Dear Readers,
I must start with a very heartfelt apology for my long absence. As you will probably have guessed all has not been rosy here in the Peonies & Posies garden for some time now. Having taken our family holiday to Florida back in August, I returned full of blogging plans to find my mother in ill health. Sadly the situation is on going for the time being. Whilst I am doing my best to keep on top of my gardening jobs, something had to give and that something has been my photography and blogging.
Having not joined in with In A Vase On Monday for so many weeks I was determined to take part today but yet again found myself without the time to cut and photograph a few flowers. So instead of a vase that I made myself, I have decided to treat you to a lovely arrangement made and photographed by a very talented flowery friend with flowers picked from my garden.
This beautiful arrangement was made by Brigitte from Moss & Stone. Brigitte and I have only met very recently, after being introduced via Instagram through a mutual Instagraming friend – what a wonderful community Instagram is! You can catch up with Brigitte and her lovely life with her adorable puppy and kitten and her very beautiful garden on her daily Instagram feed.. Brigitte loves to arrange flowers in a wild and romantic style and she runs courses from her beautiful home where you can learn to recreate her individual style.
This arrangement is made up of a few unnamed dahlias, blue cornflowers, red amaranthus, verbena, cosmos Double Click Cranberry and a few late roses. All these are still flowering beautifully in my plot, although I am expecting the show will end quite soon as the temperatures drop and the daylight recedes.
I am working hard in whatever spare time I can salvage to prepare my garden for winter. The cutting bed borders are gradually being cleared and tidied and replanted with a selection of bulbs and biennials that I managed to sow back in June. In the greenhouse I have planted my chrysanthemums into the greenhouse bed, my winter variety sweet pea seeds have been sown and germinated and I will be planting my first batch of Paperwhite bulbs very soon. I still need to sow a few trays of hardy annual seeds, but otherwise I am on top of the greenhouse timetable. Outside there are plenty of biennials to transplant, I will be starting to plant tulip bulbs in November and I need to order some garlic and shallots to plant for next years vegetable crops. I am also planning to sow some broad beans and pea seeds to grow outside throughout the winter (although I always have mixed success with these).
I am very sorry for my prolonged absence and hope that I will be back here sharing photos and gardening stories with you very soon. In the meantime thank you to Cathy from Rambling In The Garden for this lovely meme which I am greatly missing taking part in – do pop over to her blog to see what she and the others have made this week.
Thank you also to Brigitte for sharing her lovely photo with me – she would be delighted if you would pop over to her Instagram feed and say hi.
Please do say hi to me too if you have the time – I have not been able to comment on blogs or keep up with all my blog reading recently, but I do miss everyone and would hate to lose touch!
Julie xx
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Hi Julie – welcome back, you’ve been missed.
I hope all stabilises soon and you get a little more time for the garden and blogging, but of course, your priority must be your mum. Thinking of you.
Thank you Jenny for your support! xx
Hello Julie. Good to hear from you, but sorry your Mum is poorly. I had been wondering where you had got to, but not to worry as I will still be here when you return to blogging, waiting to see your beautiful vases and news from your garden! All the best to you and your Mum!
Thank you Cathy – I am missing keeping up with everyone and hope things improve soon. At least the darker evenings will give me a bit more time to catch up with blog reading! xx
Brigette made excellent use of the flowers in your garden, Julie! The cornflowers really spice it up and the amaranthus adds drama. I’m sorry to hear that you mother has been ill and I hope you and she enjoy brighter days soon.
Thank you Kris for your support – I really appreciate it. Isn’t the amaranthus gorgeous – I have not grown the red one before and it is still looking great in the garden.
Brigitte has made a most beautiful vase and it’s a shame your dahlias are unnamed as the pink ones are so lovely, especially that two tone pink one. After having to downscale your autumn and winter gardening last year you must be pleased to feel more or less on top of things this time round, even if you have let photography and blogging slide. Priorities can change so suddenly and I am sure that all your blogging friends will be pleased to hear your news and wish you and your Mum all the best
Thank you Cathy for being so understanding – as you say priorities change when illness rears its ugly head – I am keeping my fingers crossed that the wonderful doctors we are dealing with might come up with some answers soon. I am sorry about the unnamed dahlias and I will try and find their name tags when the growth around them is cleared away. I am fairly certain they were both from Peter Nyssen if that helps.
So nice to see you back blogging again and those flowers are stunning. How lovely to have so much still in flower, my cutting patch is on the wane now although dahlias are still going strong. There are times when life takes over and blogging takes a back seat. I hope life settles for you.
Thank you Sue for your support. I can’t promise anything regular on the blogging front just yet but am keeping my fingers crossed that she will improve soon so that life can settle back into a routine..
Sorry to hear about your Mum Julie. I do appreciate your posts and understand that your blogging will be limited for the moment, Wishing your Mum all the best.
Sorry to hear your news have missed you .
Thank you Rena and I hope to be back more regularly soon.
I was also saddened to see that your Mum isn’t well and hope she is on the mend. I wanted you to know that I was able to source those root trainers you recommended and I am very grateful. We received our first snowfall ( 7″) here in Alaska followed by frigid temps. Winter is officially here and I just managed to get all the dahlias dug and bulbs in before the ground froze. Just…..