I had envisaged having to compile a green vase with mostly foliage before now, but early spring surprises postponed this necessity – and with Tête-à-Tête beginning to flower it could have been a floral vase again today but foregoing that opportunity I went with this green one instead.
Taking green blooms of a self-seeded euphorbia (not sure which one) and Hellebore foetidus as a starting point I added distinctive foliage of spotted laurel, an almost lime green ivy, fresh aquilegia growth and stiff epimedium leaves with their appealing bronze halo. Placed in the green spherical glass vase that has been used before they needed a handful of glass pebbles keep the wayward stems in place and the ivy, which never dangles the way you would like it to, tucked in behind other stems to keep it under control.
Mindful of all the shades of green in the garden I was rummaging in the loft for tubes of green acrylic paint to reflect this range when a box of embroidery threads caught my eye and with far more shades of thread than paint the props were now a foregone conclusion. Neatly and opportunely they also gave me the title, linking as the threads do to last week’s Stitching a Garden Tapestry haiku – more than any other colour it is the green threads that hold the garden tapestry together.
So there we have it, another Vase on Monday, everything falling into place as it always seems to do. What will fall into your vase this week? Do share what you have found in your garden or foraged nearby to fill your vase by leaving the usual links to and from this post.
Rambling in the Garden 
I couldn’t agree more Cathy…shades of green scream spring! Love all the greens especially the hellebores. Waiting on spring here…winter is making a comeback later this week so your greens are a welcome sight. And the threads are a perfect prop.
Here’s my link for this week:
http://gardenseyeview.com/2016/02/08/flower-tales-cosmos/
Thanks Donna – looking at the vase now, the colours have a real ‘zing’ about them
Inspired title and props. Yet again. How do you come up with all these ideas?
Thanks Annette – and as I mentioned in the post they invariably seem to come together just by themselves… honest 😉
I guess that is what inspiration is, stuff that just comes to you without much effort. Still a marvellous gift to have.
Thanks Annette, I will accept the compliment
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Lovely greens, and such a nice link to the photo challenge.
Thanks Sandra – and yes I could have actually linked this to your last challenge, couldn’t I?!
Wondered if you would be interested to know about this annual event: http://www.shaftesburysnowdrops.org/festival-events-2016/4591501294
Can’t quite believe I have never been to it, and probably won’t get there this year either. Definitely going to go in the diary for next year though!
Sounds interesting – nearer you than me though, but who knows where we might visit next year! Can you remind me early next year if you remember?
If I remember , yes! It looks a fun event.
That is wonderful and very inspiring. I’m not good at seeing the green.
Thank you – it was the bright greens in particular that called out to me for this one
This is truly beautiful Cathy, I love the subtle greens and how they work together. The green threads are a touch of genius, I agree with Annette – how do you do it? Here’s my link: https://myhesperidesgarden.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/in-a-vase-on-monday-hand-tied-tulips/
Thanks Christina – I have to admit that I am often surprised by the synchronicity of vase & title & props… 😉
These shades of green make you feel happy and full of energy. Great vase, Cathy! Mine is rather blue :)) : http://timpingradina.blogspot.ro/2016/02/in-vase-on-monday-february-blues.html
I see what you mean Anca – definitely a get up and go colour of vase!
Hi Cathy, yes, we all long for spring and isn’t your vase beautiful as always: a lovely arrangement of greenery and then the cheeky threads which have written ‘Cathy’ all over them. Nobody else would think of such a detail! Here’s my contribution: https://personaleden.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/in-a-vase-on-a-monday-bye-bye-winter/ Thanks for inspiring me to think about something suitable – it feels so good, being creative, and I really think I should take part more often 🙂
Thanks Annette – in a way this green vase feels like a treat, something I have saved up for all winter as I expected to fall back on largely foliage before now
What a beautiful vase. I especially like the Hellebore and the Euphorbia, but it’s all lovely together and the threads are perfect. I’m not entirely happy with mine this week but there it is.
http://absentgardener.com/2016/02/08/in-a-vase-on-monday-the-big-dahlia/
Thanks Cath – and I wanted my vase to be a little more rounded than it was but I had to let the stems do their own thing in the end!
Ah, Cathy, so impressive! I think monochromatic flower arrangements are the ultimate in elegance. Great textures and I love the little thread packets you included for interest. Here’s to a good week for you.
My vase is: https://pbmgarden.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/in-a-vase-on-monday-anemone-coronaria/
Thanks Susie – and strangely it is only since we began our vases that it occurred to me that monochromatic didn’t always mean just black & white!
You do have a vase of greens. Very good. I love the thread thread…..
Thanks Lisa – yes, definitely a thread thread it seems!
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There are so many shades of green aren’t there, and it never ceases to amaze me when spring arrives and all the differnet hues of green unfold. Lovely with your hellebores, and the threads and tapestry theme are perfect! A few green shoots are now appearing in my garden too, so here’s my vase for today: https://wordsandherbs.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/in-a-vase-on-monday-sugar-and-lemons/
They are lovely aren’t they? I wonder if that is behind green being one of my very favourite colours
I think the background color is one of the best parts of the vase – the foliage is a lovely combination as well. Spotted Laurel is new to me, I thought that was Aucuba! The vases do often just fall into place and I often end up with something entirely different from the original idea. Here is my vase: https://theshrubqueen.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/in-a-vase-on-monday-going-native
I have a stash of different colour felt left from a Christmas project and have been using them as a backdrop to avoid cluttered backgrounds, especially when the weather is bed – I drape it over a very grubby bench, with newspaper underneath to keep the felt clean! Seems a bit of a cop out really 😉 Spotted laurel is the common name for aucuba but it is one of those plants I didn’t particularly choose to have so don’t really give it the time of day – or try to remember its proper name!
Felt? that is neat. I love the color combination. One of the most difficult aspects of this is getting a true picture of the vase – it has made me appreciate photographers a lot more. I move the vase to different settings and then choose the best picture. Spotted Laurel would be called Gold Dust Aucuba here and it does tend to be around where it grows well. I grew to like it because it is indestructible.
Perhaps I will like it in due course 😉 And yes, I agree with you about the skill of photographers – I try to take my vase pictures outside because the light is better
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Ooh, I do like this Cathy. I find green a very soothing colour and I love your prop of green threads. My vase this week is at: https://acoastalplot.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/windswept-in-a-vase-on-monday/ Thank you for hosting.
Thanks Sam – loking at the vase now the different components certainly don’t have to compete with each other because they are all just different shades of the same colour! I guess Imogen has paid you a visit today…?
Imogen has been very ‘in your face’ today, yes! The sea looked particularly lively.
Sounds a bit of an understatement…! She has rattled our gates a little today too
I love foliage plants so this is definitely one of my favorite creations of yours. Then add some embroidery flosses and I am hooked. Another lovely Monday. My vase is here:
http://eachlittleworld.typepad.com/each_little_world/2016/02/in-a-vase-on-monday-roses.html
Thanks Linda – it is so satisfying when it all comes together for a Monday!!
Love the theme of your arrangement this week Cathy..if only we had time to embroider all those leaves…maybe once a year, but this weekly meme is just what we need to make us look closely and appreciate plants in our garden. This week I have a Welsh special: http://noellemace.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/in-vase-on-monday-windfalls-prop-up.html
Thanks Noelle- and it makes me just a little sad that I don’t have time to embroider even ONE leaf these days. Except of course that this is because I am doing other things that I enjoy… 😉
Your well of creativity is a deep one, Cathy. A beautiful combination of greens! I cheated a bit (again) with my Monday offering: http://outlawgarden.blogspot.com/2016/02/in-vase-on-monday_8.html
I don’t know what is at the bottom of it, Peter…!
I agree, your arrangements are inspired and so creative. The tones and tires of all those greens are fab as is the arrangement of complementary threads.
Thanks Kate – and I am still excited as Monday approaches every week, not knowing what is going to suggest itself… 😉
This is one of my favorites, Cathy! I was thinking of buying Aucuba japonica for my own garden after seeing it in a local nursery last week and now, after seeing it in your pretty vase, I think I need to run back to see if I can get it before it’s gone. My vase is at the other end of the color spectrum – it’s screaming coral: http://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2016/02/in-vase-on-monday-coral-color.html
And my aucuba was purchased as it was a bargain basement plant at the end of a season and the Golfer felt very sorry for it…as for me, I just shoved it on the fringe of the woodland where I could forget about it till I wanted to use one of its pretty leaves in a vase!
Shades of green are always inspiring and I especially love green flowers. Continuing “the thread” I used my green vase collection this week…
http://www.thedangergarden.com/2016/02/in-vase-on-monday-well-thats-odd.html
Thnaks Loree – and green for you too? That’s odd 😉
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You are so right Cathy to say that the threads of green hold our gardens together and how lovely to base a vase around these threads – sometimes flowers are just not necessary! I smiled at your comment about the ivy – I agree – it always curls in the wrong direction!
My rather sombre post this week is at: http://peoniesandposies.com/2016/02/08/monday-flowers-war-peace/.
Thanks Julie – I wasn’t thinking of it like that when I snipped the contents but perhaps there is something magical going on as I prepare the vase, that put’s these thoughts and words into my head…
I love the stinking hellebore and think it is such an underrated garden plant. I’ve had it in my garden for ever and always enjoy seeing the lime green nodding flowers. Your green composition is beautiful, and the green threads a perfect foil. I am wracked and wrecked with cottage renovation Cathy, but we have drifts of snowdrops in the new garden which makes up for a lot.
Wracked and wrecked? Oh Sarah, please take care of yourself – this cottage is beginning to get under your skin now, I think. The first of these ‘stinking’ hellebores I had (does it really deserve that name?!) gave up the ghost but then seedlings began appearing a couple of years later, of which this is one. I like it too
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This vase feels like it is just bursting with energy and I love the cheeky euphorbia peeking round the back.
My vase is full of colourful twigs at https://frogenddweller.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/in-a-vase-on-monday-hedging-my-bets/
Bursting with energy? Yes, I see what you mean – it wants to get up and go, doesn’t it?
I have a thing for green flowers, which is odd, since everything else is mostly green. Anyway, I love your study in green. I used Hellebores (somewhat apologetically) in a much more limited way: http://bannersbyricki.com/archives/5222
Thanks rickii – but are you apologising to us, or to the hellebores?
Both, I guess.
Sensational green palette – it’s beautiful!
Thanks Eliza – I am quite pleased with how it worked out
Your greens are amazingly available, Cathy, I especially admire your Hellebores and I think Euphorbia in the upper left of the last photo with the red tips on the green flowers. All the green shades do look so earthy in appeal, contrasting with the whites and browns of the usual winter scene. My link for today is-
http://weedingonthewildside.blogspot.com/2016/02/hellebores-february-8-2016.html
Thnaks Hannah – and in retrospect they look even more intense put together in the vase than they do individually in situ
I love the all-green combination, Cathy 🙂 (I’ve dreamed of making all-green garden borders someday, but that is certainly not in the immediate future!) Your vase shows how rich a colour it is with all those nuances of hue… as do the wonderful threads!
Spring is definitely in the air here, so today’s vase is unabashedly bright: http://smallsunnygarden.blogspot.com/2016/02/monday-vase-happy-spring.html
I am glad to hear that spring is in the air for you Amy – lovely and bright here, but chilly, and the days are getting noticeably longer. My special snowdrop border is just white and green but I am still trying to establish more greens and whites for later in the year
How wonderful with all the shades of green! Somehow, this comes across as even more spring-like than last week’s vase.
Thanks Renee – and what an interesting observation that is! There is certainly a green glow about the vase – and a freshness too
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I love your green arrangement, such a restful colour. Before I left my previous garden I had been thinking of creating an area of green with no flowers, just beautiful foliage.
I have a spotty Aucuba in my garden, growing between Euonymus ‘ Emerald ‘ n’ Gold’ and Garrya elliptica. I would never have planted this combination mysel because I was always prejudiced against spotty laurels. I have to admit I love this corner now, specially in winter. Your arrangement shows how pretty it can look combined with other foliage.
Love your all green arrangement, Cathy. Another good idea to remember when flowers are scarce, as it the use of embroidery threads for props … I’d say that was truly inspired. Love the little embroidered scene too. Apologies for commenting so late. I did my post yesterday evening and then was distracted by my daughter and completely forgot. Here’s the link: http://silverscrappers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/in-vase-on-monday-harbingers-of-spring.html
Thanks Elizabeth, and I am sure it is an allowable excuse to be distracted by one’s daughter, whatever their age!
My daughter is 44, Cathy, and still one of my favourite distractions 🙂
I do love that Cathy! It is often so amazing, taking “colour” out of a planting scheme, whether a vase or a border, to appreciate green as a garden “colour” rather than just a background. It is so calm and refreshing!
Yes, and the more I have looked at the vase, the more I find the range of shade and textures remarkable
Oh my that is inspired. Beautiful!
Thanks Dorris – I am enjoying the freshness of the colour, even later in the week
Just catching up with this week’s vases Cathy. I must admit that I’ve never particularly like spotty laurels but what a great backdrop the foliage makes to all the other shades of green. Who needs colour?
I am beginning to feel rather sorry for the laurel as it is certainly not the most loved plant in the world…!
That’s really pretty Cathy.