The choice of material for my Monday vases is widening almost by the day, and I have been torn between a mix of May’s finest blooms and some more specific selections while the chance was still there; even the latter offered conflicting choices, so today you can have two for the price of one, or ‘buy one get one free’ (BOGOF).
A week ago I picked a posy of bluebells, wild garlic and Cerinthe ‘Kiwi Blue’ (the latter variety recommended by Susie) to brighten up the location of voluntary work that I do, and was astonished at how attractive such ordinary blooms could be when put together; today I have recreated that posy for you, placing it in a little blue & white jug. I would have preferred a vase with a narrower neck to restrict splaying out of the stems, but needs must, and I loosely tied them together instead. The BOGOF prop is made up of letters from a game called Upwords, a little like Scrabble but with the option of stacking letters and changing words throughout the game to score extra points.
Since their first bloom back last month I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to share some of my sweet peas, an early variety called ‘Winter Sunshine’, bred to flower at lower light levels and grown in the greenhouse. They look and of course smell wonderful and I commend them to you. Today they are popped into the largest of my car boot sale Caithness Glass vase buys and are giving me great pleasure on the kitchen table in front of me.
So there we have them, two IAVOM vases for the price of one. Would you like to contribute one or more vases to this weekly meme? To join us, post your vase or vases and leave links to and from this post.
Rambling in the Garden 
Delightful!
Thanks Sandra
Beautiful flowers💜Pawkisses for a Happy Week ahead🐾😽💞
Thanks
Both lovely – the first a combination that never would have occurred to me! They compliment each other beautifully. And your sweet peas are heavenly and are in the perfect vase. I am about to sow mine – quite late (St Patrick’s Day is sweet pea planting day here in South Australia). We have mild winters so they should be ok. My contribution this week was gifted to my MIL for Mother’s Day. -Horticat
https://plantaholicoz.blogspot.com/2022/05/in-vase-on-monday-mums-for-mum.html
Thank you 👍 The bluebells and wild garlic were flowering in abundance when I picked them the first time and the cerinthe made a nice filler, I thought, but hadn’t expected how successful the combination would be. When will your sweet peas flower if you sow them now?
Hi Cathy, they should still flower in spring if planted now. Can’t wait to smell them again!
😊
The vase choice for both of your flower bunches are perfect Cathy; those Sweet Peas were a great choice! By wonderful coincidence, I also have a BOGO today!
Thanks Chris, the conetents of both vases were crying it to be used today!
Cathy, this blue, white and green combo may be my all time favorite vase of yours. The blue vase adds to the whole effect–just lovely. Your cerinthe is particularly richly colored and I may have to look for that one. Mine is actually ‘Pride of Gibraltar’ and hasn’t achieved as strong deep color this year. I love your sweet peas too! Thanks for hosting. Like Chris, coincidentally I have a BOGO today also! Funny! https://pbmgarden.blog/2022/05/09/in-a-vase-on-monday-paeonia/
This is bizarre about the cerinthe, Susie, because when I checked the name to add it to the post it just didn’t ring a bell at all. I know I sought out P of G not long after you posted about them in the first place and found a UK source, so how I ended up with this other one I really don’t know!! It’s strange how some vases are just an instant success, and I am glad you can see why I wanted to replicate the blue & white one. For some reason the cerinthe and some of the bluebells are still a bit droopy
That’s funny. Oh well, your cerinthe is beautiful.
Love the colors today and wish I could catch the scent of Winter Sunshine. Blue and white is a favorite here, too. Only one vase, though. https://theshrubqueen.com/2022/05/09/in-a-vase-on-monday-bossa-nova-wrap/https://theshrubqueen.com/2022/05/09/in-a-vase-on-monday-bossa-nova-wrap/
Both vases are a complete joy today, Amelia, and I am sorry you can’t smell the sweet peas…😁
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Wonderful! That first vase reminds me of the photo you posted recently of the bluebells and wild garlic flowering in your garden. The perfect vase too. And the shimmering colours of the sweet peas are so lovely. I have actually grown some cerinthe and sweet peas myself this year, but they will need a lot longer before they flower and will hopefully stand up to our summer heat for a while. Your title completely confused me and I thought you were telling someone/something to get lost! 😂 Here is my vase for today… my Totally Tangerine geums arrived! 😃
Thanks Cathy – it was good to share a bit of the woodland in this vase, Cathy. Once these are over it will be almost all green until the snowdrops (hopefully!) next year…
I wasn’t sure how well known an acronym BOGOF would be, although in practice supermarkets are now dissuaded from buy one get one free these days, here in the UK that is
It has never been a thing in Germany, and I have only ever seen it once – for elderflower cordial! It is almost always on offer around elderflower season. So I will stock up soon. 😉
BOGOF is due to be banned in the UK although the ban has now been delayed a year because of the cost of living crisis!
What is the reason for wanting to ban it? And will they also want to ban ‘buy two get one free’?!😜
Often the offers are on junk food, so it is a health concern, particularly in relation to childhood obesity – and presumably buy 2 get 1 free would not be as attractive to those on low incomes where healthy eating can be difficult
I bet you made several people very happy by displaying such a posy. I used to take flowers to put on my desk, and this was a pleasing way to make people relax. The sweetpeas are well so sweetpeaish…a most delightful posy. Here is my contribution: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2022/05/late-spring-flowers-in-vase-on-monday.html
That’s what started IAVOM, when I realisedthat my habit of picking a posy for work had long since gone (way before I finished work). It doesn’t take long and it brings such pleasure, wherever the posy ends up
Oh I love both…..especially the sweet peas. My sweet peas seeds are just sprouting. I have a humble simple vase again this time with miniature tulips. The weather is warming so hoping more will bloom soon. https://gardenseyeview.com/2022/05/09/my-green-world/
Humble simple vases are always lovely Donna! 👍
They’re both beautiful, Cathy, but I’ll adore the first one. Blue and white is one of my favorite combinations. The sweet peas are a lovely color. I’d just about given up on getting anything but dark blue flowers from my own sweet pea “crop” this year when suddenly those blooms were joined by several other colors. I don’t know if the one variety just bloomed very early or the rest just very late but I’m gratified to finally have a mix. Here’s my (excessive) contribution to this week’s IAVOM collection: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2022/05/in-vase-on-monday-zombie-gets-new-life.html
There is something about a blue & white combination of blooms, isn’t there Kris? Invariably when you post a multiple selection of vases it is one with blue & white blooms that appeal to me the most! Interesting to read about your sweet peas – I find that white ones tend to be the slowest and weakest in terms of flowering
Oh, lovely to see the sweet peas! I bet the fragrance is wonderful. And I like the bright blue bracts of that Cerinthe, mine is Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’ but it doesn’t seem as bright as everyone else’s.
That’s why I went for the one Susie recommended, although it wasn’t what I actually bought in the end (not sure what happened there!)!! Hers was Pride of Gibraltar. That and Kiwi Blue certainly stand out compared to ‘Purpurascens’, and mine have certainly made stronger plants, but that might just be coincidence
I shall have to look for some seeds.
Sarah Raven has Kiwi Blue and maybe Pride of Gibraltar too
Thanks!
Oh both most attractive vases Cathy – I love the colours of those sweet pea shades. If only I could find room in my greenhouse to grow some. Thanks for the mention of new to me word game to investigate. We both enjoy a game of Scrabble. I picked flowers for a vase, even took a photo but the moment my photo is still on my camera and I can’t find the equipment to download it! It’s either going to be a very late post from me or a BOGOF next Monday 😂
Thanks Anna. Owl’s Acre have about a dozen different shades of these sweet peas, but craftily don’t sell them mixed – I think I chose 8 of them. We haven’t played Scrabble for years, preferring Upwords which is more inclusive because there are different skills involved. Glad to read you still had a vase to enjoy, albeit just for the two of you
Wild garlic? I would ask what species that is, but I know that it must be something that I am not familiar with. The common wild onion blooms here, and is a nice flower, but is not quite like garlic or garden variety onions. I did happen to get my first two Alliums, but because they are new and blooming with only one flower each so far, I would not cut them.
Allium ursinum. People use the leaves in cooking and for pesto and as they have the garlic taste without without the garlic breath!
They are both lovely. I realise that I hardly ever cut flowers for the house. That is partly because I do not have a big flower garden and partly because I feel bad about cutting them and shortening their lives. So I am limited to an occasional bunch of nasturtiums which are so prolific here that cutting some makes novisible difference and sometimes a bunch of cow parsley which I love.
IAVOM encouraged a number of reluctant-to-cut people to cut things for the first time – and discover the joys of bringing their own blooms into the house. Cutting tends to encourage new blooms too, so it’s a win-win situation!
Lovely. As I scrolled down I thought how nothing could beat the blues in vase 1, but then you pulled the sweet pea card! I love them and these are great soft colours. Glad they smell too 😉
Glad you enjoyed them too (without the fragrance)!