In a Vase On Monday – Or In A Silver Teapot

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:

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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Now that is another beautiful rose, Julie – I can see I really need to be thinking out of the box to see how I can fit in more roses. And I know what you mean about not wanting to miss the roses while they are at their best, but I decided today that the foxgloves were perhaps more ephemeral – perhaps roses next week….. (but I was already thinking about zingy nasturtiums…). Your choice of flowers and container really fitted your brief today – very English country garden! Thanks for joining in and enjoy your day at the races!

Have a lovely day at Ascot, not far from where we used to live. I’m already looking forward to the post about your day.

Hi Julie, Beautiful rose and perfectly elegant arrangement and setting. Do have a fun time!

What a pretty arrangement. I grow Gentle Hermione too and I love it. Such a healthy vigorous plant and such sumptuous flowers.
Have a wonderful day at Ascot. Have you got a nice hat to wear?

That’s a lovely mix with the deep pink dianthus and the astrantia. Alchemilla adds to the light and summery feel to it too. Have fun at Ascot!

Very elegant, Julie, and I like the way you display them. A lady whose garden I shot for my book recently had done something similar and it made me want to go out and roam some antique fair!

Your arrangements never fail to amaze me – so beautiful. I’ve been meaning to visit Fryers Roses near here for a while – I really must go soon.Enjoy Ascot!

Greetings from Cleveland, OHIO USA! Words can’t express how excited I am to find your blog! Your flowers are gorgeous and you are such a talented writer. I can’t wait to follow your blog! Happy Summer!