Welcome to this week’s In A Vase On Monday where as usual on a Monday I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to join in with her challenge to find something from the garden to put in a vase in the house every week of the year.
This week the stars of my garden and consequently todays vase are the miniature Tete a Tete narcissi that are gradually turning the garden from white to yellow as they take over from the snowdrops, which have been flowering beautifully since January.
The month of March will see a succession of daffodils coming into flower in my garden and they should be accompanied by the bright yellow forsythia and kerria blooms towards the end of the month. My favourite narcissi are the white flowered varieties including Thalia, White Cheerfulness and Silver Bells, but I will have to wait a while for those.
I have used a small silver plated jug today to hold my flowers. I started with a base of viburnum tinus to support the flowers and gradually added a stem at a time making sure that the flower heads were at different heights. Freshly cut narcissi do not mix well with other flowers as their stems leak a poisonous sap. If you condition the flowers overnight in a vase of water and do not re cut the stems before arranging them, it should be fine to mix them with other spring blooms. I cut these flowers today though, so restricted my vase to these and the tough viburnum leaves. If the white flower heads start to wilt I will simply cut them off.
Although I am very excited about all the lovely spring flowers that are close to blooming, for now I will enjoy these delicate yellow flowers that are accompanying the longer brighter (although not warmer) days and announcing that spring is finally here. I know that spring does not officially start for a few weeks yet, but as soon as I see these lovely cheerful flowers spring has commenced in my gardening world.
I have loved the quiet months of January and February, populated with my beautiful snowdrops and hellebores (which are truly flowers of the winter). I know that the quiet period is coming to an end though as the Tete a Tete start to bloom. Now begins the rollercoaster ride of the gardening year as every few weeks a new wave of flowers will grace the borders and I will fight the endless battle with the weeds.
On that note I am very conscious that I have not been here as often as I would like recently, but I must confess that every spare moment has seen me battling to bring order back into my borders before the season really gets going. I cannot say I am winning the battle yet but inroads have been made, which to be honest is all I can ever really hope for.
I do plan to take my camera outside again soon and share with you the arrival of spring in my garden, but just at the moment I have far to much mud and too many weeds to deal with to risk taking my camera outside with me. I also must apologise for all the comments I have not answered recently – I do read and appreciate every comment that you leave and I will be back on track with regular replies soon.
I am planning to write about the wedding flowers that I am growing and share their progress with you starting with the seeds that are germinating in my greenhouse right now. I am also going to follow my Cutting Garden on a monthly basis again as I did last year, but this year I will be writing these posts as a guest blogger for the Sarah Raven blog Garlic & Sapphire. My first post should be later this month and I will include a link here to every post I write so that you can keep up with the seasons progress. I would love to find you commenting and discussing my posts on the Sarah Raven blog as you do here! Apart from the Cutting Garden post moving to the Sarah Raven blog it will be business as usual here at Peonies & Posies and I am so excited about all we have to look forward to in our gardens now that spring is here!
I hope you have enjoyed my little bunch of Tete a Tete’s tonight and that you will pop over to Cathy’s blog to see what she and the others have found in their gardens this week.
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You’ve elevated the pretty daffodils into sheer elegance.
Thank you Susie – they have brightened my day which has been very dark, wet and windy outside.
The shiney viburnum leaves and their white sprigs add another dimension to the narcissi, don’t they? Lovely. And another wedding to grow flowers for – AND guest blogging for Sarah Raven. Well done for all that you have been achieving – no wonder you haven’t time to blog as often!
Thank you Cathy – you are right that I have been busy and don’t forget the decorating – that is so disruptive although lovely when it is finished. Hopefully my mental space for blogging will be a bit clearer soon.
Aren’t spring flowers enchanting? Yours certainly are.
Yes John spring flowers are so irresistible!
LOve the jug full of spring….we still have winter and all the bulbs in my post are wishful thinking. It will be at least 2 weeks before we see a bloomif the warm weather comes early as they say it is.
Sorry Donna – I clearly didn’t spend enough time reading your post & just assumed they were flowering now. Well at least you have it all to look forward too – I will keep my fingers crossed for some warmer weather for you.
Enjoy your lovely jug of spring Julie; my blue jug of yellow daffodils was only one week earlier than yours. So you see tulips will always be easier for me to have early!
That is interesting Christina – I would have expected yours to have flowered well before mine. My tulips are all showing now but it will be late March before I have any flowers.
Absolutely gorgeous Julie! Pure gold! 🙂
Thank you Cathy!!
Gorgeous Tete a Tete and I shall look forward to reading your blog on Sarah’s website. I am planning a very bountiful cut flower bed again on the allotment.
Isn’t it exciting to be thinking about planting out our cut flower beds again Sue! I have lots of overwintered hardy annuals that I am going to start planting out now that March here and lots of germinating seeds in the greenhouse.
How exciting Julie – it will be lovely to follow you both here and over on Sarah’s blog. I had a wonderful snowdrop inspired January and February thanks to all you have written here and now you have whetted my appetite for the fabulous season of daffodils and narcissi – welcome March!
Thank you for your support Teresa – I am looking forward to sharing plenty of spring bulbs throughout March & April!
Daffodils are really the flower that says Spring is trying hard. Even after they collapse during a heavy frost, they soon perk up. A vase of golden daffodils certainly perks up a room, and with the natural low light they really shine. Your arrangement with the green is lovely
The very image of spring!
Thank you Anca!