiny posies of petite flowers to this delicate bubble vase.
I love the way that this little vase allows you to focus on flowers so small that they can otherwise be overlooked.
I hope you have enjoyed this weeks touch of spring yellow! Thank you as always to Cathy for hosting this meme and please do pop over to Rambling In The Garden to see what she and the others have made this week.
Now that I am feeling better I am looking forward to being back later this week with more posts!
Insert your profile info here, by going to Users -> Your Profile -> Biographical Info. Profile image (avatar) comes from gravatar.com. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam faucibus ornare lectus nec cursus.
I just love ‘vase on a Monday!’ I am training to be a florist after being made redundant last year! I just wish I had done this earlier in my life. The vase is very pretty this week – I bought one of those bubble vases last summer, really not thinking I would use it that much…how wrong I was! It is indispensable! Get well soon.
Its lovely to meet you Ruth and thank you for commenting. Good luck with your course – are you learning on the job or in college? I agree about these little bubble vases – they are so useful for displaying tiny flowers!
Hi Julie. I am learning at college. I have held a really big job in retail for 25 years and as I said was made redundant last year! Despite loving my career it had really come to an end for me. I have always loved flowers and gardening.Hence the plunge to do floristry, The course is tough, tons of work, nerve wrecking practicals but nothing prepared me for how much I love it!!!! Just hope I can do something with it in some shape or form. Also doing work experience in a local florist….I am rubbish!!!! But I press on!!!! Love your blog it gives me great pleasure.
Now you have a new reader in Melbourne. I am going to plant more large snow drops this autumn. Love the arrangements as well.
Welcome Judy and thank you for commenting! It will be really interesting to hear what you are growing in Melbourne. I would have thought it too hot in Australia for snowdrops – do you have a similar spring season to the UK?
Hi Julie, you’ve outdone yourself with this colorful, springtime arrangement. I like the use of the small flowers balancing out the arrangement. All perfect and beautifully photographed. Glad you’re feeling better. (I’ll check out your guest post now.)
Thank you so much – I really do appreciate your support!
Lovely to see so many spring flowers in your garden already – you are way ahead of me – and don’t they bring a lovely burst of colour into the house.
Hi Elaine and thank you for commenting. It is funny how different garden conditions can be isn’t it. I have just popped over to your blog and your delphiniums are much more advanced than mine are! I will be going back later for a more leisurely look.
Yellow and blue – perfect spring colours,
captured beautifully.
Hoping you feel 100% soon.
Emma 😉
Thank you so much Emma. I just had a look at your lovely blog and was caught by the story about your chicken losing her feathers in the winter. That is such a sad tale and I was pleased that it had a happy ending! Is she a Light Sussex? I have one and she looks very similar.
Lovely, what a good idea to use those little bubble vases like that.I don’ t think I could hear to pick my little Irises, do they last long in water? Glad you are feeling better.
Thank you Chloris – I do agree that it is hard to pick them. I plant them in clumps of 15 – 20 and I find that if you carefully remove 3 or 4 from within the group it does not spoil the outside display. Also I have noticed I have 3 waves of iris this year, so I am feeling very lucky! I always plant a few in pots in the greenhouse and they flowered first and were followed by the iris in the borders. This year I was late planting up my outdoor containers as the summer bedding lasted so long. Iris planted in early December in these pots is just coming into flower.
Gladyou’re feeling better, it is horrible to feel ill just when spring is arriving. Your vases are truely lovely; like Chloris I would find it very difficult to pick my Iris reticulata; mine are already finished anyway.
Thank you Christina – I am much better now.
Reading this post this morning, has made my day, something about daffodils that makes you smile
Hi Debra and thank you for commenting – I am glad I made you smile – that vase had the same effect on me when I entered the kitchen this morning!
Glad you made it and are feeling better Julie. Your vase just grabs the viewer – bursting out of the post like that first burst of sunshine with its unaccustomed brightness.I am not keen on taller daffs in the garden but in an arrangement they are so striking – I have various oddments of them from bulbs that have been given to me so they are in line for being picked when they flower! And your caterpillar (as I see it!) vase is great – I must look out for one of those but I suppose I ought to put ‘bubble vase’ in the search and not ‘caterpillar vase’! I find miniature arrangements especially appealing so your iris and muscari and Tete-a-Tete are specially lovely. Thanks for joining in and I will look up your other post as well.
I completely agree about the taller daffs in the garden Cathy. In fact these ones were destined to be removed this year and replaced with something a little quieter. Now that we are on a roll with the indoor arranging though I see them in quite a different light and their position in the garden has been secured! They are so striking and cheerful in the kitchen today that I think this might be my favourite arrangement so far.
I keep changing my mind about my own favourite – currently it’s the one with the primroses and violas I think…
So beautiful pictures…I can feel spring is in the air!
Have a great week…
Love Titti
Thank you Titti – I hope spring is coming where you are too!
Well done for a divine vase on a monday (roll on spring!) and the guest post which both show how talented you are!
Thank you so much Annette – that is a very kind comment! I am glad you liked them both.