Surprise In a Vase on Monday.

This was going to be my vase this week. 

This is pineapple sage which grows just outside my back door. The flowers really are this stinging red/pink colour and I've been eyeing them up for a vase. Of course, I've left it a bit late and they would have been better a couple of weeks ago! 

Photographed on a frosty morning.

It's not really hardy but I've decided to leave it in and take cuttings. This plant is now 3 years old and is quite large so difficult to dig up and move. I've kept it in every winter but this year it will have to take it's chance. Cuttings root very easily just in water. 

I was just coming in when I saw these flowering away unseen:

 I know it's hard to believe I didn't know they were flowering. My two Chrysanthemum plants turned out to be three. The buds look the same and one plant is growing into another. 
This is 'Saratov Lilac' and it's an absolute stunner. Worth the wait and the wondering if it was going to flower. The petals are quilled. 

Even the backs of the flowers are lovely. 

I bought all these Chrysanthemums as rooted cuttings from Sarah Raven. I've grown them badly, they are probably too close together and not staked well but are producing the most wonderful blooms. 
I'm carrying the vase around with me so I can appreciate them wherever I am. 

Finally a bit of autumn colour:

Cotoneaster glowing in the winter sunshine. 

For plenty of fun and fabulous vases visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden - In a vase on Monday. 

Hotchpotch In a Vase on Monday

What a day of chasing my tail. I think I've managed to do all I had to do but then had to drive home in the dark and wet. 

When I took this photo of my vase the light was very bad and it's blurred but I can't do any better now. I'll try tomorrow.

Sometimes things just don't go to plan. 

After a few light frost this month we had one which was more severe and that has finished off the Dahlias and reduced the Nasturtiums to a soggy mess. We knew it was coming and I've been lucky that I've been able to cut dahlias right to mid November. There were very few and the larger types just became a wet mess of petals. 
Surprisingly I did find 2 or 3 flowers even after the frost and they are in my vase.

I've used:
Dahlia - a couple of Karma Naomi, one Classic Rosamund and a couple of Labyrinth buds. They won't open and don't like the rain. 
a few cosmos - very small and the last of these too.
Mahonia leaves
Weigela leaves
Dill flowers - I have no idea why this is flowering
Abelia
Chrysanthemum - Sheer purple
Persicaria - red dragon 

I'm very happy still to have so much colour but the garden really doesn't look like this.

The end of the dahlias. I'm going to dig most of them up but I will try leaving a few of the larger tubers in the ground. 

The crazy Chrysanthemums. There is one plant going off the left here and one to the right. As I said before, I have no idea why they are so tall but I do know I didn't give them proper support. 

This one has plenty of buds which are now breaking.

Thanks for visiting and do go over to Rambling in the Garden where Cathy encourages us to find what we can to put In a Vase on Monday. There are plenty if ideas to inspire you. 

NOT In a Vase on Monday

Cathy, from Rambling in the Garden, is celebrating 4 years of hosting In a Vase on Monday.  For this week only she has challenged us to find something and arrange it using anything other than a vase. 
I've chosen to have a triple  anniversary. It's one year since I found her blog and started joining in and also 6 months since we got our hens and, hopefully, it has been the happiest 6 months of their lives.
 Apart from, perhaps, the day I left the forgot to open the coop door again after I'd cleaned the house out. When I went to shut them in that night, I found them all perched on the ramp and the outside ledge of the house looking settled but disgruntled. One was so settled on the ledge that I had to lift her in. 
It was high summer so not cold and I did apologise. (Bear with me, I am going somewhere with this).
Apart from loud farm machinery in the next door field they have a quiet, happy time scratching and pecking  and look so fluffy and feathery they could hold their heads up any
poultry fashion parade. 

That was April 

  

and this is now: 

                                                                                                                                      They won't turn round to face the camera but even their rear ends (excuse me) are fluffy.                

It does make me sad to see how scrawny they looked and I will be rescuing some more as soon as I can. A little plug for the British Hens Welfare Trust who do brilliant work in campaigning, educating and re-homing the hard working girls. 

In case you think I've lost the plot here are is my arrangement:

This is one of Jenny Hen's eggshells, she is the hen facing the wrong way in the picture and top right in the before shot. She lays a large brown egg almost every day. I'd thought of adding a nest but an egg box was the obvious choice for holding it.

I do love tiny arrangements and we are getting short of large showy flowers now it's almost mid November. 

In my egg:

Geranium 'Dusky Crug' flowers and lovely dark foliage

Thyme 'Silver Posie'

Salvia x jamensis 'Violette the Loire' 

Fuchsia ?

Silver foliage plant which I bought in spring for a container but can't remember what it is. 

Virginan Stock flowers

And even though I tried to make it an all rounder, it still looks better from one side. 

Thank you to Cathy for inspiring us and encouraging us to share. She is always inventive and has something usual to share. It has been such a fun year and I must say I've added considerably to the list of plants 'I might like to have one day'! It's also good to know I'm not alone in this crazy and all consuming passion. 

November blooms In a Vase on Monday

I think I mentioned that I have some Chrysanthemum plants. They should be blooming and filling vases for this late end of the year but in fact they have grown very tall (about 5ft) and have been contentedly sitting there in tight bud for weeks.
This vase was to celebrate the two which have tried to open. I cut them and walked around to see what would compliment them and found plenty of things still flowering at this late stage. 
We have had a few light frosts but not enough so far to destroy anything. The dahlias and nasturtiums are still going but probably not for long. It actually stopped raining for five minutes and the week has been beautifully sunny which does lift the spirit. 

In the vase:
Chrysanthemum Shamrock Green
Chrysanthemum Sheer Purple ( I think, though it's not purple)
Passalong Persicaria which is establishing very well and making it's first appearance here in a vase. Red Dragon from Cathy via Noelle. I thought it and the green Chrysanthemum would sing together.  

Penstemon 'Sour Grapes'
Nameless pink rose
Feverfew flowers

Pittosporum foliage
Artemisia 'Powis castle'
Astrantia ?
Potentilla nepalensis 'Miss Wilmott' - an absolute star! This has been flowering pretty much for the two years since I bought it and, to cap it all, is now surrounded by dozens of seedlings.

What a happy vase for November.
The vase is plain grey and egg shaped. Old and cheap but a good shape and colour. 

Many thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting and inspiring - In a Vase on Monday.