Welcome to ‘In A Vase On Monday’ when I have been linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to share a vase of flowers picked from my garden every Monday for a whole year now!!
This week we are celebrating a year of Cathy hosting this lovely meme and I thought I would share with you my favourite vases from my weekly ‘In a vase On Monday’ posts. Be prepared – there are a lot of vases to revisit here! If you click on any of the photos it should take you back to the original post, so that you can see more detailed pictures and read my thoughts from that week.
I first joined Cathy back in November 2013. I had never heard of a meme before and had no idea how to post a link to another blog, but it seemed like such a good idea that I could not resist giving it a go. November 2013 was a lovely month, with late fuchsias, roses and dahlias, so the start was quite easy.
Moving into December after I had used the last of my indoor chrysanthemums I wondered what I could use next. Fortunately the helleborus niger came into flower well before Christmas, so all was well for another month.
Returning from our New Year break in the Alps I was worried that January might be a very lean month – on the contrary I was delighted to find my earliest flowering muscari bulbs already in flower, along with plenty of winter flowering shrubs, paperwhite narcissi from the greenhouse and the ever useful twigs and dried flower heads.
By February I had a garden full of snowdrops! There was also viburnum bodnantense Dawn bursting into flower along with the winter flowering bergenia and hellebores.
March saw the first burst of colour from my spring anemones, along with the first of my many potted camellias coming into flower. By the end of the month the garden was full of daffodils.
April continued with a sea of scented narcissi, later flowering muscari and the beautiful blue forget-me-nots. The month finished with an eruption of Queen Anne’s Lace throughout the Woodland Walk.
In May there were plenty of small flowers to choose from, as well as the first of the roses and clematis. I was also able to pick my first spring harvests from the vegetable garden.
In June my much anticipated peonies started to flower, along with swathes of garden roses.
July saw the sweet peas in full flow, along with the first of the hardy annuals in the Cutting Garden.
August was a month for holidays, but the hydrangeas were looking beautiful and made a quick and easy vase.
September saw the Cutting Garden reaching its peak – hardy annuals, half hardy annuals and dahlias were all jostling for space and attention. It was also a month of apples – my first harvest from the recently planted mini orchard.
By October much was fading quietly away, but the dahlias were still fantastic. The final autumn harvests were being collected and the first of the chrysanthemums were ready for cutting.
Which brings us full circle back to November!
Looking back through the year in this way has been an excellent exercise – it has both reminded me of how far my garden has progressed since we moved here 5 years ago (when fruit and flowers were hard to find) and reinforced the annual pattern of flowering upon which I am trying to build my garden.
I set out when creating this garden with the aim of having year round flowers as well as plenty of structural foliage. When I came across Cathy’s new meme last November I was so excited to join in, as I knew it would challenge me to continue to work at creating my new garden. This is a meme which has sometimes stretched me, but always delighted me. In addition to having to think weekly about what I could use for my own vases, by looking at the vases others have contributed throughout this year I have come across new flowers I would like to grow and learnt much about growing and arranging techniques. I have also come to look at some flowers I would tend to avoid with new eyes. It has been fascinating to watch everyone grow throughout this year – we are all producing better arrangements and taking better photographs.
And so we move on to our second year – I will certainly carry on with this weekly delight. The challenge for next year will be to try to create something original – all my favourite flowers will, of course, have to make a second appearance, but now I must dig deep and try to find new ways to display them, so that next years review is not a repeat of what you have just read.
Next Monday will be my first vase of year 2 – I look forward to seeing you here again then. In the meantime, please join Cathy with her review of the year at Rambling In The Garden, where I am sure you all also find links to plenty of other reviews as well. As ever I would like to say a huge thank you to Cathy for organising this meme and encouraging us to keep taking part!
I am away in Lancashire this week with my mother and so will not be back here until next Monday.
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Lovely to re-live the year through your vases. You always delight by producing something different, however the real joy is the quality of your photographs, you put the rest of us to shame. this is the area that I hope to improve on most during the coming year.
Thank you Christina. I do love taking photographs and will be working on taking better portraits over the next year. I also hope to get a macro lens so that I can really capture the detail in flowers. I am considering adding a series on flower photography to my blog next year – just the basics as it is hard to be too detailed when everyone is using such different cameras.
What a lovely retrospective, Julie! Every time I thought “that’s my favorite” I found myself drooling at the next photo. You do a beautiful job with your arrangements, your photos and your garden!
Thank you Kris!! I tried to find a favourite too but in the end decided it is just not possible – all the different flowers throughout the year are so beautiful how can you choose just one arrangement?
Oh how lovely to see them roll through the post like that, Julie – aren’t there some beauties in there? And so many of them are just simple vases, a real incentive for those who are uncertain about the concept of ‘arranging’, because the results are always stunning – as are your photos. That’s certainly something I could do with brushing up on! Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and for sharing info about all your planting and growing too 🙂
Thank you Cathy – I do like to keep my flowers as simple as possible. I mentioned to Christina that I am thinking of writing a simple series on flower photography to add to the blog – there are so many lovely arrangements being made for your meme and the problems in getting a good photograph are mentioned almost weekly.
A big thank you goes out to you too Cathy – I have had such good fun with this meme and this weekly commitment has kept me blogging when I might otherwise have decided it is too time consuming a hobby!
Excellent idea about the flower photography, Julie – the difficulties we have will particularly become an issue as we head towards the winter months. Hope you nearest and dearest are not suffering from your time consuming blogging hobby – it can be hard to keep it in check (and particularly on Mondays for me!)
My daughter has decided if you can’t beat it join in and is just starting her own blog! The rest of the family do a lot of eye rolling.
I think there are a lot of misconceptions about blogs – which really could be whatever you wanted them to be. Mind you, I don’t think I had ever looked at a blog until I started mine – and it must have been several months before I looked at any others…I wonder what the focus of your daughter’s blog will be…
julie,
these are so pretty, what a great idea. and how faithful you were to keep up with it each week. the vases are lovely, and the arrangements and beautiful photos too. well done!! 🙂
Thank you for such a lovely comment!
Julie it would be a dream to have year round flowers but alas that cannot be, but I can have almost year round vases with foliage …well maybe. I learn so much from bloggers in this meme as to flowers to use, combinations, vases/containers and you have some of the most stunning vases and displays. I cannot wait to see when I will end my vases and when I start my vases next year…and what flowers will be used.
And I hope to add more flowers for cutting too….thanks for sharing the stunning beauty of your vases.
Thank you Donna – I am looking forward to seeing what you will find to put into your vases too! There are so many things that can be used to make a great vase when flowers are not available – we will all have to be a bit more inventive over the leaner months.
I really enjoyed seeing some of your past vases again, and especially the early ones which I missed. They are all absolutely gorgeous! Congratulations to you too for keeping it up all through the year!
Thank you Cathy – I am so pleased that I found your blog through Cathy’s meme and I always enjoy seeing your contributions!
Nice memories of your lovely flowers and photos. I hadn’t seen your earlier vases so it was delightful to see them collected up this way. I’ve learned a lot from your thoughtful arrangements and look forward to the next year.
Thank you Susie – I have loved all the vases you have contributed too and am looking forward to another year of inspiration from you.
I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of your arrangements. Congratulations on such hard work and good taste!
Thank you so much Karen – I visited your blog last night & tried to leave a comment but struggled – I will try again. It is lovely to meet you & I am glad you enjoyed seeing all my vases like this!
All your vases are very artful, Julie, and I love the simplicity of the fuchsias in the jug. Proves your good taste as Karen says.
Thank you Annette – I do love to keep the flowers in my house very simple – enjoying their beauty close up is enough.
Such a treat to see so many of your vases together. I only started following from May, so there were plenty of early vases to enjoy for the first time. And, as many have already said, always such lovely, classy photos.
I’d certainly love to read any thoughts you have on photography – and can’t believe you take as many close ups as you do without a macro lens – you must treat yourself! I love mine, it really helps you appreciate all the details you can sometimes miss with the naked eye.
It has been delight to follow your garden and flower arrangements throughout the year – to see which plants and varieties you have similar to mine and also introducing me to new ones.
It is always lovely to see your latest post pop into my inbox on a Monday – a wonderful distraction from all the other emails vying for my attention!! Looking forward to the coming year.
Oh a most enjoyable round up of a year of vases Julie some of which I did not see first time around but others were just as pleasing to revisit. A real visual treat!
Wah! Wah! Wah! Heaven ,heaven,heaven! The vibrant flowers , beautiful posies and vases , and lovely arrangements at its best. Hah! Not to forget the photography and the sincere seasonal tips….what more Julie.thanks for bring so kind…and now it’s my turn whether I have done my homework well in the coming season.. Keeping my fingers crossed ….looking forward for more next season too eith your Julie.
Oh my, my, my! What lovely blooms, beautiful bouquets, and pretty containers. Thanks for sharing your calendar of blooms.