In a Vase on Monday: Vintage Mood

The intention was to focus on dark and moody blooms for this post but by choosing the vintage patchwork as a background instead of the maroon monochrome fabric originally planned the overall effect changes completely – and quickly changed again once photographs were complete and the vase set in position on the dark grey worktop in the kitchen.  The compilation ‘In the Mood’ CD, chocabloc with ‘big band’ classics, will just have to serve as a prompt for you to decide on your own mood – but in retrospect the patchwork brings out the lighter highlights of the vase so perhaps it was a good choice after all. Looking at the different fabrics, which are almost exclusively silk, I suspect the handstitched patchwork is at least Victorian, if not Georgian – and despite the distressed condition of the piece I am fond of it because of the unknown history it hints at.

But back to the vase and its contents…possibly one of the ‘biggest’ vases I have produced. It began with stems of my newest sedum, ‘Jose Aubergine’, dark of stem and leaf and bloom, and like Topsy it just grew! Reflecting the richness of colours in the garden at present, there was just too much choice to be selective – so I wasn’t! Joining the sedum were Dahlias Karma Naomi and Karma Choc, dark stems and buds of the Bishop seedling shown in GBBD, Malva ‘Mystic Merlin’, Allium sphaerocephalon, Sweet William ‘Black Prince’, Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’, sweet pea ‘Purple Pimpernel’, Teucrium ‘Purple Tails’, spent heads of sunflower ‘Earth Walker’ and ripening bunches from ornamental vine Vitis vinifera ‘Purpurea’. Writing this, I realise that all except the vine have been grown this year from seed or bulb or tuber – see if you can spot them in the following photographs!

I have a confession about last week’s vase – a day after posting I remembered that the featured echinops was called ‘Arctic Glow’ and not ‘Mount Everest’ which is in fact an allium – thus rendering my mountainous props no longer relevant… Apologies to anyone trying to seek out a non-existent echinops! I am pleased to say that apart from the dahlias the remaining contents are still bringing pleasure, shown below along with a midweek vase of sweet peas nestling amidst Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ like a flock of butterflies.

What will you be putting in a vase today (or in a jamjar or even a galvanised bucket, which is where my blooms were placed to rest when first picked and where they stayed when I decided I liked the bunched up effect)? See what you can find in your garden to bring inside for added pleasure – and please add two way links so we can share it with you. Monday’s have never been the same since the inception of In a vase on Monday!

ps I obviously didn’t try hard enough to find the plain fabric I had in mind, as it had merely slipped down behind a box of vases where they are stashed under the bed! Here is the vase again, having undergone a complete emotional shift – now in a mystical mood perhaps? Certainly very different.