In A Vase On Monday -Christmas flowers and foliage from the garden

/ karen

One of the joys of winter is mooching around the garden and still finding flowers and foliage to bring indoors. This week’s mooching produced hydrangea Annabelle flower heads. They have dried to a beautiful pale parchment colour.

In late summer, Hydrangea Annabelle has creamy white flower heads, often the size of footballs. I leave them to create architectural shapes in winter. They look fabulous with a topping of frost or snow. At Christmas I cut a few for the house. A quick spray of silver gives them a festive flourish. I use Oasis floral spray for my arrangements. It dries in seconds and gives a good finish. You don’t need to use very much to give foliage and flowers a silver sheen. I love the way it highlights the veins on the back of the petals.

In keeping with the silver theme, I’ve added some willow twigs. They are just starting to produce soft, furry grey catkins. A welcome sight and a reminder that spring won’t be far away. Some fluffy seed heads add texture. These are Clematis tangutica orientalis Engelina, also know as My Angel. It scrambles up through the hawthorn hedge and produces the most beautiful, delicate flowers in autumn. I wrote about it Here.

Adding a touch of colour is my Mum’s Chinese lanterns, Physalis alkegengi. This grows by Mum’s front door and is always such a cheerful welcome to any visitors. It’s rather a rampant plant and to be honest it looks like it’s trying to get in through the front door. Every autumn we pick a few of the seed heads to dry, leaving most of them to provide a glowing approach all along the front drive.

I’ve added some Scott’s pine, Pinus sylvestris, complete with beautiful resin-scented cones. A little pile of cones stands beside our fireplace ready to be thrown into the fire. Along with some precious apple tree logs, saved for Christmas. The scent drifts through the house to the kitchen where I’m making spiced ginger biscuits.

Thank you to Cathy at ramblinginthegarden for hosting this, my favourite meme. Go over and have a look what Cathy and all the other gardeners are doing for their IAVOM this week. You can also follow me on twitter @kgimson and Instagram karengimson1 and on iPlayer at BBC radio Down to Earth.

Have a wonderful Christmas. Thank you all of you for reading and sending such lovely, encouraging comments each week. It is always appreciated. Love from Karen x

25 thoughts on “In A Vase On Monday -Christmas flowers and foliage from the garden”

  1. Pingback: Fact Sheet- BBC Down to Earth gardening programme -recipes and home-made presents | Bramble Garden

  2. Must look out my silver/gold sprays and get spraying before Christmas is done and dusted!! Annabelle looks gorgeous – a new woman with a change of hair colour! Hope you and your families have a happy and peaceful Christmas, Karen, and you have a break from the frustrations of the internet!

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    • Thank you Cathy. Amazing how a little bit of spray livens things up. I’ve seen someone using gold and bronze together. I’m going to try that next. We are over at my inlaws for Christmas so escaping from the internet dead zone. The whole family is going and we are all doing a few dishes each to spread the work load. Enjoy your Christmas too Cathy . Catch up with you after the festivities xx

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  8. Karen is a fairytale arrangement in a beautiful garden. Fairy lights give that magic touch. The Anabelle Hydrangea with the silver spray is magnificent. The branches of Willow with their catkins are precious as well as the seeds of My angel and Physalis alkegengi. I love the smell of cones with fresh resin. The set is marvellous and pure nature; Things we can take from our gardens or a forest. Karen Merry Christmas for you and your family (do not forget to congratulate your Mother on my behalf). May Christmas be endearing with health, peace and much love. Happy Holidays! Very loving greetings from Margarita.

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    • Thank you Margarita. So kind of you. The best thing is it doesn’t cost anything. Well, about 30p worth of spray. And at the end of Christmas, it can all go on the compost heap, and not in the waste bins for landfill. Wishing you a wonderful happy Christmas. We will all be over at my in laws and my Mum’s because she lives next door to them. So we are joining the families together all around one big table. Loving greetings to you and your parents. Peace and much love to you all. Karen xxx

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    • It is indeed English oak. It’s the one I keep taking photos of at the top of my garden by the five bar gate. It looks very beautiful at the moment as all the leaves have turned a burnished brown, but are still on the tree. It’s a very common, but much loved tree here. Good luck with your oak. Thanks for reading and getting in touch. All the best. Karen

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