In A Vase On Monday - Spring Bits & Bobs - plus a garden update

Hello Everyone,

Today is the first day of spring and so to celebrate I have a vase of seasonal bits and bobs  for Cathy's In A Vase.

A wander round the garden today was very cheering. Not only was there green shoots popping up all over the place, all promising lots of colour to come, but also quite a few spring flowers - among them cowslips (primula veris), lungwort (pulmonaria 'Blue Ensign'), helleborus niger 'Christmas Carol' - ready to be picked and popped in a vase.

Cowslips - Primula veris

Helleborus niger 'Christmas Carol' and lungwort, Pulmonaria 'Blue Ensign'

I added, just because I couldn't resist it, the acid green foliage of an alpine aquilegia, not in flower just yet but it won't be long now.

For me this combination of blue and yellow just says springtime even though, dotted around the garden, there are just a few other colours, mainly from the old wallflowers that have been producing a bloom or two since January but are now really getting going. Here's a few shots of what I spotted during my wander.

Wallflowers

And here's the lungwort and cowslips before picking. According to the label for this lungwort is also known as "Blue Cowslip".

Lungwort

Cowslips

I couldn't resist taking a photograph of some of the flower buds that are popping up - here's a couple.

Clematis 'Broughton Bride'

Tulips

And there's no forgetting the many daffodils that are still brightening up my days.

The windblown flowers are cut to fill even more vases with their golden loveliness.

Cathy is celebrating five years of blogging at Rambling In The Garden so do pop over to see the fabulous vase, hand painted by her daughter, saved for this very occasion.

In A Vase On Monday and a Little Garden Chat

Evening Everyone,

In A Vase On Monday - A Last Hurrah

Monday is when I try to join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In A Vase On Monday. I don't always make it, sometimes missing it altogether and occasionally making it a day or three later - as I did last week - but this week I've made it, just!

It's almost February and it has been feeling almost springlike but there's still very little colour in the garden so I've cheated a little today. I've added a few stems cut from a red Poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima,  a gift from our grandson we've had since before Christmas, to a jug containing some ivy, hedera. 

Sadly, the poinsettia was losing its leaves and starting to go over so I thought to give it a last beautiful hurrah - hence the title. The ivy has been around for at least two months, maybe longer, forming part of a much earlier arrangement. Ivy has a way of going on forever and these stems have started to form roots!

Last week's arrangement which made a late appearance on Thursday also contained euphorbia, E, x martinii 'Ascot Rainbow'. By this morning it was all shriveled up and looking very sad so I've replaced it with what was left on the poinsettia and a few flowers from two new hellebores, H. niger - the taller one - and H, niger 'Christmas Carol' - the two shorter ones. 

Here they are, the two vases on the hearth - very festive looking. A little bit of Christmas lingering on. The bird dangling from the fire door was crocheted by a very talented friend. 

Garden Chat

We've had some lovely weather recently, lots of blue skies and sunshine - spring isn't too far away. Because of this unseasonable warmth there's lots going on in the garden. Seeds sown in the autumn are now peeping through and it won't be too long before the daffodils are in flower - I can just see signs of colour peeking through. 

Cyrtomium fortunei 'Holly Fern', Dryopteris astrata 'Buckler fern', Polystichum braunii 'Braun's Holly Fern' 

This bed has, so far, proved to be difficult. It's shady and damp, up against a brick wall, and rarely sees the sun. There's been a shrub or tree, maybe a climber, growing there at one time but all that's left is a stump and there is an established clump of comfrey too but otherwise nothing. Last year I tried to cheer it up with forget-me-not and nasturtium but with little success. I'm told that the conditions are ideal for ferns so after a trip to the garden centre on Saturday we now have the worlds tiniest fernery! 

Hellebore niger 'Christmas Carol' and White Hellebore niger 

White Hellebore niger

I'm having no luck keeping hellebores in the garden. I've tried growing them down in the woodland area but they just don't do well there although the conditions should be perfect for them. It's a shame because they can brighten a shady area beautifully and look stunning growing in drifts. Anyway, given my lack of success you would think I'd resist the temptation to buy more. Not so! I left the garden centre with two more which, with the one survivor from last year, I intend to grow on in large pots where they will be cossetted. 

Finally, not the best of photos but here's our first, much anticipated, snowdrop, galanthus nivalis, of the year! I'm totally delighted to have snowdrops established in our garden and it's all thanks to the generosity of Cathy.