If you visit my blog now and again you’ll already know that I love bright colours. However I’m not usually a fan of purplish red and yellow together… but somehow they seem to work in this little jug of spring flowers.
Hellebores and Daffodils

If you visit my blog now and again you’ll already know that I love bright colours. However I’m not usually a fan of purplish red and yellow together… but somehow they seem to work in this little jug of spring flowers.
I’ve done a bit more tidying in the garden this afternoon and pruned my Eucalyptus gunnii. It has glaucous round young leaves which are lovely for adding to a vase of flowers. As the plant grows taller the leaves become much bigger and quite elongated. You can encourage the plant to keep producing the immature foliage by pruning so it sends out new shoots and that was my aim today. Some of the stems that I cut off the plant were quite lovely with their long delicate leaves and I didn’t want to just throw them on the compost heap. So I selected a few sprigs then sprinted round the garden in search of something delicate to go with them.
Dahlias have got to be at the number one spot for flowers for late summer and early autumn colour. I’ve grown quite a lot this year. Some from seed and some from tubers.
I’m still picking sweet Peas. Even in the rain.
This morning I cut some pure white and a beautiful flaked one…
For In a vase on Monday I’m using an empty jam Jar this week. In my view there’s no need for proper vases all the time, especially for a simple bunch of sweet peas. Sweet peas shout out country style to me. The flowers are the stars I think.
The cutting garden is still producing flowers by the bucket full which is marvellous as we have lots of celebrations at this time of year… Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries … you know how it goes. Even if it’s not a big event we still like to give a little gift to the hosts to say “Thanks for having us!” We know that a bunch of home grown flowers goes very well with a bottle of wine or two!
It’s hot and windy here in my Country Garden in Lancashire so I’m taking photos in the dappled shade of the veranda of my garden studio.
A tall white vase calls for a simple bunch of flowers today.
Malva zebrina is one of the tallest annual flowers I’ve grown this year.
These plants could probably stand alone but I’ve added some mint for it’s fresh green foliage and zingy scent.
Sweet peas are beautiful vigorous tall plants and climb using tendrils to cling on to their support. Growing sweet peas is easy. To help them along when newly planted I tie them onto their canes with soft green string or little plastic coated loops. Then I leave them to get along with it. Once they are established they haul themselves up the canes or trellis with little intervention from me. Usually all I need to do is pick, pick, pick everyday once flowering begins. Sweet Peas are trouble free plants and usually all is well…