In a Vase on Monday- flowers from my plot 9th March 2020

/ karen

Finding comfort in familiar things, I’m joining in with my favourite IAVOM theme today.

Spring flowers always bring hope. And we need plenty of hope at the moment, don’t we.

Here’s my flowers, picked fresh from the garden. They are in an unusual location, the drinks holder of my car. The perfect place for a jam jar of flowers, on their way to my mother’s house (via Radio Leicester, where I talk about what’s growing on my plot).

There’s some shoots of Japanese cherry, Prunus Kojo-no-mai, at the back of the posy. Some lace-edged heritage primulas, Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White, plum coloured Hellebores, and one very pretty bellis daisy.

The daises have grown all by themselves in the gaps between paving slabs at my back door. Something so pretty, just growing from seed carried on the wind. They have given me as much joy as anything I’ve planted and tended, probably because they have survived against the odds. There’s no soil there. And no loving care. But they have thrived. A message to us all, about resilience, maybe.

I love the slightly messy, many petaled flowers of bellis daisies. There are single and double forms. Seed packets cost a couple of pounds. Once you have them, they will always be with you. But not necessarily growing where you put them!

In my mother’s garden, the daisies romp delightfully across the lawn and into the border. She mows around them. It’s obvious where I get my empathy with plants from. My lovely mum has always been my greatest influence in life.

Wishing you all a peaceful, happy and successful week. I’d love to see what you are all sowing and growing in your garden just now. It’s very busy here, with plenty to do in the garden, as always. Hoping for some sunshine and nice weather – soon.

Links: In a Vase on Monday https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/in-a-vase-on-monday-pillaged/

Bellis Daisy: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Bellis-Goliath-Mixed.html#.XmZXWoGnyfA

BBC Radio Leicester, gardening starts at 1pm every Sunday with Dave Andrews https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002zx56. Listen back on Sounds, or ask your smart speaker to tune in to BBC Radio Leicester

Please share via any social media platform. I do not pay for any advertising, and I’m always grateful to anyone who spreads the word and signs up to follow, via e mail. Thank you. 🙂 🌱

Note: I was not driving when I took the photos in my car. Naturally.

24 thoughts on “In a Vase on Monday- flowers from my plot 9th March 2020”

  1. Karen the worst is over. The Government on Saturday the 14th has declared the State of Alarm for the exponential increase in Coronavirus cases throughout Spain, especially in the Community of Madrid. All shops and stores are closed except those that sell food, pharmacies and gas stations across the country. People are confined to their homes and can only go out to go to work, take the dog out, buy food, go to the pharmacy, or put gas in the car or motorcycle. The companies that can telework their workers at home are obliged to do so, my sister is one of those who begins to telework on Monday from home. All schools, nurseries and universities close. The Army joins the police to control that there are no people on the street. The trips are canceled if not for extreme necessity and backed by papers. All non-urgent surgical operations canceled, medical consultations canceled. You have to stay home because this is very serious Karen. I am a little scared, thank goodness that my dear Mother gives me much encouragement and a lot of love, and jokingly says “how come that coronavirus sucks me up!”. Karen I’ll tell you how things are evolving. Much love for all and that in the UK you never reach these extremes, I wish it from my heart. Take good care of yourself and wash your hands well with soap for a minute scrubbing them well: it is the best prevention. Good health to all and that you do not catch the coronavirus, including your whole family. With love, very loving greetings from Margarita xxx

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    • Thank you Margarita. I’m separated from my mum. She must stay in isolation at her home 25 miles away, I must stay here until it is safe. I very much fear we are heading for your situation next week. Children will be sent home from Monday. Already the hospitals are struggling. We must manage to keep ourselves occupied at home. Luckily I have my garden to keep me busy. I am calmer this week. Last week I was beside myself when I realised the danger everyone is in and how many people are taken ill and dying all over the world. It is desperately sad. Take care dear friend. Keep in touch.loving greetings – karen xxx

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      • Dear Karen the Coronavirus knows no borders. You have to be quiet at home and not go outside at all. Put up with the food you have. You have the tremendous luck of being able to enjoy your wonderful and large garden to walk and see the flowers and the beginning of Spring. I support you and I am by your side my friend. Do not worry about your dear Mother, it is best that she is isolated from people: call her many times on the phone a day and talk to her as if she were by your side. This is what we do: we are all day talking on the phone between my sister and my mother and I, my brother and his wife and my mother and I, and between my brothers and brothers-in-law. We also do a video conference on Skype daily between all of us. And by Whats App my brother calls my mother and me by videoconference every day. It is a way of being together in the distance. Talk to your whole family on the phone, you will feel better. Play with Meg in the garden with a ball or a stick to throw it to her and bring it to you. That will make you laugh and take away a lot of stress. This will happen in a while: you have to be patient and not think about it all day. Watch the news to be informed but not hooked on it. Listen to music, reread gardening books and relax. Take good care of all your family, Mr B and you Karen. All my love to everyone. Loving greetings from Margarita xxx

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      • Thank you Margarita. Your sensible, kind words have been so soothing today. I think after the shock, we are all now much more accepting of the situation. We have moved into the ‘what can we do’, phase of working out how to skype and video conferencing. I’m making an inventory of all the food in the house, because although supermarkets say they can cope, people are stockpiling and there is literally nothing to buy. Shelves are completely empty here. We will of course manage. But it’s sobering to realise how much we rely on someone else for our food supplies. Sending loving greetings in return to you and your family. Keep safe. Love from Karen xxx

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      • Karen I am glad from your heart that you are calmer now and what I told you was the truth, pure and simple, but with the love of a friend. As for the food, my dear Mother and I went to the supermarket two days before the State of Alarm was declared seeing what was coming, and the shelves were also empty. We bought what we could. And we haven’t been out of the house since then. And we will not do it until there is nothing left to eat at home. Now on TV shows you can see the supermarkets with the shelves full after the first collection of food by people out of fear. It has already been normalized. You will see how the same will happen in the UK. In addition, in the Decree of the State of Alarm there is an article that says that the Government guarantees the supply of food and basic necessities (toilet paper that was not there, hahahaha). So there is no problem in the UK or in Spain. We do not go out to buy because right now we are in the worst contagion so far, and we are not going to expose ourselves. Karen do the same, if you have food to spare for a week, do not go out and if you do it on YouTube there are a lot of videos on how to make a super easy mask. Go out with a mask and latex gloves and if you do not have them with new scrubbing ones that you can throw away when you return home. Hoping that nobody in your family has been infected with Coronavirus and all of you are in very good health, including Mr B and yourself, much love for everyone. Loving caresses aGrace and Meg. My best wishes. Very affectionate greetings from Margarita xxx

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      • Thank you Margarita. I’m resigned to the fact that we are going to be eating a lot of potatoes! Fortunately i bought a big sack before the crisis. We will manage. It’s just frightening to see the food supplies depleting so quickly and not being able to top them up. It has made me realise how much I rely on other people for my food, and when this is all over, I will make changes to be more self sufficient. We have no bread. And no bread making flour. We had cheese and biscuits for lunch. There are no food deliveries for three weeks. And if you do risk it and go out, there’s nothing on the supermarket shelves. So we are staying put, and just using what we have. Today, a friend’s dear neighbour died aged 82. My poor friend is devastated as she was such a good and kind neighbour. I sometimes feel I hardly dare answer the phone or look in the computer for fear of what bad news is coming next. My mum is safe in isolation. Both girls are working with patients who are ill. I think we are in for this for a very long time. Keep safe. Lots of love. Affectionate greetings. Thanks for your kind words. Karen xxx

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  2. English daisy is considered to be a lawn weed here. All that have naturalize are single and white. I hate (unused) lawns and I crave formality; but for some odd reason, I really like how English daisy violates the formality of an otherwise square an flat lawn. To me, a lawn that is sloppily infested with English daisy is somehow an asset to the landscape.

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  8. Karen the flower bouquet is magnificent, I love all the flowers. Heritage primroses, cherry sprouts, Pulmonaria and margarita bellis are my favorites. And the bouquet is for your dear Mother through BBC Radio Leicester. Daisies growing among the floor slabs is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen: I love them, I love them. I am proving to be a non-resilient person with the death of my dear Father: I have sunk into a bottomless pit from which I cannot leave. Seeing those daisies make me smile. Karen we are very similar: my beloved Mother has also been and is always my greatest influence in life and my best friend, with whom I have shared many trips. I love the wonderful daisies in your Mother’s garden: give her memories of me. Karen thank you very much for all the wonderful daisy photos, I love them all. I wish you from the bottom of my heart that you have a lot of hope and resilience. Karen have a very happy and prosperous gardening. I wish with all my heart that the weather changes and becomes dry and sunny. Have the best week. Karen a lot of love, a lot of health, a lot of courage, a lot of strength for your whole family, for Mr B and for you that you need it a lot. Loving caresses for Grace and Meg. Take care With all my love greetings from Margarita xxx

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    • Thank you Margarita. I felt exactly as you do when my beloved grandfather died. I felt a pain in my heart every time I thought about him for about 5 years. Then eventually, I managed to replace the pain and sadness and loss with happy memories. It is possible. But it takes a long time. And meanwhile, you have to find ways to swim and not sink. The ways to do so are different for each person. But I found that stilling the voices in my head, the regrets that I didn’t spend more time with my grandfather, happened eventually when I concentrated on the beauty of nature, plants and wildlife. All elements he loved too. And I realised that I too would one day not be here either. And it was his time to go, and my time to live. Resilience does not just happen quickly for some. If you, like me, think deeply about everything, it is hard. But resilience will come to you and you will learn to sing again. We have seen the first skylarks in the back fields this week. Such a joy to hear them returning. Take heart from my words and keep putting one foot in front of the other. No one can truly tell you how to overcome grief. You have to just survive each day until eventually you’ll feel sunshine on your face and your heart will be less heavy. Loving greetings from us all. little Meg is coming along nicely with her training and being a great source of joy to us all. Take care and keep warm. Love karen xxx

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      • Karen, I do not have enough words to thank you for all your advice and encouragement: at this moment you are the one who understands me the best, my good and dear friend. Thank you. I have to continue step by step as I can until the pain is gradually easing; but it seems so extremely difficult, almost impossible. Karen unfortunately you understand it because of the fatal death of your dear Grandfather and you understand it. I feel oppressed here in the city: the parks are full of people and noise (unfortunately 90% of Spaniards are very noisy – not me, that’s why when I have been abroad they never took me for Spanish-). I would like to be in the country house surrounded by Nature and only with the noise of the birds and the sheep and goats of a flock that passes every morning in front of the fields near my garden. There I would plant seeds, tidy up the garden, make a compost heap, put the bird feeders and their dishes to drink and bathe in, take long walks in the countryside and back in the cold I would warm up by the wood stove watching the flames enraptured. There is peace there. But my dear Mother has Doctors to go to. They are going to operate on the other eye – the right – of the same: cataracts and glaucoma, which is going to blind that eye if they do not operate soon. The bad thing is yesterday the Government announced due to the extraordinary increase in the number of people infected with Coronavirus in the Community of Madrid – which would be a Department in France – that they are going to take exceptional measures, including the cancellation of non-serious surgical operations. I don’t know how they will consider my Mother, I’ll tell you. Karen you have larks, how wonderful. How good and smart Meg is! Give her a hug from me, I love her very much, and another hug to Grace who is charming and I also love her very much. For all my thanks and love, especially for you. Very affectionate greetings from Margarita xxx

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      • Dear Margarita. It must be very worrying and troubling for you there. If it is any comfort, my relative’s operation for eyes, was also cancelled and re-booked several times. All was well in the end. I pray the same will be for your mother. Have you tried telephoning the hospital to find out more? Don’t give up. Keep in touch with them and remind them of your mother’s needs. I’m afraid, for now, you will have to take yourself to your country house just in your head. I do hope you can go there soon, in person. Sending much love and support your way. Loving greetings from us all. Karen xxx

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  9. Gosh, I hadn’t considered that my Bellis might seed around – perhaps I should encourage them, as they have been my early pot fillers for the last couple of years, holding the fort till the tulips appear.Yours make a great contribution to your little posy, and I love the idea of having them in the car – did you know that VW Beetles come with a vase holder? It’s a lovely thing ti share with your Mum – neither of my Girls show that sort of interest (yet) and although my Mum has a great interest in plants it was not somethng we shared when I was still at home

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    • Thank you Cathy. No I had no idea the VW has a vase holder. What a great idea. Mine has little cup holders everywhere. And now, little glass tubes filled with flowers. It stops them tipping over and spilling water everywhere. My youngest daughter is just buying her first house -with an enormous garden! She has never shown the slightest interest in gardening, so it’s going to be a very interesting year! I shall no doubt be very busy!

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      • Gosh, your daughter must be buying the house with her eyes open though, so perhaps it’s a latent interest in gardening – I do hope she doesn’t expect you to have a big input in it…

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