IAVOM ~ 'A Frog He Would A - Wooing Go'

Today's flowers for ' In A Vase On Monday' were picked from my little herb patch. They are allium tuberosum also known as white garlic chives and are a perennial herb flowering here at the same time the ordinary chives get their second flush of flowers. As the name suggests they smell and have taste of mild garlic. They are also a good pollinator magnet. 

The vase was a treat to myself on the first of our two short holidays this year. We visited 'The Hirsel' in Coldstream, Scotland which was the childhood home of a former British Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas - Home. 'The Hirsel' is now a 500 acre park open to the public all year round with a large artificial lake and river in the grounds. There is also a woodland area and a late 19th century rhododendron and azalea woodland garden but it was too late in the year for us to see this at its peak. We enjoyed a memorable walk around the perimeter of the lake, where we had the magical experience of seeing seething masses of hundreds but more probably thousands of newly emerged baby frogs hopping along lakeside. My post title was inspired by an old folk song which originated in Scotland in 1549 albeit with different words to the song we learnt as children. Sadly the frog one Antony Rowley was gobbled up by a lily-white duck before he could have any fun.  It was quite a challenge for us not to step on any of them with himself's size 12 feet and my size 7. We walked slowly and with great caution before wending our way back to the homestead, where as well as a café there are various craft workshops including a small ceramics studio, which is were my vase came from.

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for getting us together every Monday to share our vases. There's been no time for gardening activities today and won't be until later in the week when I plan to give the greenhouse a good autumn clean. I hope that you can all get out into your green spaces this week.

IAVOM ~ Harvest Home

 

The last few days have seen a marked contrast as we move toward's the autumn equinox later today. Friday was positively balmy and apart from a swift short shower it was dry. I made the most of it to gather up the last fruits of what has been a bumper tomato crop, to lift the remaining 'Charlotte' potatoes and move them to a crate in the shed as well as taking down the sweet peas and French beans wigwams and disposing of the somewhat bedraggled plants. I also took a few cuttings. Himself was kept occupied with picking apples. Just as well as Saturday was the wettest day we have had for some time - it poured down throughout the day and then into the early hours of Sunday morning. When I checked the weather app. on my phone yesterday morning it informed me that we had had 36mm of rain in the last 24 hours! However we woke to a sparking clear blue sky complete with sunshine and it turned out to be a completely dry day, possibly the first we've had this month.

In my vase this week a nod to autumn's arrival with :

• Dahlia - I think this one is 'Night Silence' but I'm not sure as it's in a pot with no label.
• Panicum capillare 'Sparkling Fountain' which was sown from saved seed back in March. I've grown this grass for a few years now and love the way it sparkles in the sunlight. It self seeds but never in places where it's easy to extricate and replant so I sow it yearly.
• Rudbeckia hirta 'Enchanted Flame' - for the first time in a good few years I had no joy with growing rudbeckia 'Sahara' from seed. I was upset as it's a flower mix that is good for late summer/early autumn flowering with colours of various shades. After some pondering I remembered reading about the rudbeckia hirta 'Enchanted' series over at Catherine's 'Notes From My Garden' blog. More pondering and although these plants are half- hardy perennials a special 3 for the price of 2 offer from an online source tempted me. I must admit that I'm not keen on the muddy looking colour that these particular flowers had in bud but I do like the final fully opened version. I will still sow 'Sahara' again next year whatever joy I have with overwintering these plants.

Thanks as always to Cathy who is the custodian of our Monday's vases and who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden'.

A few domestic tasks to catch up on here whilst it's still warming up - the temperature in the greenhouse dipped down to 5.7 centigrade here overnight which is most cool for September. Then there are jobs to get on with outside. Wishing you a happy Monday and a most gentle autumn 🍂 

IAVOM ~ 'September In The Rain'

A borrowed vase from me this week. Having returned at the weekend from a holiday in the depths of rural Herefordshire, there have been a few jobs to catch up on including taking various cuttings as well as picking tomatoes, pears and apples from the garden. The pears are now ripening on a sunny windowsill (ie as and when the present weather pattern improves) whilst the first apples to be harvested have been peeled and stewed. With one batch in the freezer the second batch was on the jobs to do list this morning. As the day has unfolded it has turned increasingly windy and the odd shower has fallen. The green waste bin is empty and due for collection tomorrow but I have decided not to venture out with my secateurs this time.  I will no doubt feel guilty tomorrow.

My vase was in the 'Ladies' at Stocktonbury Gardens which I've wanted to visit for years. Despite the fact that all the gardens we visited had suffered from the long, hot and dry summer there was still much to hold our interest especially the garden's history. If you're in the area it's certainly well worth a visit. I'm not sure exactly what's in the vase but can identify the white flowered aster diveraticus, an eryngium and what I think is a sanguisorba. It's a garden that I would love to visit again especially in spring when their huge apple orchard is in blossom. This is just a small glimpse of it below on a September day: 

I also fell for rosa mutablis, a rose which I have read much about over the years but had never glimpsed in flower before now :

There were plants for sale in the plants sales area but I'm not sure where I could plant one so resisted. The little dragon perched on the roof was rather fetching too but not for sale.

Thanks as always to Cathy who blogs over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who gets us together every week for a floral party. Do visit her if you haven't already!

IAVOM ~ 'September Morn'

 

What better way to start a new month than with a vase of flowers. Yes September has arrived - my favourite month of the year after May. In my vase today are :

• Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer - this is a hardy perennial which likes the sun but also moist soil. It usually does well in its allocated spot but has languished this long dry summer so along with the astrantias has received the odd drink from the watering can.
• Aster 'Little Carlow' - another hardy perennial and one of my favourites with clouds of small lavender blue small flowers.
• Some foliage from the climber 'Humulus Lupulus aureum' or golden hop. I've never seen this plant grow so much as it has done this year - it has turned into a veritable monster. It's looking most attractive now with all the dangly hops. 

Thanks as always to our lovely hostess Cathy who blogs at 'Rambling In the Garden'. A quick and early post from me today as I need to get ready to head out for a garden centre visiting marathon with a dear friend who loves plants too. We may be gone for some time but I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone's vases later. 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Holker Hall, Cumbria ~ August 2025.

 

IAVOM ~ 'In The Pink'

 

Mondays seem to come round very quickly and it's time to celebrate the start of the week with a vase of flowers joining in with the 'In A Vase On Monday'. In my vase this week are :

• Flowers of what maybe 'Madame Julia Correvon' but I honestly don't know. Maybe Cathy our Clematis Queen might have some ideas. This is the second lot of flowers it has thrown out this summer.
• A sprig of astrantia 'Cerise Button'. This is a new to me astrantia which I fell for on a visit to the fabulous Holehird Gardens in Cumbria at the beginning of July this year. I was hoping to track it down at a nursery but was most surprised to see it for sale at a local garden centre last week. The flowers on my plant aren't either as big or as deep pink as the plant I saw in the garden (see photo below) but I will give it time to establish and confirm whether I've got the correct plant.
• Some foliage from pittisporum 'Silver Ball'

Thanks as always are due to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for her most excellent hosting. 

It's a Bank Holiday today and unusually warm and sunny - this looks like the end of what has been another long dry spell with rain predicated to arrive overnight and then feature daily for the next week or so! What a relief that will be especially to our farmers. I'm off out when I've posted this to collect some poppy seedheads before the change in weather - if anybody reading this would like some papaver orientale  'Lauren's Grape' seeds just let me know. I'm collecting some for the seeds and will dry the others for future use in a vase.

IAVOM ~ 'Set Fire To The Rain'

 

It's another dahlia on my rusty old grey table this Monday. This is dahlia 'Purple Flame' which is more of a deep rich pink to my eyes. This is the first time I've grown this variety and I have fallen in love with it. Unfortunately I was sent a rather puny specimen so have not had enough of the striking flowers. I hope that it successfully overwinters and bulks up next year but I will also purchase another. It's been a funny old year here for dahlias amongst other things. Not one of the dahlias planted in the garden came through and the one that I planted hasn't flourished at all. Dahlias in pots have done better but the flowers have still struggled and are perhaps not as abundant as usual in their flowering. Mind you it's been a funny old year for a lot of things. Today I was actually delighted to see a dull and cloudy sky when I opened the blinds and we've not seen the sun all day. Hopefully this extremely long hot and dry summer is on the way out. My thoughts are now turning to spring.

Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for her excellent hosting skills. Thanks also to those of you who expressed concern in your comments to my last post. Fortunately we escaped with no serious damage from Storm Floris. As for the on the blink internet connection it was eventually sorted by a BT Openreach engineer. We now have an amazingly much faster connection but found that after his visit that our phone landline isn't working. Not a major issue but one that needs following up very soon.

I may prick out some lunaria and hersperis seeds later but maybe not as there are lot of biting creatures about at the moment. I watched two bats flit about very close to the house last night so maybe there will be fewer creatures about today. I've been leaving this task until the weather cooled down a bit. I also need to get some thoughts together as to what bulbs to order for spring flowering. As usual I've left it until late. Have you ordered your spring bulbs yet? Please tell me that I'm not alone.

IAVOM - Blowin' In The Wind

 

I took this photo last weekend intending to post last Monday but time completely ran away with me that day so here a week later is my 'In A Vase On Monday'. It was quite breezy at the time and the contents of the vase swirled about and where not as I had originally placed them. In my vase are :

• A flower of dahlia 'Melissa Anna Marjike' - it's a new one to me. you can't see it but it has the bonus of having dark foliage. I like it.
• A couple of stems of what I think is physocarpus 'Diablo'.
• Some daucus carrota 'Dara' - a hardy annual which was sown in the greenhouse last September. it has dusky pink and/or burgundy flowers and is always most obliging.
• Thalictrum delavayi 'Splendide White'- it's a tall late delicate and airy flowering summer perennial which needs some support - in this case my plant is very conveniently supported by it's next door neighbour a rose. There is a lavender toned version of this thalictrum too which is on my wish list.

A short post today as we've been having intermittent problems with our internet connection over the last few days so I want to  hit publish as soon as possible. Many thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' as always for hosting. I hope to check in other vases later internet connection permitting but in the meantime domestic chores call. Although the rain has stopped and the sun is out we have a named storm today so it's been much too windy out there this afternoon to do anything in the garden. Oddly enough Storm Floris is the U.K's first named storm since January which goes to show just how gentle our late winter/ early spring weather was. I nipped out before and saw that there is quite a bit of debris and leaves waiting to be brushed up but that can wait until tomorrow. At least the green bin is filled and ready to roll in the morning. I hope that the weather is more clement wherever you are.

IAVOM ~ 'The Heat Is On'

 

Just a quick pick and plonk from me in this week's vase after an extremely hot day (the thermostat had steadily been creeping up for a few days) when the temperature soared to above 30°c. At this point I cease to function when it comes to outside activity and wonder just how my brother manages to live in a country where that is the year round norm. I was inside for the duration only venturing out to water a few pots about 7.00am, to snip the above and take photos before retreating indoors then venturing out again at 9.45pm to do some more watering. It is cooler but still warm today although thankfully less humid. In my vase are :

• Pansies - the little faces of 'Pansy Nature Mulberry Shades' and a couple of 'Pansy Nature Antique Shades'. They were grown from seed sown in the greenhouse during March. They have very short stems so are in the littlest of my vases. I plan to sow some more seed in September.
• A sprig of helichrysum petiolare 'Silver'. This snippet came from one of the cuttings that I took late last summer and overwintered in the greenhouse. It puts on amazing growth during one season and makes for an attractive foliage plant in containers. I shall take more cuttings again this year.
• A few bits of eminently strokable fluffiness in the shape of the annual lathyrus ovatus or 'Bunny Tails' grass which were sown in the greenhouse during March. 

Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In the Garden' for hosting such an enjoyable floral party every Monday. It's a degree or two cooler today albeit still warm. We have even cooler temperatures and rain forecast for tomorrow which will come as a blessing. The garden could definitely do with a good soak. Hopefully there will be a point in the day when I can venture out and potter in comfort and get on with some of the many tasks that wait out there. 

I forgot to mention that when I did venture out after watering them I picked the ripest and juciest of tomatoes and popped it straight into my mouth. The fruit was comfortably warm to the touch and tasted absolutely delicious 😋

IAVOM ~ First Pickings

Slightly earlier than last year methinks there is a vase of sweet peas on the kitchen windowsill. The first bunch of sweet peas is always a highlight of my gardening year. I'm sure that I've said before that they are the one hardy annual that I wouldn't be without. Starring in this year's cast are : 'Erewhon', 'Gwendoline', 'Kings Ransom', 'Eclipse', 'Almost Black', 'Indigo King', 'David Tostevin' and 'Suzy Z'. The last two are new to me this year and the jury is still out them. They leave something to be desired when it comes to scent and scent is an important factor for me when it comes to sweet peas. 

I could have picked a smaller bunch last week but as we were away for a few days I decided to remove the first flowers and jettison them which did cause me some heartbreak. I came home though to this burst of colour and there are just as many today waiting in the wings for their moment in a vase.

In other news the first homegrown tomatoes of the year were eaten yesterday, the green garden waste bin is filled ready for collection and I have been sowing biennials. Summer is definitely in full stride with another heatwave predicted for later this week. This time it's creeping up to the north west of England so I think that gardening jobs apart from watering will be done in the earlier part of the week. Still when the heat is on there are household chores to be done, reading to catch up on and I'm looking forward to listening to Carol Klein who was the guest on 'Desert Island Discs' on BBC Radio 4 yesterday. The episode is available to listen to via BBC Sounds here. 

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who gets us together every week thus providing a source of much pleasure, inspiration as well as an ever growing wish list. Do visit her blog if you haven't already!

Postscript - I've checked and the sweet peas are definitely earlier - a full two weeks! The 2024 and 2025 sweet pea seeds were sown in the middle of March. I noted though that once I planted them out last year that they made painfully slow progress as the weather was so cool and damp although we had plenty of rain. The complete opposite conditions this year which probably explains why they are earlier.