In a Vase On Monday – 27 April 2020

/ karen

I’m sure spring flowers are more beautiful than they’ve ever been. We’ve had no rain for six weeks. It’s a problem in the veg garden where I’m trying to get broad beans and potatoes to grow. But for spring flowers, tulips and daffodils, it means they are looking pristine. And blossom has lasted longer than usual. Here’s a selection of flowers for my vase this week. Get in touch and let me know what’s looking cheerful in your garden just now.

Sometimes luck has a lot to do with gardening. I spend time trying to work out clever combinations of colours. Then nature goes and does it better. Here is tulip Blushing Apeldoorn with the softest primrose yellow flowers. Overlapping petals are edged with a picotee orange. It’s a perfect match for narcissi Pheasant’s Eye. The tiny cup in the centre of the flower is rimmed with the exact same bright orange. It’s a picture, don’t you agree? And it has happened just by chance. I’ve taken note, and next year there will be several rows of these beauties lining my cut flower beds.

I love the way the light shines through the petals. It reminds me of a stained glass window in a church.

I’m also using an old favourite, Narcissi Geranium. The tangerine orange centre remind me of egg yolk, enhanced by pure white petals. The scent is a dream. Utterly gorgeous. I’d never be without this pretty, old- fashioned daffodil.

Forget-me-nots are such a good filler for any posy. The bright blue flowers seem to match the intensity of the sky this spring. And the yellow button ‘eye’ matches the daffodils.

Have you noticed how blue the sky is this spring? Climate scientists at Reading University say the reduction in traffic on roads has led to a fall in pollution, which is affecting the appearance of the sky. There’s fewer planes too. Skies look a richer brighter blue, much like you’d see over a tropical island. I’m enjoying the combination of blossom, spring bulbs and azure sky.

Thank you for reading. Get in touch by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page. And feel free to share these photos on any social media platform, kindly linking back to bramblegarden.com at the same time. You might ask, what’s the point of flowers at the moment with a covid pandemic going on. I’m just trying to focus on something positive and remind myself that nature often shows us the way to cope with all kinds of crisis in our lives. And cope we must, for some time to come, until the risks deminish enough for us to safely emerge and socialise again. When that will be, none of us can predict. Until then, I shall garden, plant my veg, pick my flowers and try to keep as upbeat as I can. You are very welcome to join me, virtually at least, at anytime you like.

Links : In A Vase on Monday. Cathy, thanks for hosting my favourite meme.

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/.

36 thoughts on “In a Vase On Monday – 27 April 2020”

  1. I started a small front yard garden five years ago, and I’m still trying to figure out what will grow. Last year I bought a camera because I wanted better pictures than I had gotten with an iPhone. Your beautiful images have given me a few ideas to try out! Thanks!

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  2. Gorgeous combinations. The pristine blue skies have helped me get some super photos this year. I reckon I’ve managed some of my best forget-me-not photos as a result. Lots of clouds now though, but getting bursts of rain that the garden needed.

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    • Thank you. Yes, me too with the forgetmenots. Beautiful skies. I never realised it was because of a lack of pollution. I hope somehow we don’t go backwards when this is all over. It’s been a lesson to us all what can be achieved. Thanks again for reading.

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  3. A vase brimming with beautiful spring flowers. ‘Blushing Appledoorn’ looks such a soft pale yellow. I have made a note of her name. I imagine that you may have had a decent downpour or two since you posted. It’s been very dry in the north west of England too. I miss my rail journeys passing through Leicestershire on my way to Peterborough. They were down to one a year but I can’t imagine when the next one will be. I think that thinking about nature and growing and reading about it is definitely helping me to remain calm in these difficult days Karen so thank you for sharing your beauties.

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    • Thank you Anna, we’ve just had a couple of days of rain. It was much needed. Luckily the tulips seem to have coped with the downpour. Thanks for reading. Wave when you’re travelling through leicestershire again 😊👍

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  5. Hi Karen, Happy to join you virtually. Some lovely images there. We on’t have as big a garden as you and haven’t considered a cut flower bed before.Perhaps edging some of the vegg might work for us. Looking forward to learning more.
    Thanks for the nudge.

    Suella

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    • Thank you Suella. I’m digging the tulips up today to make way for the French beans. They will be put in a pot to die down and then planted in the orchard in the autumn, when everything starts over again.

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    • Thank you Cathy. I love the apricot emperor. I grew some of those too. Luckily, these were in the well mulched cut flower beds. Some tulips in pots dried up and didn’t do any good. I probably won’t put them in small pots again. Too much watering. Hedgehogs are out and about! Hoping for babies soon.

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  11. No internet again? That’s not good – I know you used to have huge problems with it but thought things must have improved as you hadn’t mentioned it for some time, Perhaps you have just come to accept it and work round it as best you can. When so many people take a decent connection for granted it’s easy to forget the pockets where this just doesn’t happen. Are there any plans yet to improve things? Reading your post it just proves what a marvel Nature is, coming up not only with complementary pairings but the tiny details like the detailing on the petal edges of Blushing Apeldoorn – and of course the teeny yellow centres of the forget-me-not. All lovely, and thanks for sharing.. Hope you and your family are keeping well

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    • Thank you Cathy. BT says we are too far from the cabinet in the village where the signal comes from. We would need a cable laying a mile along the lane to improve things, which is too expensive. Usually, I go to a friends in the village to get broadband if we haven’t got it. But, can’t go out at the moment. Patience is a virtue! Sometimes I’ll try to post things at midnight! All keeping well here. Thank you xx 😘

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      • Good idea. When all this is over. I might do that. Luckily BT have sent me a mini hub that connects to our phones – so we are on our phone wi-fi which they’ve given us unlimited amounts of as we are not getting what we paid for as far as home broadband is concerned. When everyone goes back to work, things might be easier. But everyone is using it in their homes at the moment, and that’s having a bearing.

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  13. Your photos of glorious blooms are always a treat.

    You mentioned the sky, and I looked outside to enjoy the blue. I hadn’t thought to miss the contrails in the sky!!! A few weeks before the virus arrived, I took a picture of the white lines that made a tic-tac-toe grid high above us. The planes are always so high above us that we never hear them. I would have continued to be unaware if you hadn’t mentioned the lack of them.

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    • Hi Mary, no thank you! We had rain virtually non stop from October to March with floods on and off the whole time. I must admit, the sunshine is very welcome indeed. It’s really helping us cope with the current lock down,as we can get on with sorting out the garden. Hope you get some nice weather soon. It does make all the difference. Thanks for reading the blog. Karen

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  15. Enjoyed reading your post as well as admiring the selection of blooms. Yes I completely agree with you on the clarity of the air and the blueness of the sky. The wonderful weather has been there to somewhat sweeten the bitter pill we have to swallow at present. These posts and beautiful flowers also help to raise the mood. Many thanks.

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    • Thank you Noelle, I’m glad you are enjoying the posts. I’m just about to write the Saturday one with photos from the day. The weather has been so glorious today. It’s hard to remember sometimes that we are under attack from a deadly virus. Then we look about us, and there are no cars, or people around , and we can’t go out to get any shopping. I go straight back to the potting shed and plant some more seeds. Seems the only thing to do. Keep strong and upbeat. Best wishes. Karen xx

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  16. You have a winner with Blushing Apeldoorn! I just hope I can remember that name when the fall bulb catalogs arrive. In South Carolina, our tulips and narcissus are just a memory, but I’m enjoying a fabulous parade of roses, ferns, and foxgloves.

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