In a Vase on Monday.
Spring bulbs are just starting to peep through the waterlogged ground. Before I start to pick the dainty cyclamen, crocus and snowdrops, I want to pause for a moment and appreciate all the seed heads, grasses and twigs that have kept me going through winter. These are the ghosts of the garden, the faded flowers, still beautiful in skeletal form.
It’s amazing these grasses haven’t disintegrated in the rain. I can’t ever remember a wetter winter. Currently the snowdrops are just emerging from 6” of water. Luckily the borders seem to drain after three or four days. So far, only the salvias have given up the ghost. There are pots of cuttings in the greenhouse to replace them.
Hydrangea flower heads. I’m just thinking of trimming theses off now. Little green shoots are showing along the stems. Dried flowers help to keep the frost off emerging buds. They look stunning covered in frost and snow- not that we’ve had much of either so far….
Lovely to see the veins in the flowers. I probably look closer at hydrangea flowers in the winter than I do in summer. There’s fewer distractions and more need for something cheerful to focus on.
Allium Christophii blowing round the garden like tumbleweed. I quite like to see them meandering from one place to another. I probably will regret them spreading their seed everywhere though.
Honesty seed pods. I haven’t removed all the seeds from the papery silver seed pods. A gently occupation for a rainy day. I shall just sit by this arrangement and harvest them.
Shooting stars. Alright, they are echinops really. And not full globes. I watched a flock of long tail tits demolish these. A sight to gladden the heart mid-winter.
More seeds half consumed. I hope my seeds have helped to keep some creature alive over the cold, dark months. This is a perennial sunflower.
Another flowing ‘tail’ of grasses.
Have a look at Cathy’s site for more In A Vase on Monday.
https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2024/02/12/in-a-vase-on-monday-a-vase-of-vegetables/
Thank you for reading my blog. Get in touch and let me know if you have cleared away your old flower heads and twiggy stems, or are you still waiting for the right moment – and the right weather!
Bramble Garden 
The ghosts of your garden put on a stunning show in the vase. I am looking forward to the weather cooling, here in Australia, so I can spend more time in my garden.
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Thank you Joanne. We have family in Adelaide and it has been very hot!
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I have family in Adelaide too! They have dry heat, but where I am is subtropical, so we have humidity, but lower summer temperatures than Adelaide. When our Adelaide family visit, they just about pass out from the humidity as they are not used to it.
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Sorry, I am late catching up, Karen. I love this vase of twigs and fluff, and applaud you for sharing your varied collection with us
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Thank you. This year I’m trying to keep everything in the garden, so all twigs, fluff and seed heads will go into a pile in a shady corner. We had five council recycling green bins in the past, but not doing that anymore.
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Lovely to focus on the wintery seedheads that have kept you going through the winter Karen. I must admit I have had enough of mine and am yearning for some colour. Soon!
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Colour coming up Cathy! Not long now. 😃❤️
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I love the dried seed stage of garden plants, and what a lovely range and arrangement.
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Thank you Noelle. I must admit, it was lovely going round the garden harvesting all those stems and then making an arrangement. Calming after such stormy wet weather.
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I’ve tentatively begun cutting back some of the most disintegrated stems, and those that are breaking off at the base and smothering their neighbours, but I’m nervous about exposing too much of the green shoots at this stage – we may well have some very cold weather yet!
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That’s what I thought too! Only removing those where there’s daffodils coming up. But yes, the weather is so unpredictable I bet we will have snow and frost to follow all this rain! Thanks for reading my blog. Xx
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All the cuttings you’ve arranged during the summer have made such beautiful bouquets. Altogether in a vase now, as just the skeletal remains – they are to me quite ugly. But each item separately is stunning; classic simplicity and reduced to the absolute form and structure of the specie.
Offering the birds a feast through the winter is a tremendous gift, and doubly so if you are also able to see and enjoy their feasting!
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Must admit, it’s beautiful close up. I’ve put the vase in the middle of the kitchen table. Much prettier than at a distance. The birds were singing their hearts out at 6am! Thanks for reading my blog and leaving a comment. Much appreciated.
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