In a Vase on Monday: Tantrums and Geums

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The tantrums in my title refer to the April weather, not me. Although, as you can see in the photo below, yesterday did almost push me to the brink of tantrum-throwing!

Fortunately the snow didn’t settle properly but it is still very cold.

You may be wondering what that pile of soil is, slap bang in the middle of my garden…. let me explain. In the middle of winter I had the brilliant idea of making a new bed… most likely the final one in the flower garden. It will be right in the middle of the garden, between the Moon Bed and The ‘Edge.

So all that green expanse in the photos above will be filled. There will be a seating area in the centre of it, and the bed will contain only (or almost only) scented plants.

So after a couple of weeks of dry weather, and temperatures in the mid twenties (Yes, Celsius!) my Man of Many Talents set to work peeling off the grass with the tractor…

And at the end of the day this is what remained, ready to be hauled off the following day.

But then it rained. And it rained and rained all of the following week. And then to crown it all, yesterday it snowed, hailed, sleeted and rained. So removing all that heavy soil/grass sods will have to wait until the ground hardens up a bit, or we will have tire tracks all over the garden! The next stage will be tilling over the area and spreading mulch. Then some plants can go in and the seating area will be constructed.

So I must try and remain calm, pot on all the new plants I had bought that are waiting to go in the ground, and be patient… The weather forecast is not brilliant…

Joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her In a Vase on Monday meme will certainly help distract me.

A few early Geum flowers which were braving the elements have been snipped and put in my Etsy vase, along with some of the lovely Spiraea ‘Magic Carpet’ and a few Pulsatilla seedheads.

The Geums do have labels, but the wind was so icy that I didn’t linger to read them! 😝

I do hope your weather is nicer than ours this week and your gardening plans for 2024 can move forward! In the meantime, do visit Cathy to see her pretty vase  today.

Happy gardening!

 

 

In a Vase on Monday: Tulips 🌷

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A thick layer of yellow pollen was covering everything yesterday, as the conifers in the woods all around us are flowering. There were literally clouds of it every time the wind stirred, but fortunately an overnight shower had settled it enough for me to pick a few tulips this morning for today’s vase.

In the centre this lovely orange one is flowering in The ‘Edge. (It may be Ballerina….?)

The pink one on the right is a new one – Mariette – and the paler pink one on the left was planted out from a pot a couple of years ago and the name is long forgotten. They have come back well, despite the excavation work carried out by mice in the winter!

This pale yellow one, also planted out from pots last year, has a slight orange tinge to the edges which makes me think of  ice cream with raspberry sauce…. 😆 Some Pulsatilla seedheads, chocolatey Geranium phaeum and a lime green Euphorbia polychroma accompany it.

Somehow the day got away from me, so I am late posting my vase. But it was a good day with a visit to a garden centre and then some gardening later on. However, the highlight of the day was the discovery of vegan Babybel cheese. Swoon! 🤣

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting ‘In a Vase on Monday’.

Happy gardening everyone!

 

In a Vase on Monday: A Little Spring Indulgence

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A beautiful blue Anemone coronaria has appeared in a pot I bought several weeks ago. At first I thought there were only pink ones in it, but last week it surprised me and some blue buds opened as well. 😃

I have admired these on other people’s blogs for years, and can only hope these will come back next year for me if I plant them out when they go over. Which may be fairly soon as we have had some very warm weather. The heat prompted me to cut one, to enjoy indoors. It will probably last longer in a vase full of cold water anyway.

The golden tulip was also cut to preserve it a little longer…

… it has been 25°C for the second day in a row, which is hot for April!

Muscari and Forget-me-nots, a Cowslip, some Narcissi ‘Hawera’ and a yellow Hellebore bulked out the vase a little, along with some Lady’s Mantle leaves.

I feel this vase is an indulgence, cutting such lovely flowers to put in a vase. Something I would probably not do if it wasn’t for Cathy at Rambling in the Garden hosting this meme every week! (Do go and visit!) I am sure I have said this before, but the encouragement and inspiration from Cathy and the other contributors has transformed the way I see my garden, and cutting flowers is no longer as hard to justify. 😃

There are other flowers and buds on the Anemone, and a few more of these gorgeous yellow tulips – can’t remember their name but I think it is something like Texas Gold.

But wait, there’s another vase today! (What an indulgence – TWO vases! LOL!)

Do you recognize this flower?

Yes, a rhubarb flower – well, bud. I noticed it the other day and decided to cut it as my rhubarb plant is still so small. I just haven’t found the right spot for it yet. A new one was planted at the opposite end of the garden this spring and perhaps that will do better! Anyway, the flower is a bit odd, don’t you think! I put lots of purple Heuchera leaves around it to disguise the thick stem.

Thanks for visiting, and happy gardening!

Revealing what was in the box!

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So on Saturday morning (yesterday) I asked for some guesses as to what might be in my box.

There were some great ideas, but only Tony got it right after clearly giving it much thought! Well done Tony! 👍 Edit: John got it right too! Well done John!

Let’s take a peak in the box…

Still puzzled?

Not just one….

…but THREE compost bins! 😄

Maybe not everyone’s ideal anniversary present, but for a gardener like me a valuable investment.

The frames slot into each other and the wooden boards can be easily removed.

The whole thing will be reassembled at the bottom of the garden today. Any useful tips on composting would be welcome!

What’s in the box?

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 Can you guess what this box contains? 🙄

My anniversary present from my Man of Many Talents! And yes, it is garden-related. 😉

Go on, leave me your guesses in the comments and I will reveal it in a couple of days, as soon as we have unpacked it….

😄

In a Vase on Monday: Springtime Cheer

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A couple of weeks ago I shared a new cut glass vase my Mum had sent me, engraved with daffodils. Well, today it is being put to use again, displaying my first tall Narcissi which have opened in our exceptionally warm weather (over 20°C!) over the past few days.

It is a fortunate coincidence that the orange tulips (Ballerina?) and pheasant’s eye Narcissi (N. poeticus ‘Actaea’) actually flower next to each other in a corner of the Herb Bed, where Narcissi Cheerfulness and Yellow Cheerfulness are also planted. The larger white flowered Narcissus is Thalia, growing in the Butterfly Bed among the rapidly fading Primroses.

Talking of fading, the Hellebores are also beginning to fade, but slowly and gracefully, and picking them now is such a pleasure as they will last much longer in a vase. This one is Yellow Lady.

Last week I was also given a beautiful bouquet of flowers by my Man of Many Talents – no occasion, although we are celebrating 30 years of togetherness this week!

The bouquet contains several plants I cannot place, but a yellow rose, some orange Gerbera and two Strelitzia.

The Strelitzia are amazing flowers and although they would look completely out of place in a garden here I have grown more fond of them and other tropicals as I learn more about them from Amelia,  The Shrub Queen. Her Florida garden is full of fabulous flowers, fruits and foliage, including tree orchids. Do take a look at her last post here.

So once again the house is full of flowers, and the garden is bursting to life too. I will be enjoying it from indoors today though – not only does my back need a rest after doing some edging (see here), but there is a very strong wind whipping up pollen and Sahara dust that has been transported our way on the warm currents from the south. It has created a strange haze over the last few days, preventing the sun from being too strong – perhaps a blessing in disguise as early heatwaves finish off the spring plants far too quickly. I just hope my tulips and tall daffodils stand up to this wind!

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this meme. 💕

I hope you have all had a relaxing Easter weekend and can make the most of the extra hour of evening light now the clocks have changed (in Europe).

Happy gardening!