In a Vase on Monday -27th May 2019

/ karen

It’s been raining on and off all day, so by 8.30pm it was now or never to pick my Monday Vase. I just caught the last of the light. But the flowers are full of raindrops.

There’s a “first and last” theme to tonight’s posy. It’s the last of the forget me nots. They have been glorious for months, providing a blue accompaniment to all the spring bulbs. And it’s the last of the wallflowers. Their wonderful scent has drifted across the veg plot for weeks. The variety is Persian Carpet, and I’m just about to sow some more seed for next year’s display.

It’s a first for the dianthus barbatus ( sweet williams). I have some self-seeded magenta flowers, and some rows of a new dark red, almost black variety, called Sooty.

There’s the first flowers from the sweet peas too. I’ve got heritage varieties, Mrs Collier (white) and Dorothy Eckford (cream) – alongside modern varieties High Scent and Wiltshire Ripple, and new this year, Capel Manor.

It’s also first for the blue love-in-a-mist and Blue Diadem cornflower. The cornflowers will flower right through to October. Seed was sown last October and plants were over-wintered in the poly tunnel. To be honest, the flowers only seem a week or two earlier than the ones grown outdoors, so I probably won’t bother trying to over-winter them again. They took up a lot of space and needed a lot of watering. Too much trouble for something that grows so readily outside.

Self-seeded pot marigolds are putting on an early show. I love these pale orange flowers, sisters of a variety called Orange Fizz. I’ll definitely grow these again. I’ve just planted some tiny plug plants to flower until the first frosts. Variety unknown, as they came from my Mum. Her labelling system is worse than mine! I’m not complaining, as she’s also brought annual pinks, stocks, cosmos and some kind of daisies. I can’t wait to see what they look like. We hoed out a trench and planted them in rows, mum passing me the plants and me setting them in the ground. We got a system going and planted them in half an hour.

The last of the winter pansies have grown long and leggy. Perfect for jam jar flowers at this time of the year. I’ve just sown some new black varieties. They look as sumptuous as velvet on the seed packets.

As soon as I’d picked my flowers, the light began to fade. How lovely to still be able to wander about in the garden in the evening though. If I’m lucky I’ll catch sight of the barn owl again.

Links : In a Vase on Monday: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/05/27/in-a-vase-on-monday-more-sweeties/

Links : Dianthus Sooty https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_450K_dianthus_barbatus_sooty

30 thoughts on “In a Vase on Monday -27th May 2019”

  1. Karen I love forget-me-nots. The sweet dark red Williams are very special. Sweet Peas in cream color I love them, but I like all colors very much. The Blue Cornflower Love-in-a-mist and Blue Diadem are wonderful. The pale orange flowers are lovely and beautiful, I like them a lot. Karen if your labeling system is bad mine is much worse !! Your Mother is a charm to bring you so many flowers. And with your quick method to plant. The purple thought is pure velvet. I love your flower vase, it’s a jewel, magnificent. What special and beautiful photos of your wooded garden and the meadow at sunset with that special light, I love them. Enjoy the walk through your garden treasure with that lovely light. My best wishes for your Mother. Karen the photos of the blog are magnificent and the flowers I love. Karen love and health for all your family and for you. Be careful and do not get too tired with the garden: relax and enjoy it. Very loving greetings from Margarita.

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  2. Fabulous flowers this week, Karen. I love that you planted out the plug plants with your Mum. When I’m sowing seeds I always think of my late and dear Dad who passed his love of gardening and wild life on to me from an early age.

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  10. So you have sweet peas in bloom too! Are yours outside, or in the polytunnel? What a lovely selection of blooms you have included and such a good advert for seed sowing – you have prompted me to think about biennials too, which I tend to forget about. I autumn sowed cornflower and planted them out late last year but they didn’t survive so I shall just sow early next year instead.- we learn from these experiences. The fuzzy marigolds are sweet – were they self seeded? Thanks for sharing the vase and your sowing plans

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    • Thank you Ron. I must admit, I would never be without pansies. They are so cheerful. And thereā€™s such a variety of ā€œfaces.ā€ I love all of them. They really cheer up our winter containers here.

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