In a Vase on Monday: a Degree of Ambivalence

There is nothing auspicious about today’s date that might have merited red, white and blue blooms and a patriotic ‘vase’: it is just the way things turned out.

Salvia Amistad was my ‘go to’ plant for this vase – indeed not just one plant, but several. The main plant was grown from a cutting sneaked from a municipal planter just prior to its disposal last autumn (I emailed the local council and found that they no longer operating their own nursery so all their plants are bought in and binned at the end of the season). Other cuttings were sold as young plants on my garden open days and further cuttings were taken from my own plant at the beginning of August this year, growing ridiculously quickly and all now flowering themselves.

Rather than just a small vase with a handful of blooms, I decided to enhance the salvia with some other good performers – long flowering scarlet annual Alonsoa, and equally prolific Cosmos ‘Purity’. In doing so, I am reminded to include the unabashed brightness of alonsoa in my borders as well as the cutting beds next year.

Even with red, white and blue blooms I wasn’t looking for a patriotic vase (but maybe a patriotic prop) but a search of a vase stash proved fruitless and I began to think out of the box instead, glancing around the kitchenalia on the shelves. This one-off Marmite jar (Ma’amite – get it?! – produced for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012) caught my eye – and reminded me of the challenge I thought I might pose for IAVOM’s next anniversary in November… no further clues though! For those who don’t know what Marmite, a very British product is, it is a spreadable yeast extract (originally a bi-product of the brewing process) that people traditionally either love or hate.

Unlike my mother and sisters who love it and probably use it daily I have to confess to a degree of ambivalence – I don’t dislike it but it plays no part in my culinary routines and I am sure the empty jar will have found its way onto my shelves courtesy of my mother. The little Marmite knife and spoon will have come from a boot sale or similar and now live in the jar.

Sadly, a few hours after creating this vase I realised that, having forgotten to put any water in it, the blooms had all wilted! Its belated addition may breathe new life into the blooms or they may be destined for an early grave. Please don’t forget to add water to any vase you choose to create today – or do at least take your photographs immediately! Just find something from your garden or foraged nearby to pop into your vase or jar or other receptacle to bring you pleasure during the week, and share it with us by leaving links to and from this post in the usual way.