In a vase on Monday: Calmer, Serener

After meagre pickings from my attempts at growing dahlias in the past I now have several plants with numerous buds or flowers, a thrilling position to be in. These ‘Karma Serena’ were the first to bloom and have been crying out to be used in a vase for at least a fortnight and today their time has come.

The dahlia was grown from a tuber from Peter Nyssen (described as white with a greenish yellow centre), potted up in the greenhouse on arrival and then planted out when there was a reasonable amount of leaf and shoot showing, perhaps sometime in May. In future it might be helpful to add this to my record keeping chart along with details of seeds and sowing. I had no doubts about sticking to a white and green palette for the vase contents and quickly snipped some Amaranthus ‘Green Cascade’ and immature Ammi visnaga heads. The dahlias had fairly lengthy stems but to allow the amazing green tassels of amaranthus to dangle to their full advantage the tall black vase I had bought at a car boot sale yesterday was pressed into service – but turned out to be too tall for the dahlias. Filling the base with glass pebbles quickly solved this and a slight rearrangement of the blooms produced a stylish vase in very little time.

The second stem of amaranthus and the ammi flowerhead would have been superfluous so were trimmed shorter and placed in one of the two Holmegaard vases I acquired recently, lovely examples of Danish studio glass designed by Michael Bing. I love the tactile form of these vases which have several holes over the curved body as well as the central hole, but in practice they are not very practical as unless stems are wedged into the surrounding holes they would not stand up – not to mention the fact that the vases can’t hold much water because of these holes! This is the smaller of the pair, and I am pleased to have finally been able to use it!

What will you find in your garden to put in a vase today? Will it be calm and serene, or bright and bold? Multicoloured or monochromatic? Do share it with us by leaving links to and from your post – and enjoy the pleasure that comes with the choosing, the making and the observation of your vase over the next few days.

My calm and serene vases were photographed against a background of green felt, although more of a lime green than the ‘mint’ green the photographs suggest. Today’s props were books on mindfulness and meditation, both practices that will bring you calmness and serenity.

May all be well. May all be happy. May all be healthy. May all be free from suffering.