Wecome to ‘In A Vase On Monday’ when I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to join her challenge to pick a vase of flowers from the garden every week. Before I show you what I have made today, I just had to share this photo taken very early this morning – this must be the frostiest morning I have got up to yet this year!
Today’s vase just had to be made in a wonderful old French jam jar holder that I bought at a sale of French collectables on Friday evening. Called The Boule-in, this sale is new to me but apparently happens four times a year in the village of Bildeston, which is about a half hour drive from here. The sale was set up in the house and garden of the organisers and on Friday evening there was a real party atmosphere. The garden had large log fires burning in old brasiers to keep the chill off and the trees and shrubs were decorated with fairy lights.
My finds on Friday included two of these rusty old jam jar holders, which are a perfect fit for the Bon Maman jam jars that I tend to save. These will have plenty of use for summer evenings filled either with flowers or candles and I could not wait to give them a try today. The garden is full of spring bulbs right now with more appearing every day, so I was spoilt for choice.
Into the six jam jars I have placed six individual posies of spring flowers. I love the rusty look of this holder and the idea that it may have been used for many years in a French home. I can almost feel the sun on the outside dining table in the French countryside and smell the lavender in a nearby field!
The first posy was made from the very last of my Paperwhites. I dug the bulbs out of the greenhouse bed today and replaced them with early spinach and lettuce. This should keep me going with salad greens until I need the space for tomato plants in May.
A mix of anemones made up the second posy. Mr Fokker and Sylphide have been joined by the white anemone The Bride in the garden and all three clumps are now pumping out flowers.
The next posy was made from the latest narcissi to flower – White Cheerfulness and Actaea. I cannot believe that I am already dead heading the yellow trumpet daffodils and the tiny Tete a Tete. Once the garden starts to move everything seems to come and go so quickly.
I have great swathes of muscari (also called grape hyacinths) flowering this week. Today the clumps were literally buzzing with bees. I had not realised that this flower was so attractive to bees, but I would now recommend it to anyone planning a bee friendly border. I just hope those bees are also visiting my peach and apricot blossom!
I still have a few of the yellow daffodils in flower and I combined them in the fifth jar with hyacinth “Delft Blue’ which is a favourite of mine.
My final sixth jam jar is full of the white hyacinth L’Innocence. This is my favourite for pots and containers. Every year I order new bulbs for my container display and every spring I find homes for these bulbs in the borders. After three seasons here the border display is starting to grow in substance, allowing me to pick a few stems for a posy.
So there you have it – spring in a French jam jar! I hope you will pop over to Cathy’s blog to have a look at what she and the others have made this week.
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That sale sounds brilliant – and your jam jar holder is ideal for displaying jars of flowers like this. I have a similar holder with 12 flower pots but I don’t know its origins – 12 little jars of flowers perhaps? I am conscious of being on the lookout for quirky containers wherever I am now and no doubt you are the same! Your selections today are all so fresh and spring like, and show again the benefit of growing bulbs under cover especially for picking – very lovely! I too am building up small swathes of hyacinths that have vacated their hyacinth glasses – they seem to have less dense flower heads when flowering again, don’t they?
With my new found magpie instincts for jugs and containers I think I either need a new cupboard or a good spring clean to make some more room to house them all! I agree about the hyacinths Cathy – I do like the way they become softer as they age in the garden. A few years ago I was quite against having hyacinths in my beds, thinking they looked too brash and stiff. Nowadays I love the way they shout out that spring has arrived and they are around for such a short time that I go with the flow and enjoy every minute that they give me.
The jars in the French wire basket are gorgeous, I especially like the Narcissi together, beautiful!
Thank you Julie – I was fortunate to inherit a number of varieties when we moved here and I add to them every year – all the different shades and shapes seem to combine together very well.
Lovely arrangement. I never thought of saving Bonne Maman jam jars. They look lovely in the holder. You have some gorgeous spring flowers. I usually go to the sales at the Boule-in but I didn’t go this time. It is just the place to find unusual vases.
We seem to frequent the same places Chloris – perhaps we should organise a bloggers meet up? You are right about the sale – between all the lovely garden things and the many bottles and containers I could have spent a small fortune. Fortunately I took cash and stuck to my budget.
Sounds like fun, let’s do it one day. I don’t know whether there are any other Suffolk bloggers who might like to join in.
It might just be us Chloris, but we could both post the date and time on our blogs in case any other readers are local. I am just about to go into school/university holidays, so how about meeting at Harveys or Wyken the week commencing 28th or 5th May? Mid morning – 10.30 or 11 is a good time for me. You suggest dates and your preferred venue.It will be really nice to meet you.
It’s always fun to see what your Monday arrangement will hold Julie. The initial frosty view doesn’t look conducive to your splendid spring collections. Each posy is so full of charm and all are wonderfully photographed. The anemones are dear to my heart–just beautiful.
Thank you Susie – I find it very hard to label flowers as favourites, but these clumps of anemones look stunning this year, both in the garden and in my vases.
I like the rustic wire basket filled with flowers and the jam jars are a perfect fit. Your spring bulb garden is lovely! Thanks for sharing…
Thank you Lisa – I am very pleased with my rusty baskets.
Dear Julie, that picture of the frosty morning is absolutely fabulous and shows how beautiful cold can be! Lucky girl, I hardly had the chance this winter. Then your vase, or rather vases: what a cute and romantic display. You’re so talented, I do hope you’ll make something out of this so that lots of others can enjoy your arrangements too. Or maybe you do this already on a professional basis? Such a pleasure to pop in here 🙂
Thank you Annette – I am afraid that I am not a florist – just a girl with a passion for flowers! I expect that your winter has been even milder than ours – that frost was quite a surprise. At least there is nothing tender planted out in the garden yet.
Beautiful spring display and dare I say it but I am beginning to think that the arrangements of your own flowers are more beautiful than those with bought flowers, which are also gorgeous. This is such a pretty way to display spring bulbs, I’m going to have to start searching for more containers, I have thought of something I can use, maybe I’ll use them next week.
Thank you Christina. It is an interesting conundrum between buying and growing flowers. At the market I can buy enough of the same type of flower to create what I have in mind – arrangements like the rose heart take a lot of flowers. Often there aren’t enough in the garden for that kind of arrangement. On the other hand, working from the garden gives me the freshest, most vibrant and scented flowers. I have to mix and match a bit more and use my imagination to fill out arrangements but I do love home grown flowers the most and I love the simplicity of just a few blooms in a vase.
The first photo of morning frost is perfect for a post card.the bottles and flowers are also very tempting. I really like the way you click photos under the sun.most of the time I feel so fresh and as if i am almost there just an arms length to reach the flowers. Julie, you make look everything very real also because of the narration.
Thank you Sajina – you are very kind. Temperatures are rising here for the weekend – how is the weather where you are?