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 have two vases to share. I have been thinking about what to make for today’s post over the weekend and ended up with a choice of two flowers that I did not want to combine together – in the end I decided it would be easier to make two vases than to make a decision!
My first vase of the day is very simple – just a handful of Forget-me-nots placed in a footed bowl. Forget-me-nots (proper name Myosotis sylvatica), flower very early in the spring with a fragile blue flower. A little research revealed a German legend, which says that after God had named all the plants, a tiny unnamed one cried out “Forget-me-not, O Lord!”. God replied ‘That shall be your name”.
In the language of flowers Forget-me-nots mean enduring true love, faithfulness, memories and, of course, do not forget me. I can imagine a Victorian gentleman presenting his love with a posy of Forget-me-nots before heading off to war or on a Grand Tour.
In the first spring that we were here there were no Forget-me-nots in the garden. Last year I put that right when a friend offered to let me take some small plants from her garden. They all transplanted well and flowered happily. As a result this year I have Forget-me-nots popping up all over the garden. Whilst I know from past experience that they can become a weed, I am happy to let them self seed and then weed out the surplus as necessary. Like poppies there are few places they can settle in the garden where I would not want them anyway.
I have never cut them for a vase before so it will be interesting to see how long these fragile flowers last inside.
My second offering is a homage to my favorite scent of the season. Viburnum carlesii is in flower this week and I cannot resist stepping out into the garden to sniff that wonderful seductive scent at every opportunity! I have a huge bushy shrub – easily 10 ft tall and as wide growing in a very soggy part of the garden. Its roots are under water for a good part of every winter and throughout the summer it is shaded by a huge lime tree. Despite these poor conditions it flowers profusely every spring. It was growing in this spot long before we moved here and it is a shrub I had not come across before. Now I regard it as an essential part of spring – its flowering season is something that I anticipate for many weeks before the flowers arrive. In previous years I have just enjoyed the scent outside, but I noticed Libby at An Eye For Detail had arranged a few stems in a vase last week, so I decided I would do the same.
My small stone urn proved to be a good option. I needed to use something other than glass as the twiggy stems are not particularly attractive. To provide a cushion for the viburnum flowers to rest on I cut sprigs of Choisya terrnata which is just coming into flower. To give the arrangement a spring like freshness I used some long stems of an as yet unidentified variety of spirea.
I have a fake moss ring which fits on top of the urn perfectly and provides a good support for the arrangement.
I could not resist adding a few flower heads to a small crystal vase. You can clearly see the beautiful pink buds which open to white flowers. These are quite long lasting on the bush, although I do not have high hopes that they will survive well indoors. The scent is so lovely in the room though that it is worth bringing them in even if the arrangement has a fleeting life.
Finally a view of my reading chair next to the window, with the scent of the arrangement filling the air. I have a book which I am keen to finish tonight – it is called ‘The Misbegotten’ by Katherine Webb. Although recently published this has something of the Victorian gothic novel about it and and I am determined to to find the answers to the mysteries before going to sleep!
I hope you have enjoyed this weeks vases and that you will pop over to Cathy’s blog to see what she and the others have made this week.