In a Vase in Monday: a Mixed Bag of Anticipation

Blooms are almost non-existent in the garden at the moment after several days of frost, but I had two options: another pelargonium from the Coop, or stems of the overwintering Salvia ‘Phyllis Fancy’ in the working greenhouse. The latter, which never made it back into a border last year after its previous overwintering, remaining in its pot in disgrace, won the toss. After continued underperformance, I have been on the point of banishing it altogether, but now plan to give it a reprieve, albeit keeping it in a pot rather than giving it border space. However, I am not holding my breath…

Making up for the paucity of blooms required a selection of twigs, each holding more promise than the salvia: Salix gracilistyla ‘Mount Aso’, with its embryonic pink pussies which may emerge early in the warmth of the house, witch hazel Hamamelis ‘Orange Peel’, always the first to bloom and with the teeniest evidence of orange shreds to come, freshly de-leafed stems of Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ and with them the anticipation of their months of colour, and the distinctively bright seeds of stinking iris I foetidissima, the cheery result of many months of understatement.

My delightfully cute miniature IKEA bag proved the ideal prop, although not quite big enough to hold the vase, another IKEA purchase. To give you an idea of scale, the vase and contents stand no more than 12″ (30cm) tall.

It is clear from this post that our Monday vases do not need to hold blooms and winter months in the northern hemisphere provide opportunities for blue sky thinking, whatever the actual colour of the wintry skies above us. Twigs, grasses, foliage, dried material, fruit/veg, pebbles…nothing is out of the question, so do join us, leaving links to and from this post.