In a Vase on Monday, 7th Anniversary: Still Life with Pine Cone, Rosehip and Moss

Welcome to the seventh anniversary of In a Vase on Monday! Who would have thought that those small beginnings back in November 2013, when I challenged myself to begin picking flowers from the garden on a regular basis, would lead to this friendly and supportive meme that is still going seven years later? There may not be as many sharing vases now as there was at its peak, but there are still regulars who post almost every week and others who dip in occasionally, plus all those who drop in to look at the vases without sharing one of their own and others who post on Instagram: everyone is welcome. The communal supportiveness of the meme seems to be one of its most endearing qualities, and the very act of choosing material and bringing it into the house to create a vase brings a variety of benefits to the creator and those around them.

I set the challenge for today’s anniversary of producing a vase with no blooms and we have in part my middle grandchild to thank for the result. My original intention was to use seedheads and twigs but on Grannie Thursday, when she (aged 3) and her younger brother (aged 2) were here, she was asking about a couple of dried pomegranates on the windowsill, and I was explaining what they were. Next to the pomegranates was a pine cone, bizarrely picked up in the garden even though there are no pine trees in the immediate vicinity – and the seed was sown for a vaseless vase with no blooms!

The rosehips came from prolific hip producer ‘Parkdirektor Riggers’ whilst the moss was scraped from the retaining wall of the snowdrop border; the square piece of slate is one of our coasters, created by cutting a slate floor tile into nine, the larger tiles acting as placemats. Joining the celebratory display is the teeny tiny cake that has appeared as a prop before, which coincidentally has 7 teeny tiny candles on it, an eighth having been broken off by a careless child at some point in time.

Seven years of vases means 364 in total and looking back there will alway be favourites, enjoyed for their content or sometimes for what they signify or the memories they trigger. Here are my favourites for each of the last 12 months:

I look forward to seeing your own bloomless vases today, although in line with the elastic rules of the meme no-one will be penalised for including blooms! As promised there is also an anniversary giveaway, this time open to all who comment and not just those who post a vase: Jenny Joseph’s ‘Led by the Nose’, an unconventional memoir of a year of smells in her garden.

Thanks to everyone for their support of the meme over the years and here’s to another year of vases!