I was half-prepared to be posting an apology of a vase today, as the Golfer and I have had variations of a virus that is going around and for a few days I have felt rather like the hellebore shown below (accidentally cut alongside its leaves having failed to notice even the fully open bloom) after it had been in the bottle for a couple of days, unlike the freshly cut version which is more like my usual self (but prettier).
Fortunately it seems to be out of our systems now and we can get back to normal. Whilst thinking about hellebores, I was surprised to read Carol Klein in the December issue of Gardeners’ World magazine telling us that what we tend to think of as the petals of a hellebore are in fact the sepals – or was I the only person who didn’t realise this? These sepals which delight us by remaining on the plants for weeks or even months and aging beautifully serve to protect the developing seedpods. Well well – Nature and hellebores are wonderful…
Back to today’s vase though, which although simple brings me the same degree of satisfaction as more complex vases… snowdrops, witch hazel and the latter’s non-related twisted cousin. The snowdrops are Faringdon Double, the potted replacements kindly given by Green Tapestry’s Anna, and a variety usually in flower by Christmas but possibly rarely as early in the month as this year. The witch hazel is Hamamelis ‘Jelena’, one of several that are almost in full flower and certainly a few weeks ahead of any norm, and the twisted hazel Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’ is sporting its pretty catkins; the stems were just pushed into the pot of snowdrops.
Enjoying the unexpectedly early magic of the snowdrops and witch hazel (and those hellebores) had already given me a title for the post, but despite telling the Golfer as I brought the pot of snowdrops inside that the buds would open in the warmth of the house I was not prepared for the magic that was then to take place before my very eyes. It took a moment to realise that after only five minutes there was the slightest hint of green already visible between the previously furled outer petals so I sat and gazed at the pot for several minutes and although the movement was imperceptible to my eyes they were most definitely unfurling and opening as I watched, the green heart shaped mark on the inner segments becoming more apparent every minute…truly a magical moment. It took no longer than half an hour for the flower to open to its full extent by which time the distinctive snowdrop fragrance was also evident the closer you got to it. Who needs magic tricks with wonders like this? I don’t suppose I needed the magic hat either – nor the magic wand or magic handkerchief (aka Christmas napkin) – but they have been included anyway!
What magic will you find in your gardens today to sprinkle into a vase on Monday? Do share it with us by posting links to and from the post – let’s make it a Magical Monday!
Rambling in the Garden 
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I had a nasty virus here too and it took the wind out of my sails this past week. Glad you are better…and what garden magic. I won’t see my snowdrops until at least March, although if we have little snow it could be February. Now that would be magic. Love the props!
Here is my vase this week…not really a vase, but you will see. Time to be a bit creative with no blooms:
http://gardenseyeview.com/2015/12/14/first-glimpse-of-winter/
Just a minor hiccup in the scheme of things really – but I am sorry you were laid low for the week. Our snowdrops are almost a full month earlier than usual – still mild here. Thanks for your kind comments about the ‘vase’ which of course wasn’t a vase either!
I was wondering what I would find when I read your title, how lovely that you were able to watch as the snow drops opened, a very magic moment indeed! My vase is much less seasonal than yours. Thanks for hosting Cathy, here’s my link: https://myhesperidesgarden.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-not-what-i-expected/
Thanks Christina – I had to check I hadn’t used the title before as I knew I had already posted a vase with ‘magic’ props 😉
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That is beautiful and fun too Cathy! I only discovered the joys of seeing snowdrops open within minutes of bringing them in last spring. Magic! We have also had a virus of some kind – hope yours is well and truly gone, as ours hung around for a good fortnight. Here’s my vase for this week:
https://wordsandherbs.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-the-past-the-present-and-the-future/
Thanks Cathy!
Thanks Cathy – and yes, we are both fine now and glad you both are too.
what a lovely magical experience you had to cheer you up after feeling poorly. Witch hazel is a great favourite of mine at this time of the year although I have never grown one myself and the snowdrops are so pretty. Here is my link –
http://annieedwardsphotography.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-berries-and-boughs/
Yes, everything is back to normal again although seeing these beauties so early is not very normal!
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Magic indeed! All that promise of when the days get longer – not long now!
Here’s my link:https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/vase-on-monday-red-white-and-green/
Thanks Sandra – and goodness! it’s only a week till the solstice… 🙂
Phew! It’s a relief – I don’t find this time of year easy on so many levels!
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Cathy, I smiled when I saw your hat trick, but the real magic is that you were present to enjoy the snowdrops opening. Great moment and great post. My vase today is https://pbmgarden.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-dusty-tones-and-green/
Thank you Susie – and that could of course could have been the title: Hat Trick!!
Your Snow drops are so beautiful and pure looking – it does sound magic, and very cheering, I would like to try it myself. I have a small witch hazel but I think that it takes a few years for them to flower – something to look forward to.
Here’s my vase, taking advantage of the longer summer evenings I photographed it as the sun went down. http://absentgardener.com/2015/12/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-dark-colours/
For some reason your comment didn’t make it to my notifications so I nearly didn’t see it… All my witch hazels have flowered even when small so you never know – what month would you expect them to flower in NZ?
Oh that’s something to look forward to. I saw them flowering in another garden and I think it was in August, so maybe they would start in July.
What a beautiful Snow drop, such a delicate looking flower, lovely
Isn’t it just, and of course it deserves all the credit
I think sometimes the most understated and simple plants in the garden are truly the most beautiful 🙂
What a wonderful way to display your flowers – you must be quite the creative lass. The hat, the wand, the “handkerchief,” and the flowers make a wonderful display. And I like the way you showed us, with hellebores stems, how you felt while sick and then how you felt went you got over your illness. Ingenious!
Thanks Jeannette – I always like to have a satisfying title to my posts, and with the vase posts adding appropriate props brings yet another degree of satisfaction. Often the ideas just come in a flash!
I’m going to have to plant some of my snowdrops in a pot to bring inside after your delightful retelling of watching them unfurl and I do like that witch hazel – does it need a lot of space?
Here is my effort for in a vase on Monday!
http://blog.petalandpins.com/2015/12/14/salvaged/
I will sometimes dig some of my common snowdrops and pot them in a pot specifically to bring inside, but these were in a pot as they were new to me this year and will be planted in the ground after Christmas. Height of witch hazels vary a little but most may reach 4-5 metres. They grow very slowly – perhaps only a metre in 10 years – and are not dense in terms of foliage.
Oh I’m sorry to read that you’ve been under the weather Cathy but glad to read that your va-va-voom has returned in time for the festive season. Well that certainly looks and sounds like a spellbinding vase. I’ve noticed that the pots of my specials in the greenhouse can go from closed flowers to open as the day proceeds but have never lingered to watch the process. I will have to linger one of these days and gaze. No fully opened hellebores here as yet. My gathered in the rain vase is here :
http://www.greentapestry.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/in-vase-on-monday-gleaming-in-gloaming.html
Thanks Anna – nothing full blown, but it really saps your energy and you never know how long it will last. It was such a surreal experience, as I knew they would open in the warmth but I had no idea it would be as quickly as that
Magic is the word indeed! Something is happening around, my garden has also surprised me this week, look:http://timpingradina.blogspot.ro/2015/12/in-vase-on-monday-always-surprising-my.html
And how exciting it is to have these surprises, isn’t it?!
Glad you are feeling well enough to have done a vase today as this one is a charmer. The weather here is crazily warm but no flowers yet. We are all enjoying the lack of snow even though we know it is a disturbing sign of climate change. My vase for this week is here: http://eachlittleworld.typepad.com/each_little_world/2015/12/in-a-vase-on-monday-december-windfall.html
Thanks Linda, I was back to my normal self yesterday and raring to go! The UK has such variable weather and next year could be the complete opposite, with or without climate change
Magical, indeed. Witnessing the snowdrops opening is one of those rare pleasures of gardening. Love the props. Here is my vase: https://theshrubqueen.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-the-k-i-s-s-concept
Thanks – creating this post has given me such a lot of pleasure, as does the ‘vase’ itself of course
I enjoyed this post so much. Lovely idea with the hat.
Thanks – I had all but forgo9tten I had this hat which I must have got in the 70s or 80s and was with ‘dressing up’ things in the loft!
A sweet little arrangement to succor the heart on these short, gray days. I love your description of the unfurling flowers … Magical indeed!
My post this week: http://wp.me/p3O3z4-SG
Thanks Eliza – and these simple things do give us so much pleasure, don’t they?
Indeed they do!
Snowdrops and witch hazel, it’s sounds quite exotic from these sunny climes at my end 🙂
That’s what makes these Monday posts such fun as people post vases from all sorts of plants and it is intriguing to see the differences
As someone once said about magic “Just like that”.
An inspired arrangement Cathy.
Aw thanks Brian – and it really did come together ‘just like that’ 🙂
Just magic…..I think the smell of snowdrops is wonderful too. Beautifully photographed, and great props. Here is my contribution……..http://noellemace.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/in-vase-on-monday-now-it-is-graces-turn.html
Thanks Noelle – and I am glad you like the photographs as it is the first time they have been taken inside for ages. The vase and post was put together on Sunday when it was too grey and murky to do it outside
Snowdrop and Hellebore blooms are such a wonderful way to announce the beginning of a new week…
Oh yes indeed Charlie
Sorry to hear that you were feeling like the hellebore in the first picture and hope you’re feeling much better soon! Your magic post is great! I continue to admire your themes/props that add so much to the enjoyment of your arrangements! I cheated a bit with my arrangement this week and included some tropical plants from inside and poinsettias that came from a store with my cuttings from the garden. http://outlawgarden.blogspot.com/2015/12/in-vase-on-monday-advent-3.html
Thanks so much Peter – I had bounced back by yesterday and normal service has been resumed! Glad you like the themes and props – I enjoy giving myself the challenge!
Another clever presentation, Cathy! Snowdrops aren’t common here as we just don’t get cold enough to give them what they need but I was delighted to share your amazement at the flowers’ response to the warmth of the house. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been ill but I’m glad you’re on the mend. Thanks, as always, for hosting IAVOM. Here’s my post: http://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2015/12/in-vase-on-monday-floral-flotsam.html
Thanks for your kind thoughts – ‘under the weather’ rather than ill though, although I normally shrug off any viruses or the like. Because warm days in Jan/Feb are rare here they tend to take their time opening outside, but of course there is instant warmth in the house. It’s been interesting to hear how snowdrops fare in other places.
You have Hamamelis already in bloom? And Hellebores? And snow drops? That is magical. I loved your image of the deflated Hellebore, just a great visual of how it is to be sick, glad you’re better.
Here’s my entry: http://www.thedangergarden.com/2015/12/in-vase-on-monday-poinsettia-challenge.html
I love your post in the silver pots – looks like a wild party going on with that splash of poinsettia – I tried to leave a comment, but could not – sometimes Blogspot and WordPress don’t seem to like talking to each other.
Thank you Wild Daffodil, and I have the same experience with Blogger/WordPress…it’s so irritating!
Grrr! I’ve sent messages about it but no response. Hope they sort it out.
Thanks Loree – this snowdrop would usually flower before Christmas but is still a little early; meanwhile others are pushing their way up a few weeks ahead of any norm. Hellebores and hamemelis and hellebores are similarly ‘early’.
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Magic! Certainly your collection brightened my day Cathy. I love the witch hazel and imagine you are enjoying lovely scent from the snowdrops. I spent part of my day today clearing last years leaves from the emerging Hellebore flowers at work. They are only just showing so yours are a good few days ahead.
As for all this Spring in December, I wonder what will be around when Spring arrives.
I have something which usually flowers in Spring in my vase today but compared to yours all very grey. https://digwithdorris.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-a-hint-of-christmas
Aw thanks Dorris – and the hellebore I accidentally cut was the only one fully flowering (and on a longish stem which is probably why I missed it). The others have mostly got buds just emerging from the ground. I was wondering that about spring too…
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Cathy, I am so envious you have snowdrops already. I have a few green tips no more than a centimetre high, but no bulbs in flower yet. You are lucky! Here is my vase this week, a cheat as I explain in the post, but hopefully I will be forgiven! https://edinburghgardendiary.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-mrs-bouquet/
This snowdrop is an early variety, but my other ‘specials’ are a few weeks ahead of themselves although my natives are barely showing yet. We will enjoy them whenever they appear 🙂
How special to watch snowdrops open in front of you. No time here to make a blog post despite having a big jug of holly and ivy on my kitchen table. I’ve been dealing with roofers, glazers and carpenters today and could do with a bit of magic!
It was indeed! Glad you have at least been able to bring some holly and ivy inside to enjoy despite everything else that is going on – and just ask for some magic amidst the roofers and glazers and carpenters and everything else and it will be there…
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Beautiful snowdrops and witch hazel. How magical to witness the flower opening. Lovely.
It certainly was, and still lovely to see them as I write this
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You’ve outdone yourself with this theme!
http://bannersbyricki.com/archives/5155
You are too kind rickii – I just facilitated it but it has gained its own momentum
Coming by oh, so late, but so happy to see your snowdrops beginning to arrive on the scene!! Definitely a magical moment 😀
We are just now beginning to have the threat of frost here; not sure what the next few nights will bring… In the meantime here is this week’s vaseful from the desert: http://smallsunnygarden.blogspot.com/2015/12/monday-vase-red-and-gold.html
It makes it easier for me not having every vase post arriving at once as I can spread my replies out more easily!! Still mild here, and at least a cloudy day means cloudy night and no frost 😉
I’m glad you’re feeling better – I’ve felt a lot like that helibore this year – nackered…. Your snowdrops are lovely and wonderful to watch them open… I’ve got flowers in my vase that shouldn’t be here either – fuchsias – it’s still very mild here still. Here’s my vase
https://viewsfrommygardenbench.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-a-long-time-ago-in-a-galaxy-far-far-away/
Have a lovely week love bec xx
You will perhaps be glad to see the back of 2015, Bec – hope next year proves to be a happier one for you in every way… My hardy fuchsia was still going strong till the w/e we were in Edinburgh when there were those really cold few days and it was desiccated when we came back
Hi Cathy – sorry that I did not link in this week but you already know what I was preoccupied with! Apart from the new site, my camera has gone to Norway with my daughter and husband who are chasing the Northern Lights whilst I am keeping the home fires burning. I love what you have done this week – it must be exhausting to keep coming up with such original themes! !My earliest snowdrops have been and gone and I am watching my witch hazels closely. I hope to be back next week – it is hard to believe it will be Christmas when it is so warm!!
Thanks Julie – so much going on at the moment and I hope the family managed to catch up with the Northern Lights. Seems strange to have your early snowdrops over and done with already…
Fantastic!