In a Vase on Monday: Here’s One I Made Earlier

Knowing I wouldn’t be at home to produce a vase, I prepared a draft post towards the end of last week and can now confidently press ‘Publish’ on the WordPress app on my phone without having to find a wi-fi hotspot to publish it from my laptop!

The main occupants of the vase were shouting at me from their elevated position next to the ‘bus shelter’, a profuse second flush of Madame Alfred Carrière roses – only a few days before there were only one or two in bloom then all of a sudden the stems were full of the blousy beauties. This is exactly what happened with the first flush, from nothing to everything in just a few days – easily the most floriferous of my roses. She is a fragrant noisette variety with medium sized creamy white blooms and perhaps an occasional flush of baby pink, and the quantity of flowers meant I could be generous with my pickings – but I needed a ladder to do so!

‘Mollie Rilestone’ sweet pea has a similar colourway with creamy white frilly flowers edged in pink and a delightful perfume, making her an ideal companion for Madame AC. All the flowers were cut to a similar length and most of the leaves removed, then the rose stems were conditioned in boiling water for 20 seconds or so before being loosely placed in an amethyst purple Caithness Glass rose bowl. At this point I decided some feathery foliage was required so popped out and cut some ‘Candy Stripe’ cosmos stems, each with just a hint of bud, and built up a posy by hand. Once complete, the posy was tied with string and popped in the vase, the first time I have tried this – it was certainly a good way of balancing the contents and keeping them from shifting while the vase was being moved.

In the circumstances another title wasn’t required but if it had it would have to have been something romantic, so in recognition of this the vase was photographed with ‘The Nation’s Favourite Love Poems’, one of a series of collections of poetry published in conjunction with the BBC (the favourite being ‘Sonnet from the Portuguese XLIII How do I love thee? Let me count the ways’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning).

Whilst we are gallivanting in Shropshire in our campervan hopefully you will be picking things from your own gardens and putting them in a vase to enjoy over the next few days. Thank you to everyone who already joins in with this meme – you know just how much fun there is to be had in doing so. Anyone is welcome to join in, whether regularly or occasionally – but if you would like us to share in the pleasure of your vase please leave a comment on this post with a link to yours, and also a link to this post from yours. See you next week!