Welcome to this week’s ‘In A Vase On Monday’ when, as usual, I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to join in her challenge to find something from the garden to put in a vase every week.
I am now in flower filled heaven, so the challenge this week was more about what not to pick than how to fill my vase. My peony buds are bursting into flower all around the garden, but there are also roses, foxgloves, iris and a host of annuals and perennials starting to fill the Cutting Garden beds.
By now you probably know me well enough to understand that there was no real choice to make – my peonies are just too beautiful to be ignored, so they were the blooms I had to choose today! Picking one of my favourite jugs, I set up today in the kitchen after picking not just flowers, but the last of the forced rhubarb and the first of the gooseberries (which are hiding in the colander you can see at the back of the picture).
As I mentioned this is my last picking of the forced rhubarb for this year. This plant went under the forcer in January and we have been eating long pale pink stems from it since early March. I have taken the forcer off the plant now and will rest it now until next year. It is important not to force a crown two years in a row, so I will choose a different plant to force for next year’s early rhubarb. These beautiful pink stems are destined for a rhubarb fool at the weekend and I have popped them in the freezer until then to keep them fresh.
I have been out for much of the day on a trip to the Peter Beale Rose Garden, so I am keeping my post very brief tonight. The rose garden was beautiful and as long as my photos do it justice, I will be writing a post about my visit to publish on Friday.
In the meantime it is the second Wednesday in the month this week, so time for the June Greenhouse Review – I do hope some of you will be able to join in. This month I am focusing on my new little greenhouse in my vegetable garden and including a few photos of what is growing in the vegetable garden as well. If you would like to see what was going on last month you will find my May post here.
Thank you as ever to Cathy for organising this lovely weekly meme and I hope you will pop over to her blog to see what she and the others have made this week.
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Julie its a perfect vase…my peonies are just opening but with the rain, I am not picking the beginning blooms until the rain stops…many buds will burst then….I think peonies belong in a vase as we want them to last and enjoy their beauty up close.
Thank you Donna and I agree – peonies are best in a vase where the vagaries of the weather cannot damage them.
The perfect word for your peonies is “perfect!”
Thank you John!
Peonies and rhubarb fool, scrumptious. I was garden visiting yesterday and came across a white scented peony which was apparently planted in 1974! Your photographs do these beautiful flowers full justice.
Peonies do have a very long life and they produce more flowers every year, so they are well worth finding some garden space for. None of mine are more than 5 years old but they are already producing plenty of flowers – I cannot imagine how many flowers a plant from 1974 might produce.
Gorgeous Julie. What is the variety of the pale pink peony at the front of the vase?
Thank you – that one is Festiva Maxima.
Oh your peonies are just fabulous Julie. They are such voluptuous flowers and have summer stamped all over them. It looks as if it will be a good year for gooseberries although mine are still perhaps too much on the hard side to pick. I wonder what you’re planning to do with them 🙂
Thank you Anna. I have plenty of plans for the gooseberries – gooseberry jelly, gooseberry fool, gooseberry posset, elderflower & gooseberry jam, gooseberry ice cream – far more ideas than I will have the time or gooseberries to make!
Just beautiful! And the white vase/pitcher is perfect. I think I will have to plant one or two more peonies, if only for more variety. Enjoy every last minute of these gorgeous blooms!
Thank you Libby – you can never have too many peonies!
You win the prize in my book. Simple gorgeous.
Thank you Susan. I have been meaning to email you about the glasses – I believe mine are Edwardian etched glass. They were not hugely expensive, but certainly more than everyday glass – about £10 each. I do love them but rarely use them as I worry too much that I will break them.
Ohh – peonies are my favourite flowers. Mine are not blooming yet so it is wonderful to see and enjoy yours in the pictures 🙂
Love Nina
Thank you Nina – you will still be enjoying yours after I have said goodbye to mine for another year. Lovely to hear from you. xx
They are wonderful Julie, and look stunning in a simple elegant white jug. Perfect! 🙂
Thank you Cathy!
Just perfect, Julie!
Thank you Anca!
Perfect, as everyone has already said – and they don’t need any embellishment. No rhubarb or gooseberries for me this year as I have replaced my plants this season 🙁
Thank you Cathy. I am sure your fruit production will be better for a few new bushes next year, but it is frustrating to have to wait to for the plants to get going.
I hope so Julie, and at least I have bumper crop of raspberries and loganberries to come (starting quite soon, I think)
Luscious and elegant. I can see why you are so passionate about peonies. Would love to see your foxgloves sometime.
Thank you Susie and I will try to take some photos of the foxgloves to share next week.
Not trying to give you work but I’m sure they must be gorgeous.
Lovely, Julie and as usual beautifully photographed. I think peonies are really best as a cut flower. They don’t seem to like my soil or I might be tempted.
Great!