Encouraged by posies produced by Louise of Wellywoman and The Cut Flower Patch fame and also by Julie at Peonies and Posies, I was thrilled to be able to take advantage for the first time of flowers from the garden to take to a friend I was visiting. I’m sure there have been flowers suitable for cutting before, but I hadn’t really considered it until now and the Vase on Monday meme has really whetted my appetite. Lyd’s posy was a simple bunch of the first bluebells, Leucojum aestivum and hellebores with their now bulging seed pods, tied together with brown string with the ends frayed; needless to say, she was delighted.
The sunny weather this week has seen me, like many others, working industriously in the garden – sweeping the paths and paved areas and teasing out weeds from the cracks has kept me busy for a few hours, with occasional sidetracking to replace damaged labels or inspect new growth. I was hoping to remove the large number of allium seedlings that are populating the main borders but they are proving particularly resilient and tend to come out without their bulblets -doh! Nevertheless, the bergenia that began as a trimming picked up from the pavement adjacent to a Council border over 30 years ago has been removed, having long since outlived its usefulness in filling a space in a previous garden – nothing against bergenias, but it never really did anything except fill a space. Likewise, a clump of polygonatum has been ousted from one of the main borders (there are still clumps by the stream and in the woodland edge) and I am looking forward to filling the gaps in these borders with the annuals that are being grown from seed.
Annette of My Aberdeen Garden mentioned the use of a photo gallery when she commented on my GBBD post earlier in the week, inadvertently offering me a challenge. I have not used a gallery on WordPress before so investigated the process and although it still seems a bit clumsy I will give it a try but would welcome alternative suggestions from other bloggers.
The post brought me more seeds this morning – not that I had forgotten I had applied for seeds to take part in trials for Which? Gardening again, but I had forgotten which seeds I had applied for…. more courgettes, more tomatoes, more cosmos……
Rambling in the Garden 
This is pretty Cathy. I think fresh flowers make a perfect gift for friends.
Regarding your gallery, there are a lot of options besides the slideshow one that are fun to play with. The WordPress support instructions are at http://en.support.wordpress.com/images/gallery/ and I have used most of the options depending on the need. In particular see Step 8 and notice the “Type” option. I like the “tiled mosaic”. susie
Thanks Susie – I did have a look at the others options, but thought they were too busy if there was a lot of pictures. I am going to investigate Flickr but it’s good to have a bit of a challenge and try out something you’ve not done before.
Fresh flowers make the nicest gifts and are always appreciated. Oh dear, not more seeds.
Um yes, and I don’t really NEED more seeds…. All part of the learning experience – I’ll have a better idea of what’s needed or wanted next year after a year of having some cutting beds and filling gaps in the borders (and there won’t be trays and trays of aquilegia seedlings in the greenhouse next year either!)
Well done indeed for the slide show! It does show off your flowers well. I haven’t actually used the slide show myself; as pbmgarden says there are lots of other display options for the gallery view so you shouldn’t need to put it on another page. When you have all the photos added to a gallery and have it inserted in your post, you can easily change to another display style. Just click on the edit button that appears when you click on the gallery in your draft post. You will need to preview it to see it working though. Good luck!
Yes, thanks Annette – it was intersting to look at other options
There is nothing more lovely than a gift of fresh flowers! Love this posy. I sometimes take little pots of herbs that I’ve grown from seed to friend’s houses. They’re always well received!
Nice idea!
A most thoughtful and pretty gift for a friend Cathy. I’m sure that she was pleased to receive it. I liked the slideshow but unable to offer any advice. I use WordPress for our allotment website but have been blissfully unaware of this feature until now. Does that astrantia ever stop flowering?
I don’t think I knew you had an allotment website! The astrantia did go south for the winter but has quickly returned – this one must have flowered for about 8 or 9 months, which is pretty commendable.
Flowers from the garden are the best present you could take. Sorry can’t give you any advice for your problem, I’m just happy when everything is working as it should!
I hope to give many more posies as the year goes on 🙂
What a lucky friend to receive such a sweet posy. D.
Particularly as she had to give up her ‘real’ garden for a mostly paved small patch..
That must be tough for her. Lots of big containers required then. D.
Yes, and mostly shrubs as it is in shade for a lot of the day – it was an unwelcome move through change in circumstances which makes it worse as she really misses her garden
Lovely posy, Cathy! Has it whetted your appetite? You will have plenty of options for more with your seeds, not to mention, plenty to eat! I particularly like the look of the “Lace” collection. Must look out for those and give them a go!
The ‘Lace Collection’ was put together by Which? Gardening to compare the 3 varieties, I think, so I don’t think it would be generally available as a collection – but I may be wrong
Such a pretty posy! Sorry, not sure what options are available to wordpress.com users. I do know that I have endless trouble finding a gallery tool that both looks good and that works on smartphones and tablets as well as pcs/laptops! I think I found one I want to use, I put it on a client’s site, but haven’t had time to play with it yet. I only sowed ‘Purity’ this year – so far – I may have to change that… Can never have too many cosmos…
Sometimes there is just too much technology available! I haven’t successfully grown cosmos before, but it’s looking more promising so far this year 😉
I bet your friend was delighted with her posy! I am so glad that I have inspired you Cathy – I find that posies of home grown flowers make the best presents.
She was Julie, and I am looking forward to doing more of it