In a Vase on Monday: Simples!

For those not in the UK the title might not mean anything, but indeed ‘Simples!’ has officially entered the English language following its use as a catchphrase in a comparison website advert which features either irritating or endearing Russian meerkat characters, depending on your viewpoint. The contents of the vase as well as the title actually came to me just after I had completed last week’s vase and was returning the previous week’s cornus stems to a pot on the windowsill. The pot also contained reusable twisted hazel – and a number of snowdrops inadvertently dug out without the bulbs when I was transplanting clumps. Ahah, I thought – Simples!

And simple it is, a handful of snowdrops and several very useful twigs of twisted hazel in a vintage creamware pot against a background of a piece of blackwork embroidery – no Meerkat Toy as a prop though, but some tactile flint picked up on Skegness beach. The twisted hazel is proving to be a very useful tool for the vases, adding structure and form but also providing useful twists and turns to hold delicate flowers without the use of Oasis or pins – and the ability to be reused over and over again.

So there we have it, a simple arrangement in a vase on Monday – the arrangement may be simple, but finding appropriate props to support the contents adds a twist to the challenge for me. Not a mandatory twist I hasten to add for anyone who wants to join in – that’s just a matter of finding something from your own garden or thereabouts and displaying it in a vase (or not) on a Monday – then leave a link from your post to this and vice versa. Tagging it ‘in a vase on Monday’ will also help others to find you so we can share in the pleasures of bringing the outside in. Indeed, the joys of last week’s hellebores are still with me, all but one of the floating flowers still looking as fresh as the day they were picked.