For In a Vase on Monday.
For a modern floral arrangement, four small bottles in a wood and metal holder make life very easy indeed.
These bottles remind me of the ones we used to get at primary school containing milk. Every day we had rich, creamy milk which we sipped through a straw. I loved it! Our teacher, ever ready to put science into action, got us to pour the cream, the top of the milk, into a jam jar. A lid would be added and we each had to shake the jar for as long as we could. The resulting butter was spread on crumpets warmed on the woodburner in the corner of the classroom. We all took it in turn to be ‘wood monitor’ and had to fetch the logs from outdoors. We also had a pencil, paper and skipping rope monitor. It taught us duty and responsibility at a young age. I can’t remember anyone complaining about their tasks. Probably the only thing I didn’t like about school was the outside toilets. They were freezing in the winter and full of dust and spiders. You had to run from the classroom right round the other side of the playground to reach the little row of toilets. And you had to dash there in all weathers, even if it was snowing or raining. Just before I moved schools, a new indoor cloakroom was built and I can distinctly remember everyone being very excited about the new, posh indoor loos! No more spiders or slip-sliding about in the snow. Happy days!
My pretty little floral arrangement was a gift from Jonathan Moseley after we worked together at the Belvoir Castle Flower and Garden Show. Jonathan was the celebrity speaker giving talks and demonstrations on floristry, and I was running planting sessions for children. I loved Jonathan’s green and white selection for the little bottles. He chose English anemones and Italian ranunculus. Aren’t they beautiful!
Jonathan is well known for using flowers grown in his own garden and weaving them into arrangements using British tulips and lilies. Here’s some Lily of the Valley from his Derbyshire garden. The scent was glorious!
He added cow parsley from his own garden too. He mentioned that you can use cow parsley even when flowers are going over, as the little green seed heads are just as pretty.
Scent is essential in flower arrangements and Jonathan added white hyacinths into the mix. I grow Carnegie White for my flower posies.
I think my favourite flowers are these frilly white ones. They lasted at least two weeks, as I changed the water daily and snipped a tiny amount off the bottom of each stem.
I’m growing white anemone coronaria ‘Mount Everest’ in a large pot in the greenhouse. These have provided a few blooms each week since February. Farmer Gracy and Taylors sell corms for planting in autumn or spring. Soak the corms in water for a few hours before planting and space them 10cm apart and 5cm deep. They can be grown outdoors, but I find the rain spoils the flowers, if you want to use them for floristry.
I’m particularly fond of green flowers, so this one fitted in nicely.
Aren’t flowers just amazing! This one is a white and green ‘Pon Pon’ ranunculus. They remind me of a flamenco-ruffled dress!
Jonathan is a writer, broadcaster and demonstrator as well as an ambassador for British flowers, and regularly appears on television programmes such as Alan Titchmarsh’s Love Your Weekend.
Why not go over to Cathy’s blog to see what others are writing about this week for Cathy’s In a Vase on Monday meme.
https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2024/06/03/in-a-vase-on-monday-dining-out/
Are you growing any flowers for home floristry this year? Get in touch and let me know how you are getting on with your growing plans. Please leave a comment in the box below. Have a happy gardening week! And thank you for reading my blog.
Bramble Garden 
Those are so pretty! I like everything about your arrangement–the vases, the foliage, the flowers, the green and white theme. Very, very nice. What a fun story–thanks for sharing!
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Thank you very much Beth. Thanks for reading my blog and for your kind comments which are much appreciated. Best wishes, Karen
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Oh, I remember doing that to get butter! We got no crumpets though. (I have no idea what a crumpet is.) We got Saltine crackers. It is hard to imagine that the dairy that we took a field trip to back then was on South Seventh Street in San Jose! It was still suburban. Acreage was relatively affordable. A single dinky urban home there may cost two million dollars now. Anyway, all those white flowers are rad! I so like white!
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Thank you Tony. Happy memories for both of us then! How lovely! Yes a lot of development around our village now. It’s nearly doubled in size and there’s a major ring road right through the fields that were my grandparents’ farm. Cars instead of fields of wild flowers. Lovely that you can remember fields as well, instead of houses. Thank you for your kind comments on the flowers. I also love white flowers. Have a happy day. Karen
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Informal, yet sophisticated. Lovely. My daughter’s kindergarten teacher taught the class how to make butter by passing the bottle up and down the rows and everyone got to shake!
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Lovely! Must be something many teachers do. Very happy memory for me. She was a really lovely, kind teacher. A good introduction to school.
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Green and white is such a pretty palette of colours for spring and early summer. I do like those anemones and ranunculus. The combination of lily of the valley and the white hyacinths must smell wonderful!
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Beautiful and understated. I love the palette and the ranunculus. Lily of the Valley looks and sounds wonderful in the mix. Happy Summer! Amelia
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Thank you Amelia. The scent is amazing! And the leaves are pretty too. Happy Summer! Xx
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What a gorgeous arrangement using white flowers. This photo is so pretty all I can say is printed magazine worthy for sure…Perfect.
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Thank you! Thanks for you kind words and for reading my blog. I hope you are having a great week! All the best. Karen
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Nice article Karen – I must start using cow parsley more in my amateur attempts at growing and arranging flowers . Love the simplicity and elegance of the above arrangement.
paul Williams (pvt ak)
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Thank you Paul. I
Must say, I’m using cow parsley in all of them now. It adds such a delicate touch. Thanks for reading my blog and for leaving a comment. It’s much appreciated.
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So beautiful!
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I only remember monitors back in Edinburgh in the 50s, but there were only ink and pen monitors, and I was never either… 😢 My memories of milk were not as happy as yours though, as it was generally unpleaantly warm, or frozen!
This green and white arrangement is glorious and those ranunculus are stunning (and I will definitely try again with growing ranunculus) and the choice of blooms is clearly the work of a true professional! I must go back and read your post about the Belvoir Show
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Thank you Cathy. I’ve just remembered crunching the ice crystals in the milk! Must admit, loved those. Perhaps not the warm milk as much. But the butter on toast and crumpets was rather nice. I loved that kind teacher. She was the best teacher you could have to start school! Yes, those ranunculus were really gorgeous and I’m going to try again too. The mice ate the last ones!
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Admittedly I did quite like the icy milk!
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Fabulous ranunculus, so beautiful! 💚
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Thank you Eliza! They are spectacular! I couldn’t stop looking at them. So unusual.
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Your gift flowers are exceptionally pretty, Karen. I enjoyed your story from your early school years too 😉
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Thank you Kris. Happy school memories, thankfully. Very pleased with my flowers too. They lasted a long time as I dutifully sprayed them every day with a plant mister.
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Delightful and fresh jars of joy. The milk I remember was always luke warm though!
https://zonethreegardenlife.blog/2024/06/03/in-a-vase-monday-june-3/
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Thank you. Yes, sometimes the milk was warm in the summer. In the winter, it was kept outdoors until the last moment. Thanks for reading my blog and leaving a comment. All the best. Karen
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What an elegant arrangement Karen crafted by an expert and a special gift to come home with 😍 We had pencil and paper monitors too but my privilege was to be a weather monitor, which involved venturing out on to the school roof to take readings. It wouldn’t be permitted these days!
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That made me laugh! No, indeed it would not! We ever had a weather monitor. We had monitors for just about everything else. Happy times and very lucky to go to such a small, happy school. Thanks for reading and for your kind comments. yes, I loved the arrangements. He made one for my mum too, which I’ll share next week. Such a kind man. Very generous and thoughtful.
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Your arrangement melted my heart with all the white and green. A clear sign summer is here. Wow what a diverse group of blooms too. Your rustic school made me think back to our 4 room schoolhouse. Thankfully we did have indoor bathrooms.
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Thank you Donna. Those outdoor toilets were very chilly! No heating! Thanks for your kind comments. Much appreciated.
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