In a Vase on Monday: Annabelle Has a Party

… and invites her friends.

All of a sudden the immature blooms on Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ have grown up , blossoming into the huge cotton wool textured clouds that are her trademark. I had to choose one of the smaller clouds for today’s vase otherwise there would have been no room for her friends. The party dress code was pink with a dash of white, accompanied by green accessories. Joining Annabelle were the darkest pink shades of Godetia ‘Azalea Flowered’, Antirrhinum ‘Admiral’s Purple’, Cosmos ‘Candy Stripe’, chunky Sweet William, shy blooms of creamy white sweet pea ‘Cathy’, Teucrium and Bupleurium, all seed grown, and tiny flowers of ground cover Rose ‘The Fairy’ and Salvia ‘Neon’, which weren’t. So far this salvia seems to be the only one of several varieties that has survived for a second year.

I am really pleased with the teucrium which was sown in autumn 2014 and which has made several bushy plants, just coming into flower. I meant to show it in conjunction with herbaceous Clematis durandii (not new, but also doing really well this year) on GBBD but forgot to include the photo, so here it is now:

I wanted Annabelle to the centre of attention at her own party so gathered the blooms together individually and made a hand tied posy before popping it in a nice rectangular vase I bought earlier this year from a car boot sale, after enjoying seeing similarly shaped vases on Christina’s blog, and supporting it with tiny pebbles; props, in the absence of party poppers, were a tiny cake and a fridge magnet case of wine to ensure the party goes with a swing!

Thank you to everyone who rose to the ikebana challenge last week – about half of all vases were Japanese style in shape or form, so well done for having a go. It has been suggested that other themed challenges could be set in the future, so let’s wait and see on that one 😉 I have a packet of sweet peas waiting for the name drawn out the hat, selected from the ikebana contributors, and it is Eliza ; I am still uncertain whether I can post seeds to the USA, despite a little research, so Eliza if you yourself know can you pass the information on to me and we can take it from there.

No prizes for today’s vases, which can be free and easy come as you are – join Annabelle’s party with whatever you can find in your own garden or foraged nearby and pop the party goers in a vase , then post links to and from this one as usual.