In a Vase on Monday: Geode

It is a few weeks since any of the fantasy chrysanthemums from the Coop were picked for a vase or posy, but as you may have seen from my last post they are both still in bloom; however, the flowers are really droopy and it is hard to gauge whether this is because they are past their best or if the plant is deficient in some way. It may of course just be the end of their flowering period – after all, it is almost the end of December! I don’t plan to add any more varieties as they take up space and take such a long time to justify their existence, but nevertheless it might be worth my while reading up on how best to treat them, bearing in mind I grow them for a succession of blooms and not show purposes. Any tips from people who have successfully grown them would be welcome.

Anyway, a bloom of ‘Kiyomi No Meisui’ has been picked for today, partly experimentally to see whether it will perk up in water, which so far is looking unlikely. The slender and wispy stems joining it are windblown twigs of silver birch, complete with catkins, which were plucked from one of the borders on a recent ramble and, keeping with the contrast of light and dark, joined by the purplish-brown foliage of Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’. A dark stoneware pot, probably an ink bottle as it has a pouring lip, seemed the ideal vase.

With no inspiration yet forthcoming for title or prop, I combed my collection of crystals for a suitable stone of light and dark contrasts, but nothing felt right; my attention then turned to this quartz geode, the product of our first ever crystal purchase around ten years ago. Geodes are created over millions of years when dissolved minerals seep into a natural hollow or air bubble in volcanic rock, hardening into an outer shell and creating the geode, whilst the minerals continue to form on the inside walls of the shell, growing towards the centre. A geode would have to be broken open to expose any crystals inside so this is just half of one; the other half is in the garden, no doubt hidden from view by vegetation and in need of being rescued!

I was thinking the stoneware pot might sit inside this half but it was fractionally too big and instead placed next to it. Having been drawn to use the geode for no clear reason, is it far fetched to think the white bloom of the chrysanthemum reflects its sparkly interior and the dark foliage the heavy rock of the shell? If nothing else, its use as a prop has motivated me to look for the other half and tackle the dust accumulating on the rest of my collection…

If you feel motivated or inspired to find material in your garden to bring inside and pop in a vase or jam jar (prop and title optional), readers of IAVOM would be delighted if you chose to share it with us by leaving links to and from this post.