An oddball collection In a Vase on Monday

I know I'm not alone in having roses flowering in December. I saw this one so I cut it and collected a few things to go with it. I don't think you'd expect to see these things together. 
The peachy rose is nameless but the other is 'Macmillan Nurse' about to drop it's petals, I think. 
Also in the vase are Abelia, Artemisia 'Powis Castle', Lonicera fragrantissima, now large enough for me to cut without remorse, a few Perovskia twigs and strangely some scaboius flowers. I don't know if they will open but I hope so. The last thing is a Pieris flower which tones beautifully with the rose. I found some Dianthus flowering - too pink for here - but why are they flowering?
It has been mild for a few weeks but I think getting colder in the new year. 

Sorry about the blurry picture. 

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. 

It's exciting to be starting a new gardening year. I'll be cautiously sowing a few seeds - starting with Sweet Peas and Broad Beans but trying not to get too carried away too early. 

Thanks Cathy for inspiring us with your vases on Mondays. x

A wreath on Monday

Not quite a vase but it is Monday so I'm joining in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a vase on Monday. 

I made this wreath as I wanted to practice and wanted a pale one which would show up well on our front door which is dark green. 
The other ones I've made have just been greenery tied onto a frame so I thought I'd try moss here. 

I made a few twiggy frames in Autumn so I have them when I need them. This one is made of Elaeagnus but I have also used Jasmine as well as the traditional willow. It's a shame to use willow if it's going to be completely covered. 

I raked the moss from our 'lawn' so it's from a sustainable source! The bunched it on the frame and wrapped string around. 

The stems are just pushed in with a bit of wire wrapped around to secure. My other wreaths have been 100% compostable but I cheated here. 

Included are Artemesia 'Powis Castle', Pittosporum, Abelia, Vibrunum flowers, Pieris flowers, Apple mint, Rosemary, Dusty Miller which I think is now called Jacobea maritima.
I don't think the Artemesia is going to last, I should have conditioned it better. I might have to remake it. It's all good fun though. 

I like it, I hope you do. 

Recycling my vase on Monday and Floral update - part three.

The green vase I made last week is still looking really good so I added in a few different flowers and left most of the foliage. A couple of things were looking crispy but I think the water got low. Top tip - keep the water topped up!


Regular readers will know of my change of direction this year. The story of my year is here and here.
Obviously it is interesting to people keen on growing cut flowers to know what has grown well and is worth trying. Thanks Christina for pointing that out. 

Unless otherwise stated things were grown outside from a spring sowing. 
One thing I do know is that pinching out really works for many things to get good bushy plants and more flowers. It works for most things which will branch anyway. 

This year many things grew well for me in no particular order:
Cornflowers. I had white and pink. The flowered for months and if you keep cutting they keep flowering and bush out nicely. They last a reasonable time if picked early and fade prettily. 

Sweet Peas. Winter Sunshine inside and mixes outside. 

Cosmos. I had Cupcakes growing inside which were beautiful. Outside I had a general mix which wasn't as good due to the weather. 

Rudbekia. I tried Sahara for the first time. Oh, they were gorgeous. Some plants were inside and did really well, some outside didn't get very tall through lack of water. Still pretty and good enough for small vases. 'Green Eyes' is still flowering, in fact one plant has survived from last year. 

Ammi. This did well from a spring sowing and went on flowering for a long time. 

Daucus carota. This got off to a slow start but is doing well now! Again probably went short of water in the summer. Really pretty and  good with anything. 

Dill. Seeded everywhere from the previous year and went in every bunch during September and October. 

Larkspur. Autumn sowing. 

Nicotiana. I sowed some and some seeded themselves. Flowered for months and were very useful. Green and pink.

Atriplex. Fantastic foliage/filler. Once you have it it seeds forever. 

Amaranthus. The plants I pinched out and watered well produces lovely long tassels. 

Sunflower. 'Vanilla Ice'. I love this and it went on and on. 'Prado Red' also. They have smallish heads which are better for vases and keep coming. They suffered in the drought but then took off when we had rain, like many things. 

Snap dragon. 'Royal Bride' was brilliant and went on until November. 'Madame Butterfly' grew and flowered well but I didn't like some of the colours in the mix. Some were a strange pinky orange. One was white and green which I did used often. 

Zinnia. 'Queen Red Lime'. Gorgeous. I grew some mixed colours inside and they did much better than those planted outside. Too dry again, I expect. 

Scabious. Pinky colour mix and also 'Fata Morgana'. These did well and in fact, I think they are still flowering. Once established they just go on and on. Cut as a bud and they open in the vase. 

Limonium suworowii. I grew these having seen them in other peoples vases. They made good little plants and beautiful long flowers which looked great mixed in with other things. Then they were scorched. :(

Salvia farinacea. A beautiful pop of blue, especially good with pinks. The whites were no where near as good. 

Dahlias. Of course!

Cardiospermum. A beautiful annual vine which produces puffy seed balls. 

Some things failed or were disappointing but I need to leave room for improvement next year. No doubt different things will fail or be brilliant:

Ridolfia. My plants were very feeble and never bulked up. Trying again from an autumn sowing.

Stocks. I can't seem to grow them well. Any tips. Trying again.

Didiscus. These are very pretty and started well but then got very leggy. I'll try and get bushy plants next year. 

Orlaya. I think I had 3 plants which never got over 40cm. They like to self seed apparently or be sown very fresh. I have lots of seedlings now from seed kindly donated from a fellow grower. 

Cosmos. Xanthos and Rubinato. I was really looking forward to these but they were feeble plants barely tall enough to cut. 

I'll stop now before you all drop off. 

Going Green In a vase on Monday and Floral update - Part two

I'd planned to make a foliage vase today but as I was cutting I added in these Anastasia Green Chrysanthemums. I'm not really sure about them mixed with other flowers. They are quite bright but they do look good here with the greenery. 
A couple of types of Euphorbia, some Penstemon foliage - which is good in a vase and is gong to be cut back in spring anyway, and Yellow Choisya.

I'm making a couple of bouquets on Saturday so I might try these green ones with the purples. I'll let you know how they look. 

Last week I started to tell you about my floral journey this year. You can read about it here. Now for the second part.

Part two - Flowering

Gradually things started to flower and I had to start marketing. 
I had to embrace Social Media, create my website and start Instagram and Facebook accounts. I'd never wanted to be on social media before so it was all new. Everything had to be photographed to build up a portfolio. It's also a wonderful record. 

Thursday bunches - a kitchen full of flowers in October

Sales throughout the summer have been variable. Some weeks I didn't sell anything and felt very down and then there is a real thrill when I do sell and people appreciate the beauty of my flowers. I've sold to self employed florists, some bouquets and arrangements, some gate sales and towards the end of the summer I started selling bunches through a local village shop. Things started to pick up towards the end of summer which was frustrating as, of course, there are fewer flowers. 

I was lucky to already have this poly tunnel and here it is filled with Zinnias and Cosmos still with room for tomatoes behind.

Many flowers came out of my small plot. I don't think I really knew what to expect but I certainly cut bucket after bucket.

A birthday bouquet

I am working on my marketing strategy for next year. I dived into this year without much planning but have sold enough to know that there is a market for local, seasonal British grown flowers. I just need to get the word out. 
Local florists are interested in what I am doing. Some will need persuading to convert to buying but some are already very enthusiastic and hopefully telling their friends. 

I'm expanding my growing area and already have hardy annuals growing for next year. This time I'm laying down vast quantities of cardboard and covering it with whatever comes to hand. Grass clippings, straw, manure. It's going to be 3 or 4 times the size of the plot I made this year. I gave some willow plants to someone local and she is now supplying me with manure from her horses. It's karma. 

I've just ordered a huge quantity of seeds as there were Black Friday sales on last weekend! Bulbs and biennials are already planted along with anemone and ranunculus in the hope of having a few early flowers. 
Next is a planting plan and an assessment of the flowers I'm growing. The challenge is to produce a good mix of flowers and have a succession throughout the season. Some things can be sown two, three or even four times and I think I'll need to be ruthless about pulling things up and replanting when they have done their bit. 

During April I did a two week Career Change course at Tallulah Rose Flower School in Bath. I had a wonderful time surrounded by flowers and learnt so much. They have a very relaxed, informal way of teaching to encourage everyone's individual style rather than the more formal 'we all put this red rose here' approach. This suited me and I think my own style is developing.  I've continued to learn all year and am planning much more reading and studying during the winter when, hopefully, I'll have spare time. My brain has enjoyed the challenge, I was definitely stagnating. 
There is plenty of help and information online amongst the community of small growers who are also nothing but encouraging. 

It's been an exhilarating, exhausting, exasperating and exciting year and it's hard to believe that this time last year I had no idea I'd be travelling down this route. 

Christina has asked about the flowers I've grown. That would have been an obvious thing to include but as this post is already so long, I'll expand to part three next week and include an idea of what I've grown this year and what worked. 
Again, thank you for reading. 

Floral Update Part One and In a Vase on Monday

Good morning, 

This is an arrangement I created for a 101st birthday table centre. It's bigger than it looks here, probably about 60cm long. The brief was that it was to have impact but also not be too tall so people could converse over it. It stars Chrysanthemum 'Avignon Pink', 'Porto Purple' and 'Saratov Lilac' I think but some of the labels have got in a muddle. There is also some Bay, Leylandii and honeysuckle tendrils. I like a bit of whimsy. 
I'm joining in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday. 


Cathy asked last week about my first year of flower farming so here is an update. 
I've divided this post into two as it was getting longer and longer and I don't want you to drop off. 

Part one - Growing

A bit of background for those of you who don't know - Early this year I had the chance to make a career change. The choice was to stay in my office job working for a new boss or try something new. I chose to create my own Flower Farm. 
I have a fantastically supportive husband who is right behind the venture so we started in March by hiring a turf cutter. We only had it for a day and it was hard going even though it was petrol driven. 

This is what my main plot looked like. 

This makes it look huge.I divided this plot into two with a path up the middle. 

Meanwhile I was raising seedlings inside. To be honest it wasn't very different from a normal year. I know many of you are the same and we have trays and trays of little plants waiting in the wings. By the time we get to our safe planting date (May here in the UK) our covered areas, windowsills, spare floor spaces and cold frames are full to bursting with plants which need to get into the ground. 

We had snow in March, heavy, twice and then a heatwave in April. The seedlings survived though and then I had to get them planted. 
I'd dug over my plot once but from now on I'll be using the No Dig method. I love planting out on a newly dug plot and in rows,though it does lead to aches the next day. 

Seedlings. I should stand here and take a picture every month!

I had my Winter Sunshine Sweet Peas growing in my poly tunnel. They flowered from April for three months, I think. 'Opal' was the most gorgeous colour and went to a couple of weddings. (I didn't do all the wedding flowers). I'll be growing that again as well as white. I grew other Sweet Peas outside and they were so good I couldn't keep up with the cutting. 

'Opal' and 'Navy'

One long bed viewed from the opposite end. The posts are for horizontal netting which is very effective at supporting stems. 

Summer drought, you can see how brown the grass is. Most of the landscape here does not belong to us, we just enjoy it. The nettles do.

The truth is that the second long bed was never fully dug before the drought and never got planted until late summer. However, along with things growing in the tunnel, the dahlias in my old cutting beds and these, I had plenty flowering. 

That is the first part, thank you for reading to the end. Come back next week for some more flowery pictures. 

Chrysanthemum love In a Vase on Monday

When I tell people I've got Chrysanthemums flowering they often make a face. I know what they are thinking and the word does conjure up images of yellow and white petrol station flowers wrapped in cellophane. 
Let me introduce you to something a little different. 

Here is my vase with a few of my gorgeous Chrysanthemums plus some Parsley. I really have to search to find some good looking foliage to add in. 

'Tarantula Red'

'Avignon Pink'

It's hard to describe the colours in these. They are pink but sometimes have caramel or cream tones and I think get more pink as they age. 
Some of these Tarantulas have droopy stems so I've cut them for myself. Most of them have sturdy stems and last for ages in a vase. 

Staking has been difficult. Plants have grown enormous (I suddenly remember writing about this last year) and then topple over and the stems grown at odd angles which is no good for cutting. The odd kink is fine but right angles are no good. I must work out a better way of staking or perhaps pinch out more so the plants are not as tall. 
They are all growing under cover. I know some other growers have lost their plants to frost even under cover. I've been lucky. Possibly as we are quite high here. Temperatures have been right down to zero even under cover. 

Wandering the internet yesterday I found another spider type in caramel colours but I really shouldn't buy it, I don't have room...

Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what interesting things everyone has found to put In a Vase on Monday. 

(Not) In a Vase On Monday - 5 years

Does anyone else make something pretty then spend 20 minutes trying to get a good photograph? Or is that just me?
I've made this little wreath/hanger to celebrate with Cathy 5 years of her meme In a Vase on Monday. Over the five years it has become very important to it's loyal followers. I joined in about 2 years ago and it was definitely one of the many factors contributing to my decision to begin Flower Farming this year. It proved to me that I loved growing and arranging flowers, and having people admire them is very encouraging. 
That said, we are not using vases this week. For one week only it's (Not) In a Vase On Monday.

I've been all round the house and these are the best pictures I could get. 

I've been making wreath bases for Christmas and beyond with anything I could get my hands on. This is Jasmine but I've also found Elaeagnus works well. I made a tiny one today for me. It's about 20cm across. I've also used some tiny pink rosebuds which I dried, dried Marjoram and some ferns which are not dried but I think might dry nicely once hung. 
The buds are wired.
Dried flowers are all the rage once more with Honesty being the most sought after. Florists up and down the country are looking for it. If I'd realised sooner I would have tried to dry more things and definitely more Honesty but then comes the problem of storage. 

Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for inspiring, commenting, encouraging and holding it all together and thanks to Cathy and everyone else for adding to my endless list of plant and seed 'wants'. 

Autumn colours In a Vase on Monday

We've had two hard frosts in the last week which meant the end of anything remotely tender, sadly. I've started cutting back the dahlias and I will lift them. I've read ( and watched on You Tube) plenty about whether or not to lift, and how to store and divide. There are many options and I've decided to lift them as I think they'll get a better start next year and there is the opportunity to divide and make more plants. Always good! I'm not sure where I am going to store them yet. In the past I have treated them very badly and still found the majority grew well the next year. That doesn't mean it's a good idea. 

I picked this vaseful in seconds yesterday. Chrysanthemum 'Orange Allouise', Pineapple sage flowers and a stem of Dusty Miller. This plant has so many names it's thoroughly confusing. Today I'm calling it Cineraria maritima though I'm not sure that is correct. It doesn't have the divided leaves of the more common one. If anyone has experience of growing this and over wintering, I'd be interested to hear how you got on. 

It's a lovely plant which I really recommend as it goes with many things in a vase. 

These flowers are growing under cover so I can try and prolong my harvest a little longer. I am looking at yellow roses through my window though so there are some tough plants outside still giving. 
Pop something in vase and join in with Cathy for In a Vase on Monday. 

Purples and blue

A few of the blues and purples around at the moment. 

I've got Scabious, Aster, Salvia, White Achillea, Flax, Catanache, Verbena bonariensis and Daucus carota. 

The funniest thing I've used is Elaeagnus ebbingei flowers. We pruned a hedge and have a huge pile of prunings. I think some will be useful for weaving into wreaths. The flowers are tiny and white and smell delicious (at the front and far right of the vase). I cut off all the leaves and popped in the stems. 

As usual I'm joining in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday. 

This is a bouquet I made for a friend's 50th on Saturday. Luckily some of my dahlias survived the storm. I should have cut them on Friday but there were enough still upright, amazingly. 

Her partner threw a surprise party with balloons, cake, a band, food and then finished the evening by proposing! Quite an evening, happy faces all around. 

Dahlia's are Karma Lagoon (front) and Karma Naomi. I think Thomas A Edison is peeping out from the back. 

For Noelle - In a Vase on Monday

To make up for my lack of posting this summer, I have a couple of vases today. 
Noelle (Stasher) visited on Friday bringing a gardener friend and a date and walnut cake. We had a lovely morning looking around and eating cake. 
While looking around Noelle pulled up a Shepherd's Purse seed head and challenged my to include it in my vase this week. It is a lovely looking stem (the only weed in my garden, you understand!) and has very interesting shaped seed pods. 
I decided to go round and make a collection of seed pods and put them all together. This is the result. 

Included: Allium cernuum, Scabious, Nicandra, Didiscus, Coriander, Panicum, Dill, Amaranthus, Atriplex, Echinacea and probably other things. I'm pleased that it has a bit of colour to it. 
I think it will last a while. Most of it is already dried. I know lots of growers dry things for winter but I was very slow to think about it and also was not thinking of drying at midsummer when you need to be planning it. Next year I'll be growing Helichrysum for the first time in many years. And Statice. They have gone so far out of fashion they are back in. 

My other vase is Dahlia 'Honka Pink'. 

Still flowering away prolifically. I can't remember if I've posted them this year already. They will last a few days in a vase if cut when they have just opened. The quantity more than makes up for that, though. I think I have three plants now, all about 5 feet tall.
 I divided some tubers last year and that worked so I will have a go again. I did it in spring after watching videos (on You Tube) about how to do it. I think it's more common to divide in Autumn. 
Top tip - label your dahlias now while you can see what they are!

Cathy has had trouble with photographs today. I had trouble too. I don't think these are shown in their best colours. It's difficult to find a plain background in good light and I want to be able to set it up quickly.
 I recently bought a couple of A2 mount boards but have yet to work out where best to put them. I think they'll work well for small vases and single flowers but need more effort for bigger vases. The boards come in different colours. I bought black and burgundy. They are both white on the reverse side and I'm planning to paint one grey so I'll have 4 choices. 
Do share your best photo tips! 
Do, also, join in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday. 

Cups and saucers In a Vase on Monday

Here is a success story. For several years my Mum has given me a seedling of Cobea scandens. I duly plant it but have never got one to flower. This year I planted it In The Right Place and Watered It. 
It was next to my sweet peas and they got the water emptied from our duck pond (paddling pool) once or twice a week (with extra nutrients!).

It grew to a beautiful and very large vine. It must be 12' long and makes a bit of feature in what is a very flat garden. You can see my brassicas caged in behind and what is left of this row of sweet peas waiting to be cleared. 

I was very excited to get the first flower in August and from then on it has produced many blooms. They last a few days each, opening in green then darkening to purple before the centre falls out. They will open from a bud too. 
The stems are not very long and the flowers grow along the vine so if you cut a longer length of stem you would also cut the developing flowers. 

I added some of the vine to this vase, sacrificing any flowers it might produce but I would think it's days are numbered anyway. I like the twirling tendrils. Also tucked in is some Phacelia foliage to test out how it stands up in a vase. Very well, is the answer. 

I had to go back and take an extra picture when I saw the light coming through like this.

I was away early last week and heard reports of frost. The dahlias are still going, however, so hopefully they'll last a few more weeks as some of them have only just got into their stride. We are getting chilly mornings and evenings with warm days. Let's hope that continues and we can get our autumn tasks done. The weeds are making up for time lost during the summer heat. 

Call over to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what joys people have found to put In a Vase on Monday. 

Vanilla Ice In a Vase on Monday

 Here I am with a vase. I always have things in vases but don't always get time to post them on here. I find it harder to organise my time now that I am working from here. I need to get into more of a routine. I think when you have pockets of time you fit more in. 

In here is Sunflower 'Vanilla Ice' front and centre. I 'm sure I saw this first on IAVOM last year and added it to my seed list. It has been fab, flowering for at least two months with gently nodding heads. 

There is also 'Prado Red' which is a rich dark brown/red. Also smallish heads good for vases. 

The dahlia is (apparently) 'Apricot Desire'. It's really not apricot but very bright yellow. I find dahlias to be contrary and sometimes do change colour. What do you think? Disappointing though, when you've chosen a colour specifically. 

There are some Rudbeckia 'Sahara' in here which are wonderful. Robust plants and varied and beautiful flowers. Some very double and some single. 

Dill flowers. 

There are a few bits of Pineapple sage which I'm testing out in vases. The droop readily but improve with the hot water treatment. You put the stems into very hot water for 20-30 seconds, top up with cold and leave for at least 4 hours. I have found quite a few things respond to this, even things which have already drooped. 

I keep giving myself new jobs which is one reason why my list never gets shorter and I run out of time. This week it's a pile of mulch to move. 

There was some tree work going on next door. I had the nerve to ask for some chippings and got some...

...rather more than I expected. They were glad to offload it. At least I had the forethought to put down this plastic but now I need to bag it up and get it off this grass. 
I'm going to be using it around trees etc to keep down the weeds but, of course, I'm not ready for it yet so I need to store most of it. Absolutely not complaining as I have many uses for it. 
Tree surgeons are often happy to deliver a load of chippings for free. 

Pop over and visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see wonderful things in vases and add to your seed list. 

Sunflowers and dahlias In a Vase on Monday

Hello everyone and welcome to a wet Bank Holiday in the UK. We are hoping it might improve as the day goes on! We did go out and make the most of Saturday's sunshine. Safe to say the drought is over and the water tanks are full.

Here is a vase I made for a friend. It was to go on this hall table so I made it quite large to have impact. 

There is some birch and Cotoneaster foliage, Sedum at the green stage, Vanilla Ice sunflowers and some other sunflower, Amaranthus, Nicotiana 'Lime Green' and Dahlia 'Karma Naomi'. 
It's quite open and airy, the look I was going for and not symmetrical but not imbalanced I didn't think. 
The critique was:

MrC- It's lopsided
Me - That's the look
MrC- But will people know it's the look or just think it's lopsided?

My friend liked it so that's what counts. 

Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday. 

Rogue In a Vase on Monday.

We are back to normal summer weather here - wet and windy. We've had plenty of rain over the last few days and the garden is starting to look more perky instead of tired and brown. There is some green in the grass which we haven't cut for about 2 months. 

My vase is a pick and plonk today. Sometimes they are the best. 

There is rudbeckia, sunflower 'Prado Red', basil, Amaranthus, Nicotiana 'Lime green' plus bonus pink which came too with the green seeds, Scabious 'Fata Morgana', Daucus which should be purple but this is a rogue. There is also Atriplex and Rosemary which I don't think can be seen. 

Has anyone tried saving Daucus seeds? I'll have a go but as there is a rogue white in with the purple they may have crossed. Still all lovely though. 

Thanks to Cathy for hosting In a Vase on Monday which is always entertaining and inspiring, not to mention educational. 

Cupcakes In a Vase on Monday

Well, we finally got some rain, along with strong winds. It's such a relief not to feel I should be watering everything every moment of the day. There is still undercover watering to do, of course, but I expect that.
I did predict this as the schools have broken up for summer here and MrC has gone camping with a Scout troop. At least there is some chance of getting tent pegs in the ground. 
There have been plant casualties but how far that goes remains to be seen. Every day for the last month I have found a new plant shrivelled or drooping, some have been saved but some not. Well established shrubs have suffered as well as new planting. We have barely had any rain for two months and that, along with high temperatures, has meant plants are struggling.
The water butts are filling up again, at least for now, so that will help the water bills a little.

The good news is that there is still plenty flowering. Many flowers love the hot weather as long as their roots can find some water.

Here is Cosmos 'Cupcakes' collected together in a vase with their own foliage. 

Every bit as pretty as I'd expected and they last well as do the normal Cosmos. These are a mixed packet so each one is different pink and white and even a blush. Airy and delicate. I feared they would never flower as they produced lush foliage and not buds. I've discovered that it is too much nitrogen which produces this effect. 
If I was Cathy I'd have a cupcake enhancing my photo but I need to have a baking session so none are available.

Also here are a couple of Dahlias. 'Cafe au Lait' - every florist wants to get their hands on this, I need plenty more tubers next year - and 'Thomas A Edison'. This dropped into my basket last autumn and has not disappointed. 

I've even done indoor jobs today, without feeling I should be outside, some long overdue so now I must get on with the outdoor jobs. The sky is still threatening more rain. 
Thanks for visiting. I'm linking with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a Vase on Monday. 

Miniature In a Vase on Monday

Small is beautiful, as they say,  and I think this vase fits that description.

I've managed to grow Didiscus caeruleus properly for the first time. This is Lace Mixture. 
There is pink and white as well as the blue but I find the pink is quite insipid. 

I've included some small Ammi majus heads which I like as much if not more than the larger ones. Bunny tails grass which has very short stems but is soft and cute. Nigella and some kind of ornamental oregano which has pretty pink heads. All popped into one of my many white jugs. 
Hop over to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what interesting and intriguing things everyone has added to their vases this week. 

Sweet as sugar candy In a Vase on Monday

I'm naturally drawn to dark coloured flowers but these sugar coloured sweet peas bunched together are just delicious visually and aromatically. 

They are a  mixture off different varieties. There is some organisation in the planting but not by the time they get as far as the house. I think the purple is probably from a mixture called Twilight. 

I'm not going to go on about the weather except to say - it's no less desperate. But amongst all the frazzling of plants are some surprises. 

I've tried on many occasions to grow Gypsophila and always failed. This one has grown from a seed mix I threw in just before the drought. There is precious little else growing there as I have not been able to water it but this hardy little plant is thriving and has turned out pink! Love it. 

I've noticed before that sometimes direct sown seeds produce better plants which are less prone to pest damage. Perhaps not a fair test this year and often my direct sowings fail to show at all. 

I look forward to seeing what people have found to put In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.