I am sure I have posted a similar picture before, but as my default response to a session of garden opening this would hardly be surprising; so, after opening on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons and a group visit on Thursday evening I finally sat down (yesterday) with a cup of tea, a choice of cake from my own menu and all the posies from the tables. We have one more opening, next Sunday afternoon, but with very little extra baking to do it should be a relatively restful week apart from the occasional deadheading.
All good so far, and no doubt I will tell you more about it later. In the meantime, please enjoy more of the beautiful Winter Sunshine sweet peas that continue to fill the greenhouse with their glorious fragrance – sadly, in another few weeks they will be ousted to make room for the tomatoes which are waiting in the wings.
My sweet peas were not picked specifically for IAVOM this week, but hey ho! that’s how it is. Ideally, we are picking flowers from our own gardens to pop in a vase so we can enjoy them indoors but sometimes blooms enter our lives from other sources or for other reasons and we can still share them on IAVOM; I look forward to seeing yours today.
Incidentally, last week’s forgiving vase looked good for almost a full 7 days, and admiring it closely reminded me just how pretty a shade of red it was, and how much more striking the blooms were in real life rather than in a photo: forgiving indeed, and I intend to be far kinder to the bush in future and to admire it frequently…
Rambling in the Garden 
Those sweet peas are a triumph Cathy! and it sounds like you have had a busy and successful week. i’m looking forward to hearing more about you Open days. I have honeysuckle and some happy buzzing bees in my IAVOM post today: https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/2019/06/24/a-solstice-vase-on-monday/
Happy Solstice!
Thanks Sandra, they really have been lovely, although some colours have done better than others.
Cathy, I admire your energy and creativity–sharing your garden must be lots of fun, despite the work of preparing. Glad you took some time to reflect and enjoy afterwards. The sweet peas gathered at your table anchors a charming scene and that cake looks delicious. My vase is
Thanks Susie – it is indeed hard work, but doesn’t feel hard as it is a labour of love, and mingling and talking to visitors brings such pleasure to all concerned. Our band of helpers also enthuse over the fun of being part of it which is good too, as they are a wonderful support and we would struggle to do it without them
Gorgeous sweet peas Cathy! Mine are still forming buds! Yours are such beautiful colours! And it sounds like you have been super busy over the past few days, not to mention the days before, getting the garden ready! I bet that cake and cuppa tasted good! I am rather relieved you mention that flowers can sometimes come from other sources for our vases on Monday, and my post today is a shining example of that!! My daughter’s wedding flowers. I am unashamed about showing them on the blog – they were just too beautiful to ultimately confine to the bin! They are immortalised here https://therunningwave.blogspot.com/2019/06/bridal-flowers-in-vase-on-monday.html Amanda
Thanks Amanda – I am having a day with NO gardening or baking activities whatsoever and it seems most odd 🙂 Pleased to hear you are sharing the wedding flowers
Love the sweet peas in their tiny pots! perfect for a tea table. You’re very generous toshare your garden (and cakes) with hordes of strangers – are you raising funds for anyting?
The UK has national schemes for vetted gardens – see http://ngs.org.uk/ for the England and Wales organisation. Last year they raised over £3 million for a range of charities, mostly health based so my contribution is only a tiny part of this
Such a great program!
Yes, all that money raised just from gardens and cake!
That’s a most inviting cameo Cathy – I almost feel that my hand could reach in and make a beeline for that no doubt most delicious cake. Those little jars of sweet peas made for the most attractive table decorations. Glad to hear that you made some time for yourself to sit and pause in what must be am enjoyable but hectic time. I was so pleased to see the first signs of flowers on my sweet peas yesterday 😄 At one point I thought that one of the contents of my vase would not flower but am so pleased that it made it : https://greentapestry.blogspot.com/2019/06/iavom-thereby-hangs-tale.html
Hands off, Anna!! I am having a ‘lazy day’ (well, after swimming and Pilates, that is!) today and not doing anything related to the garden or baking. It feels most strange! Good to hear your sweet peas are about to perform
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Glorious is the right word for the Sweet Peas. It sounds like your garden opening was a success – I would like to join you for tea and the garden. Here is my vase this week http://theshrubqueen.com/2019/06/24/in-a-vase-on-monday-barometer-says-summer-is-here/
Thanks, and do drop in if you are ever over here, Amelia!
As it happens, my bouquets were also done for a social event and not my house. Your greenhouse must be heavenly filled with that fragrance. I am only having one big tour this year and it seems like a lot of work. I am impressed with all you are doing and in a short span of time. My offering is here:
https://www.lindabrazill.com/each_little_world/2019/06/posies-for-the-party.html
Yes, the fragrance in te greenhouse is heavenly – and the other one, ‘the Coop’ has a nice ‘glasshouse’ smell, like those big ones in a botanical garden. How many people might you expect on your ‘tour’?
What a pleasant table setting. The sweet peas are beautiful.
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Lovely vases and so glad all has gone well for the opening days so far. I will now join you for a cuppa as it is teatime here (I have converted my German partner to drinking tea in the afternoon too!). Sadly no cake though. ;- Here is my vase for today – wild flowers again until the garden gets established. 🙂 https://wordsandherbs.com/2019/06/24/in-a-vase-on-monday-midsummer/
Thanks Cathy and have a good week!
Thanks Cathy. Sorry to hear about the lack of cake with YOUR tea- that would be like the end of the world here!!
HaHa! 🙂
Utterly beautiful!!!!
Thanks Laurie, you can’t go wrong with sweet peas, and the Briza maxima is a good addition to any vase
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Un joli lot de pots…avec une belle vue sur le jardin !
Merci Jacqueline – je les aime aussi
Those sweet peas look so pretty Cathy. I’m going to search out that variety for an early crop. Here’s my IAVOM https://bramblegarden.com/2019/06/24/in-a-vase-on-monday-all-white/
Highly recommended, Karen 🙂
I’m glad to hear that your garden openings have been going well but I’m not at all surprised that you needed respite. My own sweet peas already feel like a distant memory so I’m pleased to see yours. I went a little overboard with this week’s vases (again) but, as I’m about to be evicted from my kitchen, I’m not sure where and how I’ll go ahead preparing my vases over the next several months. I expect I’ll manage somehow 😉 Here’s my post: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2019/06/in-vase-on-monday-from-spare-and-simple.html
Thanks Kris – I have been running on adrenalin for some time, I think, and it is really odd to have a quiet day today!
Your sweet peas are gorgeous, Cathy, particularly when massed together as they are on your table. Clever of you to plant up early ones – I’m impatiently waiting for ours to begin flowering. I’ve got a big tub of a variety called ‘America’ and together with hubby’s usual Spencers I should be able to fill a few vases. Dead-heading is my favourite gardening activity. I’m glad the open days have gone well and good luck with the next one too. My vase this week couldn’t be more different to yours – here’s the link: https://silverscrappers.blogspot.com/2019/06/in-vase-on-monday-mellow-yellows.html
Thanks Elizabeth – it made sense to group them together because otherwise they would probably just have been left on the individual tables in their different places until next Sunday, and not appreciated, Even when the visitors were here I would be plucking the odd rose head – can’t help myself! I find going round with the secateurs for routine deadheading a very pleasurable experience too
How lovely that you have managed a few minutes of well earned relaxation. I am sure everyone loved your garden, what a treat for them. Those sweet peas have been a real success story.
Thanks Chloris; yes, lots of positive comments and indeed the garden seems to be excelling itself at the moment. I am sure yours must be the same and your secret garden and ‘jungly bit’ must be closing in nicely by now
Your sweet peas are lovely, I can almost smell them. Mine, despite being healthy on arrival as young plants, have not done much this year. Congratulations on the successful opening and I am sure you deserved a rest today (and cake) 😀
Thanks Jude – it has been an exciting few days! Other sweet peas I sowed earlier this year are looking far stronger than similar plants I sowed in October so I might leave my non Winter Sunshine till early spring in the future. I made another sowing last month so it will be interesting to see how they do – I wonder how much they are affected by big changes in weather? When did your plants arrive?
My plants arrived in early May and they were very good. I don’t think the cold weather that followed helped though. And I have an awful lot of snails…
Munch munch…
😬
Your sweet peas are so lovely. 🙂 I am too soft-hearted perhaps, but I believe I would have a hard time ousting sweet peas in full, fragrant bloom despite my love of fresh tomatoes! I do hope to hear more about your garden opening – after you have rested up and finished the cake, of course!
The plants here are certain it is high summer now, so this week I give you a couple of prairie daisies: https://www.smallsunnygarden.com/2019/06/24/in-a-vase-black-eyes-and-golden/
Thanks Amy – these sweet peas have been flowering since mid April so will be tailing off in a few weeks anyway; even so I will be sad to see them go…
Lovely Sweet Peas. I’ve never tried to grow them, but maybe I will one of these days. You show how beautiful they can be as cut flowers. I’m glad your open days are going well.
They are a wonderful crop for vases, and cutting them encourages more blooms so it is win-win!
Hey, I just featured perennial pea in the gardening column (which will be here on Tuesday). They lack fragrance of course, but you can not see that in the picture. I do not grow sweet pea because their season is SO brief here. My niece in Los Angeles grew them anyway.
Cathy you deserve a break with the opening of the garden and the hustle and the work involved. The Sweet Peas are magnificent and their wonderful colors, I love them. They are lovely in their individual small vases all stacked. By the way, I’m not greedy but the cake looks very appetizing … Enjoy it with your cup of tea! Greetings from Margarita.
Thank you – people tell me I make nice cakes!