In a Vase on Monday: Spotting Signs of Spring

As was clear from many Six on Saturday posts this weekend, spring is very much on its way in the UK and some other northern hemisphere gardens, so spotting signs of it is a doddle, with spring bulbs very much to the fore. It was only after I snipped the contents for today’s vase that I remembered my intention to pick some of the double Narcissus ‘Tête Boucle’ from the baskets usually hanging at the front of the house, but removed to allow installation of external installation (delayed numerous times, unsurprisingly due to the weather) and now languishing largely unseen at the side of the property instead. Perhaps they will still look as good next week?

Instead, I had cut a lone two-toned pink hyacinth, the remnant of a Christmas gift some years ago, pairing it with often-ignored spotty laurel Aucuba japonica and, for further spring emphasis, sprigs of what I call ‘wild plum’, always the first flurry of white visible in local hedgerows and indeed our own hedge. The blooms won’t last long inside and outside on a breezy day it can look like recent snowfall at the base of the tree, but it’s an iconic indicator of the season and temperatures reaching 16°C yesterday served to prove the proximity of spring.

Stems were placed in my very useful fluted-rim vase, a fairly recent acquisition from the ‘tip shop’, the stiffness of the laurel stem making attempts at arrangement difficult, and the hyacinth stem in hindsight needing to have been cut a little shorter – but they are certainly signs of spring, emphasised by the prop of a mini ‘slinky’. I have used the slinky before as a prop but, avoiding temptation, have managed to limit its seasonal appearance to this and one other occasion. If you would like to join us on IAVOM, whatever the season, please do so by finding material from your garden or nearby and popping it in a vase, leaving links to and from this post.