In a Vase on Monday: Strange Bedfellows

Welcome to the first Monday vase of 2016 – and despite the seemingly endless availability of props around the house I have to admit I surprised even myself today!

The Paperwhite narcissi were in bud before we went away, having been planted in mid October but kept in the greenhouse, and were brought into the house a day or two ago to encourage them to open. Still recalcitrant on Sunday when I usually put my vases together, I cut several budded stems and kept them in the warmth of the kitchen till required, by then at least a little more than just tightly packed buds. Their creamy whiteness suggested softer colours today, and my new (possibly) favourite  rose, The Poet’s Wife, readily obliged with one half-open bloom and several healthy buds. When joined by stems of a bloom I originally forgot to include in my Boxing Day count, Lavender ‘Little Bee Purple’, it then struck me that they were very strange bedfellows for an early January vase.

Strange bedfellows therefore needed a bed, and I ‘just happened to have’ a vintage wicker doll’s rocking crib, so they were soon tucked up in bed in three mini milk bottles with a vintage doll’s quilt to keep them warm. The quilt appeared recently in another vase post but somehow failed to get a mention. Looking back at that post, the little hot water bottle could have contributed to today’s post too – or perhaps it has, but of course is tucked under the quilt at the feet of the vase to keep them warm… Instead, a collection of vintage babies’ teethers is placed on the bed. Very tactile, these teethers are probably made out of bone (unlikely to be ivory) and whilst some are intricately carved others are more naively cut and others may have been adapted from other uses. Whatever their origins, they will be no doubt have been as effective at soothing a baby’s teething discomfort as modern teethers are today.

This larger than usual vase has displaced its predecessor from a fortnight ago, still looking amazingly fresh apart from the poinsettia and the witch hazel and certainly the only positive outcome from my foray into growing chrysanthemums!

What will be displacing earlier vases for you today? What will find in your garden or forage locally to bring inside and pop in a vase or other weird or wonderful container to brighten up your week? Do share the result with us by leaving links to and from your post as usual.