In A Vase On Monday - Winter Jasmine

One of the gateways to the path that goes along the riverside in town is edged on one side with a very old winter jasmine, jasminum nudiflorum. Passing yesterday I spotted it was in full flower so, just as soon as we returned home, I rushed down to the bottom of the long border to see how our own, much younger, jasmine was doing. 

It wasn't exactly covered in flowers, only the one fully opened, but there along the stems was tiny yellow tipped buds ... the promise of more to come. Maybe I should have waited a bit longer but I always look forward to bringing this bit of winter cheer indoors so I clipped just a few snippets and, because they were short, the only 'vase' suitable was this tiny green snail jug.

To encourage the stems to stay upright, I had to put some glass pebbles in the base of the jug - that did the trick. I have great hopes that these stems will last until the end of the week - possibly longer.

I did intend joining in with Cathy's In a Vase on Monday last week but a family crisis prevented it so here's a few photos of the vase that didn't make it.

It's a tied posy made up of a mix of the expected and the unexpected for this time of the year. The unexpected - red 'Faithful', peach 'Simply the Best' and lilac 'Violet Cloud' rosebuds, white self-seeded miniature antirrhinums, deep pink escallonia rubra blossoms and even one last white sweet pea still in flower in November. The expected - rose hips, berries of skimmia, sprigs of viburnum 'Eve Price' and a few bits of osmanthus x burkwoodii for foliage. 

The little posy has lasted very well and this despite the very necessary central heating. The temperature plummeted to zero degrees during last week and we've had our first snowfall of the year already. This bad weather means that I haven't been spending much time in the garden - it's time to concentrate on indoor gardening up here in Ayrshire. 

To see many more delightful vases do pop over to Rambling in the Garden.