I have been cutting Winter Sunshine sweet peas for over a month, by far the earliest of my seed sown annuals to flower, and no doubt the sweetest too. Next to bloom was cosmos, and although there are many other blooms elsewhere I decided that today’s vase would be the product solely of the cutting beds, their first cut.
Pickings are still lean but everything is bulking up promisingly so I cut a few stems of Cosmos ‘Fizzy Rose Picotee’ (and one of Click Cranberries) and of Gypsophila ‘Covent Garden White’. I was alerted to the latter by Chloris of The Blooming Garden so it is new to me and I am hoping it will grow taller than 6 inches or so it has attained so far. That’s about as tall as the cosmos is just now though, and I know that will grow considerably more in due course. Adding a hint of green and an apology is a stem of Squirrel Tail grass Hordeum jubatum to make up for inadvertently mixing up my animal tails a few weeks ago, when I included Bunny Tail grass Lagurus ovatus in a vase but credited it to the bushy-tailed animal instead (thanks to Anna of Green Tapestry for gently pointing this out).
The blooms are popped into a little Prinknash jug, and accompanied by my ’embroidery scissors’ which I religiously use purely for sewing tasks although it is some years since I accomplished any embroidery. As a young adult, the scissors we used for any sewing tasks were those we grew up calling ‘rat scissors’, having come home with my father who was a pathologist…
The sweet peas are still coming thick and fast and I am having to pick them almost daily, often giving them away to neighbours or any friend I might be seeing that day – when I cut these yesterday they were on their way to brighten up my place of voluntary work. I have grown four different shades of this Winter Sunshine variety but this year I have found myself rather wishing they sold them in mixed packets as each posy I pick is the same. The four shades blend nicely together, but it made me realise how much more attractive a mixed posy of sweet peas can be.
Little or large, lean or abundant, picking anything from your garden to pop in a vase or other container will bring you guaranteed pleasure. Do brighten your week by doing so, and share the result with us if you would like by leaving links in the usual way.
Rambling in the Garden 
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Gorgeous Cosmos, such a delicate colour and I love the slightly darker edge to the leaf. Suffering a bit of envy over the sweet peas, I didn’t grow them this year as it usually gets so hot in the greenhouse just as they begin to flower – as the weather has been cooler for longer they would probably have done well this year – ho hum!! All my flowers are from the cut flower beds too this week. https://myhesperidesgarden.wordpress.com/2018/06/04/in-a-vase-on-monday-more-of-the-same/
These cosmos were the best out of those I grew last year; I am also trying Click Snow Puff and a free packet of Dazzler, but they are not in bud yet. It must be so hard to gauge whether it is worth the effort of trying sweet peas – you did wonder about the Winter Sunshine ones which you could possibly get flowering reallly early. Perhaps you could ask Owl’s Acre for advice?
I did the Winter Sunshine last year but only had about 2 weeks flowers before the greenhouse temperatures shot up to 40°C plus. I could try them outside but I think it might be better just to admire other peoples.
Ah, I knew you had planned to try them but I had forgotten you did actually do so. Perhaps not worth the effort of trying again on the off-chance the weather might just suit them some years
Maybe I could start them very early and plant them outside
Worth an experiment?
Your cutting garden offerings are perfect. I adore that cosmos Cathy, lovely in the little pitcher. Thanks for hosting our Monday floral addiction!
Thanks Susie – it was a very small offering, but I wanted to be true to it being the first cut from the cutting beds. The vase was chosen in a hurry but works really well. doesn’t it? It’s a great shape for a little posy, with a narrowish rim and splayed sides
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Delightful!
Here comes that Giraffe again: https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/2018/06/04/in-a-vase-on-monday-4/
Thanks – and bring on a herd of giraffes!!
There’s a really interesting feeling of movement in that last photo, as if the flowers are on a merry-go-round.
I had to check back and think I can see what you mean 😉
So pretty, and early for Cosmos too isn’t it? The Gypsophila is much prettier than the one the florists use here. Here are my flowers for today Cathy. Thanks, as always!
https://wordsandherbs.com/2018/06/04/in-a-vase-on-monday-feeling-the-heat/
Thanks Cathy – I checked back on my records and I sowed these at the beginning of February. Last year I sowed them a month later but they still flowered at the same time!!
Very pretty and sweet! I’m amazed that you have cosmos already! Mine are still just baby seedlings that I’m trying to protect from a greedy groundhog! Here is my vase this week. Sorry about all the trouble with commenting last week, but it is working again now. 🙂
http://heirloomcottagegarden.weebly.com/blog/in-a-vase-on-monday-the-sweetest-flowers
Thank you. Hope your cosmos survive the greedy groundhogs – no such pests here of course, and the slugs are not intersted in them now they are beyond the little seedling stage.
Oh my goodness I love this little collection of pickings. How on earth did your sweet peas flower so early? All still green here.
Snippets from me today https://digwithdorris.wordpress.com
Thanks Dorris – these are the Winter Sunshine ones, which are bred to flower earlier but in the greenhouse. I have about 3 flowers on outdoor ones although the plants are barely a foot high! All sown in October
You are making me wish that might not be the complete failure easier. But I love that like many of us, you give flowers to your neighbors. I loved last year giving flowers to my new neighbors. Their smiles were huge when they receive them!
Today for me it’s all about the peonies. after a bleak winter and beginning of spring, we finally have colored in the garden! https://magnoliadarjeeling.com/blog/its-all-about-the-peonies
Wow that totally came through wrong with my dictation. 😋 I meant to say that you are making me wish my sweet peas had not been a complete failure this year
Teehee – good job you reread it afterwards otherwise we would all have been very puzzled!! Since IAVOM I never buy flowers to take to people, and always pick them instead. I think people appreciate them more too
I love that cosmos, and it works beautifully with the gypsophila. I also love the rat scissors!!
Thanks Ali. I am growing a pink gypsophila too but it is even tinier than the white and I think the blooms would be lost amongst the cosmos anyway
A beautiful bunch of sweet peas and cosmos already…wow! My cutting garden is very slow to move and I had to reseed many areas as either the weather, weeds or failed seed kept it from germinating. But now weeded, seeded with new seed and fertilized I hope for late season flowers in parts of the cutting garden. Maybe I need to start more flowers indoors and plant the seedlings…we shall see. But seeing your cosmos was such a treat. I am chock full of garden blooms so I have much to cut for vases. Hope you enjoy my choices:
Thanks Donna – I start all my seeds inside, and at least in the cutting beds the young plants aren’t overshadowed. Seedlings I plant out into the other borders never seem to do as well
A magical dainty vase, the cosmos are a delight. Mine are embarrassingly far behind. Don’t you think all sweet peas blend together? I don’t remember ever thinking one didn’t ‘go’. My winter sunshine are also doing brilliantly, taller than me and masses of flowers. So glad I found them here.
https://ablogaboutcompost.blogspot.com/2018/06/romance-in-vase-on-monday.html
Thank you, and yes, I do think they blend well and perhaps that is the point – they just always look the same pretty blend… Glad you are happy with yours – which of course I am with mine!
Love those Cosmos, I do not find the same kinds of seeds here! And the Doves ate the ones I planted. Sigh. Growing up my mother was a nurse and we had bandage scissors, I called Band Aid Scissors, I still have them around somewhere. Here is my vase http://theshrubqueen.com/2018/06/04/in-a-vase-on-monday-butterfly-bouquet/
I keep meaning to grow Cosmos again as it was one of the first flowers i ever grew in my garden and I loved it. But I did have to laugh at the idea that you created a lovely bouquet with such short cosmos stems. I never would have thought about it if you had not mentioned it. And love the concept of your family “rat scissors.” I use my embroidery scissors to trim my bangs when they get in my eyes cut before my scheduled hair cut. My offering is here: http://www.lindabrazill.com/each_little_world/2018/06/homage-to-the-buddha.html
Yes, I suppose I could have mentioned the scale, as the little jug is only about 4″ tall
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I love your velvety purple sweet peas and your wonderfully named ‘Fizzy Rose Picotee’ Cosmos Cathy. I wrote a sweet pea based blog with the same title last year… great minds (or Rod Stewart fans?)
Here is my Sussex posy for this week:
https://carrotsandcalendula.co.uk/2018/06/04/in-a-vase-on-monday-a-sussex-posy/
Can definitely recommend both, Ciar. I remember the song pre Rod Stewart but had to google who sang the original (PP Arnold in 1967, although I was surprised to see it was written by Cat Stevens who I was quite a fan of in his day). Sorry to pinch ‘your’ title!!
Sweet Peas and Cosmos are two old favorites that I haven’t grown for quite a while. Yours are so pretty. Would one call comments on this post cutting remarks? 🙂
Oops. My offering is here: https://outlawgarden.blogspot.com/2018/06/in-vase-on-monday-june-pruning.html
Haha, Peter, yes you might! 😉
love it
I have not grown sweetpeas in a few years. I really need to figure out a spot and correct that ! Here is my offering for today https://gardenbook-ks.blogspot.com/2018/06/in-vase-on-monday-experiments.html
Lovely but all I have right now is hosta blooms. But I love them .
Yes, some hosta blooms are quite majestic, aren’t they?
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Cathy, These cosmos blooms are so elegant and airy. I love the vase selection and the additions of sweet peas and grasses. My post today is about succulents (so it’s not really a vase) https://tssoutherngarden.com/2018/06/04/in-a-vase-sort-of-on-monday-succulents/
Glad you liked it Terri – but of course it doesn’t have to be a vase 😉
That’s the prettiest Cosmos I’ve ever seen and it plays well with the sweet peas. I picked a few sweet peas myself this week but mine are already on their way out. Thanks as always for hosting, Cathy! Here’s my post:https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2018/06/in-vase-on-monday-lisianthus-at-last.html
I grew this cosmos for the first time last year and have contined with it instead of Candy Stripe which I find it is superior to. It makes such a difference growing them in the cutting beds as they don’t get crowded out by overstuffed borders!
I so wish my sweetpeas would put on some growth. They seem to be stuck. I’m back to this meme after a couple of week’s break. I’m afraid I expressed a bit of frustration in my post over my inability to put together an arrangement that suits the one in my head. It’s here: http://bonneylassie.blogspot.com/2018/06/in-vase-on-monday.html
I sowed mine in October but some I forgot to pot on and they are still trying to catch up so are not at all happy
I’m most envious of your plethora of sweet peas Cathy. My March sown germination rates were absysmal so it could well be next month before I’m picking a single stem. You’ve done well to get cosmos flower so early. When did you sow the seeds? Love the blog post title 🙂 My vase is here :
https://greentapestry.blogspot.com/2018/06/in-vase-on-monday-heat-is-on.html
This has been the best year yet for the WS sweet peas and even my spring sowing other varieties are catching up with the Oct ones which I neglected to pot on. I actually bought a few little pots at a car boot sale as the others were looking so unhealthy. Learned my lesson there, I hope 😉 The cosmos were planted on Feb 2nd, but last year were sown at the beginning of March and still began flowering at the end of May! Bit of a lottery, it seems 😉
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You have Cosmos already? And sweet peas? I am way behind you. Your vase is a vision of summery loveliness. Here’s mine for this week: https://acoastalplot.com/2018/06/04/in-a-vase-on-monday-roses/
Thank you, as always, for hosting. Sam x
The sweet peas are an early variety and in the greenhouse, and the cosmos really is only just starting to flower – the main borders are still all aquilegia and alliums (well, mostly!)
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Oh so jealous of your WS sweet peas! Mine are still only about 6 inches tall – I wouldn’t be surprised if the outdoor ones bloomed first!
I’m really very impressed with how much you’ve been able to cut from you cutting garden already – well done you.
Here’s mine: https://duverdiary.wordpress.com/2018/06/04/in-a-vase-on-monday-rosy-posy/
The amount of growth on things in the cutting beds is amazing in just a month, even without much rain – I am still in awe of their progress. Amaranthus is in bud and will probably be the next to flower. The WS have been the best ever for me this year and I struggle to keep up with cutting them 🙂
If you have not noticed, I am no fan of modern varieties. Yet, yours are so excellent because they look more like traditional flowers than the older varieties do! That gypsophila looks like something of the Victorian Period! So does the cosmos!
Most of mine are David Austin roses and many are new varieties but of a traditional English type
Roses? Is there a rose in there too?
Sorry Tony, no! I was thinking the comment thread was still on the previous post!
Cathy the Cosmos “Fizzy Rose Picotee” are really beautiful, I love them. The Gypsophila “Covent Garden White” is divine. The jar I like very much as a vase. It is a magnificent bouquet. The Sweet Peas Winter Sunshine give me healthy envy for how they bloom and how beautiful they are: I adore them, they have gorgeous colors. Have a very good week and work well for the opening of the garden. Greetings from Margarita.
Thank you Margarita. I have gained greater insight in sowing seeds in recent years, and exchanging information with blogging friends is an invaluable part of this
Your beautiful vases gave me such a sweet sensation! I can’t see sweet peas without remembering my grandmother’s garden, and I see Cosmos and think of my mother’s garden Such lovely vases, Cathy!
Thanks Debra – flowers can be so evocative, can’t they?
Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
Totally elegant and beautiful, such a wonderful arrangement and colour!
Thank you 😊
I haven’t grown cosmos for several years, but seeing yours makes me want to have another go. I’ve not seen that variety. They’re gorgeous, and well suited to your jug as well. I planted a packet of white sweet peas last year for the same reason as you: I like having the contrast in a vase and the white mixes in beautifully. Have a terrific week.
Thank you – and I find writing this blog helps in keeping a record of what works and what doesn’t
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Sowing early had really paid off, having cosmos so early. I love your pretty pink arrangement. The gypsophila gives it a nice bit of froth. Did I recommend it? I don’t remember that. I particularly love the annual Omphalodes linifolia which is quite similar and very pretty, everybody wants to know what it is.
In the post about the your seed sowing you mentioned a number of varieties, perhaps unintentionally recommending them! I grew the omphaloides too but sadly these frazzled in an overhot greenhouse… 😐
Beautiful. Since I have moved, I have had to steal flowers from the side of the road and look at other people’s plants. These are lovely.
Thanks Lisa. Borrowed views are lovely too especially if you haven’t your own
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