In a Vase on Monday : One For the Faeries and One For Me

Having spotted fresh blooms on the muscari unearthed below another pot way back in January and used in a previous vase, it would have been a shame not to have used their blueness again. Not wanting to replicate the previous vase, I avoided the out of season spring blooms which accompanied the grape hyacinth in January and instead took inspiration from Cicely Mary Barker’s iconic flower fairies, in this instance the Polyanthus and Grape Hyacinth fairies.

Sharing the good news of the joy of spring in the song of a bird, as described in the poem that accompanies the illustrations, these two would feel very much at home in my garden and I was able to muster up a couple of polyanthus blooms in just the right shade. A small piece of the deep purple-red Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’ was added to link the blue of the muscari with the maroon of the polyanthus. The vase is a tradesman’s sample of Bretby Pottery, a pottery studio set up in south Derbyshire, a stone’s throw from here, in the 1880s.

A simple vase with its magical fairy connections needed no further embellishments. Nevertheless, I couldn’t ignore the other signs of spring so snipped a few of them to make a vase for myself – narcissi, crocus, pulmonaria and a sprig of Nandina domestica ‘Obsession’. Within minutes of the crocus being brought inside they had unfolded their furled buds and were soon as laid back as a crocus brought into the warmth could be. I have several of these little crocus vases and could readily and willingly fill several of them to delight me in different rooms of the house – although with last week’s vase still not ready to be dismantled  and Mother’s Day flowers from Stepson I have plenty of blooms to admire already.

What material will you find in your garden or nearby to delight you this week? Do share it with us by adding links to and from this post.

“How do you do, Grape Hyacinth?
How do you do?”
“Pleased to see you, Polyanthus,
Pleased to see you,
with your stalk so straight and your colours so gay.”
“Thank you , neighbour!
I’ve heard good news today.”

“What is the news, Polyanthus?
What news have you heard?”
“News of the joy of Spring,
In the song of a bird!”
“Yes Polyanthus, yes,
I heard it too;
That’s why I’m here,
with my bells in spires of blue.”

Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973)