Hello Everyone,
It's Monday again! Where does the weekend go? Still, being Monday is not all bad. At least we get to join in with
Cathy's In A Vase On Monday and that's got to be good.
Most of the flowers in my vase today were found in the wildflower patch. Last year I sowed some mixed seed packets which contained mostly annuals such as poppies,
papaver rheoas and
orientale , corn marigolds, g
lebionis segetum, and corncockles,
Agrostemma githago, but the list of contents did contain the names of a few biennials. Of course, I totally forgot about that! One of the lovely advantages of being forgetful is that it's been a wonderful surprise to discover a few new wildflowers popping up here and there in the patch.
For example, this red campion,
Silene dioica, - a little flower that holds memories in it's wee pink petals of spring holidays in North Yorkshire where the hedgerows were a delight to see. Also in the mix is a few sprays of London Pride,
saxifraga × urbium, and a little piece from our very young gum tree,
eucalyptus.
Again this week, because it is so pretty, there's dames violet,
hesperis matronalis. Another name for this flower is sweet rocket, very apt because it is deliciously scented. I've added one deep purple aquilegia ... I'd love to tell you the variety but the label has long gone ... and a couple of stems of apple blossom. Last year we had very little blossom and only two apples but it was the first year of planting. This year the tree is covered in blossom and I have high hopes for a bumper harvest, so don't think pinching a few blossoms is too bad.
Tucked in under the flowers are a couple of sprigs of feverfew,
tanacetum parthenium, which has happily seeded around the rose bed. The three orange/yellow
geums are survivors from last week's vase. The colour is a bit of a mystery because according to my records these are Mrs Bradshaw, a red variety. Another mystery to me is the brown coloured brush shaped flower you can see in the shot above. It is another surprise from the seed packets but I have absolutely no idea what it is called. Any ideas?
Once I picked my little posy of wildflowers it seemed appropriate to
plonk arrange them into a vase that is decorated with some of my favourite Scottish wildflowers.
It's taken me since this morning to complete this post. So many interruptions and distractions, if you can call the mountain of ironing, of Ben Nevis proportions, a distraction. I think perhaps I should take a leaf out of Sam's,
A Coastal Plot, and cheat a little by doing it all Sunday evening but then there's usually something else distracting me then too ... sigh!
As usual, thanks to
Cathy for hosting this friendly meme.
Happy gardening,
4 comments:
A beautiful vase of flowers Elizabeth. They look so fresh and pretty I can almost smell them.
Years ago I planted a packet of mixed seeds and all that came up were the corncockles! Barbxx
You've gathered a lovely collection of wildflowers, Elizabeth! I cheat and prepare my vases on Sunday as Sam did too - what with the time difference, you wouldn't see my vases until mid-week otherwise.
I love your little mix of mostly wild flowers, Elizabeth - a mix like this is a good way of reminding yourself of the names of things you have long since forgotten (well, often I have!!). Burnet comes into my head for the bottlebrush thing, for example. A most appropriate vase to put them into too. I suppose it's a nice surprise to see an orange geum, even though you were expecting a red - I have today realised that one of my new rugosa roses is definitely not what it was meant to be but David Austin is very good at sending out the proper one so I should end up with an extra rose!!
What a wonderful arrangement of blooms Elizabeth, they are beautiful, and the vase is just perfect for them, Kate x
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