In a Vase on Monday: Kaleidoscope

It’s good to be back home again after nearly a week away in Ireland with the campervan, and although a neighbour had been watering the greenhouse and pots in our absence it seemed as if the garden was just as pleased to see me again as I was to see it – we have missed each other and have a lot of catching up to do! Not only are there routine and seasonal tasks like deadheading, taking cuttings and autumn sowing to get on with, but also rather a large amount of planting to do as part of a rationalisation of the borders. A (very) large order of plants from Claire Austin arrived just prior to our return and the whole process of moving existing plants around and planting the new ones currently feels quite daunting and it will be a matter of just getting stuck in, one border at a time. No doubt my bulb order from Peter Nyssen will arrive any day now too, to add to the workload!

Picking dahlias for today’s vase, however, was an easy task as I could cut generously – once I had pushed past the giant cosmos to get to them! Almost all were flowering profusely and at their peak, with at least another month of blooms still to come. My favourite at the moment is the large pink one which I have managed to consign to a position at the back of the jug where you can’t see it in profile – but the overhead view below shows the two blooms well. This was new to me this year, bought as a sturdy rooted cutting from specialist grower Halls of Heddon and is named Dorothy Rose; I like it all the more when, having chosen it for the colour and shape of the blooms, I realised it shared its name with a dear elderly friend of ours, a friend who justifiably received the first pickings.

Joining Dorothy Rose are a selection of other beauties: Jowey Winnie, Glow, Happy Halloween, an unnamed single yellow, a single red grown from seed, Karma Serena and Nuit d’Été. Cutting them meant sacrificing many side shoots but in the long term I accept

that this will produce choicer blooms. Nevertheless, some blooms were in possession of fairly short stems so this small and simple white jug was used and placed against a black felt backdrop for photographing. Despite a childish delight in kaleidoscopes, even as an adult, it is not something I have in my possession so today’s props are instead a pair of iridescent crystals, titanium quartz and carborundum.

Having missed all your vases last week I look forward to a ‘normal’ day of Monday vases; thank you for your forbearance last week and for not letting it put you off the pleasure of creating your vases. For those who have not joined in before, the principle of IAVOM is for you to find material from your garden or foraged locally and pop it into a vase to bring pleasure during the week. It’s not about the arranging, but the simple pleasures to be had from bringing blooms from our gardens into our homes. Do consider joining us if you have not already done so and revitalise your Mondays, leaving links to and from this post so we can share in your pleasure.