The Coop is currently home to a number of flowering bulbs and the indoor narcissi are beginning to come into their own, joining the hyacinths in pumping out their strong fragrance. If I was to bottle the fragrance of any of the blooms in my garden I don’t think I would choose any of these narcissi, although this one, ‘Erlicheer’ (early cheer?), is not unpleasant, just exceedingly strong; I no longer grow ‘paperwhites’ because their smell, to my mind, is bordering on the unpleasant but this one, along with ‘Grand Soleil d’Or’ and ‘Avalanche’ which I also grow, are acceptable. I don’t start them off in the warmth, but keep them in the Coop from when first potted up which delays their flowering, although I could perhaps stagger them in the future so some are flowering when we open the garden in February.
The blooms are joined by snippets of Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’ and twisted hazel, both valued and regular go-to additions at this time of year, popped into my Prinknash Pottery vase with its useful ‘triangular’ (as I see it) shape and joined by a Chinese perfume bottle, a gift from a friend who had been visiting the Far East. The colour of the bottle seems to pick out the hints of yellow amongst the central ruffles of the narcissus blooms, reminiscent of miniature roses.
Spring is heading to many gardens in the northern hemisphere, although still a long way off in others – but our Monday vases don’t have to contain blooms, so if you would like to share something from your gardens with us then just pop it into a vase or other receptacle and leave the usual links to and from this post.
Rambling in the Garden 
A lot of my bulbs are being eaten by slugs and snails when in bud, it is very disheartening.
The RHS has said we are to call them garden visitors, and we are to embrace them…I have other views and names for them!
Haha , don’t we all?! 😁
Oh no! Could it also be pigeons? Bloomin’ pests. whichever it is… 🙄
Lovely blooms Cathy. I’ve been following IAVOM for ages and look forward to Mondays.
Martinette narcissus do, I think, have a gorgeous scent.
Oh hello Gina, how lovely to have you commenting after following the meme for ages – so glad to hear you look forward to Mondays! 👍 Are Martinette narcissi a named variety, or is that a type? It’s not one I have heard of
Pretty wonderful daffodils. They’re an interesting contrast to the austere black form of that lovely vase. The delicately painted bottle softens the whole effect. Thanks for hosting, Cathy. https://pbmgarden.blog/2022/03/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-march-mingle/
Thanks Susie, I would normally put these in a tall slim vase but the stems were still relatively short so I took advantage of their shortness instead
Worked out well. I like the vase.
I love these little daffs, and totally agree about the whitepaper fragrance – it can be so overpowering indoors. I have a bit of yellow this weekas well!
Thanks Chris – they are not normally little but hadn’t grown to their full height when I cut them, so it’s a little deceptive
Pretty flowers. I love the Tom Thumb and twisted hazel combination. I agree with you about paperwhites; can’t stand the smell. https://theshrubqueen.com/2022/03/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-daffy/
Thanks Amy – and I say that the pittosporum and twisted hazel are my go-to additions, but perhaps it just shows lack of imagination!!
I like to add grapevines from my garden and burgundy foliage, too..good texture and color accents..
There is so much unused potential in our gardens, I think!
Absolutely.
Beautiful arrangement, as always! I need to remember to smell the flowers–in so many ways–even if the scent is not my top favorite. It’s always interesting to use all the senses when working with/appreciating plants. 🙂
Thanks Beth, although to be honest it didn’t take a lot of thought to put together! 😉
I am with you regarding the smell of certain daffodils. I do like your combination with the dark leaves and stems, and your little gift from your friend is the perfect prop. The one I chose has very little thankfully, and will be out in the conservatory on our breakfast table.https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2022/03/in-vase-on-monday-more-spring-dainties.html
Yes, it must be difficult for you at times – in what way does it affect you? It was Christina’s monthly foliage meme that made me really begin to appreciate foliage in ts own right, and this pittosporum is such an asset in that respect
Love the combo of colors in y our vase and bottle….very lovely for spring. I no longer grow paperwhites for the same reason. But the few you mention are among my favorites to grow if I did as I too find the fragrance acceptable. Another vase of grocery bought blooms for me this week. We had another snow storm this weekend dropping 7+ inches of snow. It is melting fast though as we warm this week.
Thanks Donna. Might this be the last of your snow? Hope so 👍
We never can tell but it looks like it might be the last of any big storms.
Fingers crossed!!
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A very elegant variety which you’ve perfectly displayed. The colours go so well together. As much as I love the daffodils which carry several flowers on a stem, I find a lot of them are top heavy often bending over to rest on the grass. So stormy here that some of mine have been decapitated. Just brought in one stem of “Martinette” which will hopefully be okay as Monsieur has a delicate nose ;). Here’s my vase: https://personaleden.wordpress.com/2022/03/14/in-a-vase-on-a-monday-following-the-sun/ Wishing you sunshine in this dark world!
I cut these stems before they got tall, but some of my other indoor potted narcissi are a bit lanky and droopy – although it stays cool in the Coop, so that helps. What a shame about the decapitation
I love the look of that Narcissus, although I understand your feelings about the strong scent many of the early blooming paperwhite varieties have. My paperwhites, inherited with the garden, are already long over and done and it’s not a stretch to say that my garden has already reached its spring peak, which is a bit alarming even for my climate. With everything blooming at once, I’m focusing on the flowers expected to leave the stage earliest: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2022/03/in-vase-on-monday-flowers-aplenty.html
It’s so hard to imagine what it must be like living in your climate and the speed at which plants come and go during the year, and I am always interested to see and read about it in your posts, Kris
Those pretty flouncy narcissus flowers remind me of creamy primrose flowers and pick up on the background colour of your vase so well Cathy. I can’t abide the scent of paperwhites or come to think of it hyacinths in a confined space. Almost a no show from me as Blogger seems to be playing up today. I almost gave up with frustration but eventually got there : https://greentapestry.blogspot.com/2022/03/iavom-simply-yellow.html
Ah yes, they are a bit like those double primroses 😉 Sorry to hear about Blogger playing up but thanks for persevering 👍
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Erlicheer is a lovely one, and I do like the little perfume bottle next to it. I had never thought about the pronunciation of Erlicheer before, reading it as a German person might! I am very hesitant about scented flowers too, as we both inevitably start sneezing, but I did treat myself to some Freesias recently. Now that is a scent I would definitely put in a bottle! I am back with a vase this week: https://wordsandherbs.wordpress.com/2022/03/14/in-a-vase-on-monday-spring-zing-😃/
I don’t know if it is a nod to ‘early cheer’ or not, but it would certainly be apprropriate! Can you give me a clue how a German would pronounce it? I think hyacinths are used in the perfume industry, but presumably blended with others things to produce somethning more subtle
Erlicheer : air lick air ( sort of!) 😉
OH! 😁 So I can see why you wouldn’t have seen it as early-cheer!
Oh my! Paperwhites and plain and simple ‘King Alfred’ daffodils are my two favorites. They are the simplest and most common of their sort. However, Because my olfactory perception is compromised, I am not bothered by strong fragrance. It is obvious to me that paperwhites generate a very strong fragrance, but that is one of their qualities that I enjoy.
Yes, there are all sorts of reasons behind personal taste in anything, I suppose
Grrr, you don’t seem to be turning up in my reader any longer, so I keep missing your posts. I still follow you, so I have no idea what’s going on, but you are not the first I have to manually search for. Anyhow, this is a very chic arrangement and I do appreciate the emphasis in creaminess the little perfume bottle brings to the colours in the narcissi 🙂
Thanks Allison, but what a pain about the omission from your reader 🙄 I think you must have now re-subscribed though, as I had a notification mentioning you were following me. I subscribe to emails for the blogs I follow, which does add to the backlog of emails, but at least I can then view them when it’s convenient
Yes, I tried the old switch it off/switch it on again trick and I can once again see your posts in my reader. 👍