In a Vase on Monday – Love, fire and determination

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.

Ann Landers (1918-2002) American Advice Columnist

For various reasons, which I won’t go into right now, we have barely been in the garden this year – it’s been tumultuous to say the least – no time for much apart from pressing issues, let alone gardening or blogging.  From the patio window, I’d seen various bulbs flower and go over, during late winter and early Spring, dwarf irises, crocuses, various daffodils and narcissi, and the early tulips.  At Easter weekend we had a bit more time and some dry weather, we ventured into the garden to see how things were and start tidying up – there were quite a few tulips around. so I picked some which reminded me of fire. There was also tête-à-tête daffodils and some orange wall flower.

My Chap and I have got back to arrangements for our wedding in September this week 🙂 we’ve got a flowery theme – and regular readers won’t be surprised to know it features purple. I CANNOT WAIT to get married to him and continue our life together – happily married.

In a Vase on Monday – daffodils, orange and red tulips, orange wallflower – 19 April 2017

 

They’re are in a vase which I found in the house of my friend, who died in 2015. It was his mother’s but I never saw any flowers in the house, in the 25 years I knew her.  It’s a 1960s crystal style triangular vase – it wasn’t her taste at all so I think it might have been a wedding gift.  She was a very determined lady – a Northern matriarch with a love of crosswords and opera. We always got on very well.  I miss her too, she died in 2013. 

I’ve used the vase and daffodils before for in a Vase on Monday:

• Red glass vase
  In a Vase on Monday – sunny yarrow, oranges and reds – 10 August 2015
• tête-à-tête daffodils In a vase on Monday – daffodils and dreams  – 29 February 2016
• In a Vase on Monday: yellow and purple in bottles 23 March 2015
• In a vase on Monday – tête a tête daffodils and mini iris – my first ever In a Vase on Monday – 15 March 2015

In a Vase on Monday – reminding me of fire – 19 April 2017

I’m joining Cathy from Rambling in the Garden who hosts this worldwide link up of people picking flowers and foliage from their gardens or locality – she has a lovely fresh pink and blue vase – with a tulips in it too (as Cathy says – a hazard of this time of year but I don’t mind as I love tulips).  It SO helps me to look at other people’s flowers and arrangements- it lifts my mood even in the darkest times (metaphorically as well as physically). Cathy, and the other gardening bloggers, have been been lovely to me during all the tribulations I’ve had over the last few years – so many supportive and positive comments.  Thank you everyone – it means such alot to me.

Just some of the things my garden means to me – 19 April 2017

Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of.
Bethany Hamilton (1990 – ) Professional surfer who lost her left arm in a shark attack aged 13.

I’m a grown woman and many people would say I’m a determined person, with bucket loads of resilience – but gosh it’s been tested recently, with everything that life has thrown at My Chap and I over the last few years – once again I’m feeling chronically exhausted, with a lot of physical pain, especially from my arthritis.

I’m channelling all these attributes Bethany speaks of, and the determination of my suffragette granny, to keep going one day at a time, gradually getting better again.  All the women in my family are resolute, tenacious women – whatever their age 😉

I am SO looking forward to spending our wedding day in September with these women, with my female pals from all across the world some I’ve know for decades and some much more recently. The blokes I know are pretty awesome too.  It’s going to be a day of fun, flowers, cake, music, dancing but most of all love and laughter.   Fingers crossed for no rain as we are planning an outdoor ceremony.

I am grateful every day for my family and friends, but most of all I am grateful my wonderful Chap pitched up in my life nearly seven years ago.  I would be in a pickle if he wasn’t here holding my hand.  Fire in our hearts always – I definitely agree with theAnn Landers quote.

I’m determined to get out in the garden more too – It’s my solace and I know it will help me.   And pick some more flowers for vases too.

Have a lovely week.

Carpe Diem

Love Bec xx

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday – first frilly tulip

First frilly tulip – 13 April 2016

Lilac, pincushions, tulips and recycled glass – In a Vase on Monday

I managed to dodge the torrential rain to get my contribution to ‘In a Vase on Monday’ – late as usual but I’ve got a very good excuse.  I picked lilac from a dwarf tree my mum gave me last year, an anemone, the last  purple tulip, some Scabiosa (often called pincushion plants), and  the greenery is from a white potentilla which hasn’t started flowering yet.

In a vase on Monday – 18 May 2015

The vase is actually a tea light holder made from recycled glass with a little metal hook.   I bought it at the Eden project a couple of weeks ago – as you can imagine they use a lot of recycled materials and there are some really lovely things on their website shop.  I liked the colour combination of shades of purple/lilac and a bright green.

Do have a look to see what other people have picked over at Cathy’s blog – Rambling in the Garden

She’s got a rainbow of colours and ribbons this week – it really cheered me up – Thank you Cathy.

The lilac bush smells wonderful – it’s sitting next to my bistro table at the bottom of my garden – not that we’ve had much time to sit outside as it’s been very wet and windy.

dwarf lilac bush – May 2015

I haven’t been around much recently on the blog or in Manchester – we were in Cornwall ‘on holiday’ for a week which definitely wasn’t enough time.  I fellt like I’d just skimmed the surface of Cornwall. We are already planning our next visit, probably in September.

Since I’ve been back home, I’ve been horrendously busy. Big life issues have got in the way to say the least – a very old, close friend of mine died very suddenly at the end of April; pals from University and I organised his funeral last week. We are all in a state of shock.

So we had a lovely, but very weird holiday to Cornwall, we were staying in beautiful cottage Charlestown with a view of the sea from the windows. Charlestown is an 18th century port (with its own tall ship) on the edge of St Austell with a couple of restaurants, pubs and a lot of craft/art shops. Good walks along the cliffs locally too.   I’ll write in more detail about our holiday another time.

Life Guard Hut – St Ives – May 2015

We visited:

• The Lost Gardens of Heligan
  I have wanted to go to Heligan for a very long time. The rhododendrons were  out near the house; they were stunning and over 60 foot high; there is just so much to see there all year round.
• The Eden Project This was our 2nd time – we visited September 2014 – this time the aerial walkway in the tropical dome was open and the view was stunning.
• Caerhays Castle
  it has the national collection of magnolias but we went to see the camellias, rhodenendron and azaleas – There are miles of forest walks and we saw four people all day.
• St Ives – wonderful place the sea was turquoise and the sand was white – it was very, very windy the day we went though.  My Chap finally got to go inside the Tate Gallery – he was very happy.
• Looe – the sea was out, so not a lot of fishing boat activity, but there were some great fishmongers.
• Polperro – the archetypical 18/19th century Cornish fishing village but it seemed to be full of holiday cottages and v shabby.

And alot of walks along the sea and cliffs – throwing stones in the sea and listening to Ludovico Einaudi.
If you’re local – do to Caerhays and Heligan before the rhododendrons  and azaelas  go over. You won’t regret it.

There are many wonderful gardens in Cornwall – have a look at the Great Gardens of Cornwall

*****

It has been the hardest and weirdest few weeks of my life but I know I’ll get through this difficult time.

They say it’s better to bury your sadness … In a garden that waits for the Spring to wake from its sleep and burst into green.   Conor oberst – musician – www.conoroberst.com/

I’ll do this though my sadness is very deep – I know gardening will help me.   The Great Gardens of Cornwall helped to replenish my soul and my Chap, my friends, my garden, the hills and the sea will do the rest.  That and the RHS Chelsea flower show on TV.

*****

Have a wonderful week everyone – Carpe Diem

Love Bec xxx

Raspberry ripple tulips, blossom and holidays! In a vase on Monday

In a vase on Monday – Tulips and dogwood – 27April 2015

It’s glorious sunshine in Manchester today, I decided to feature tulips again in my vase on Monday (Yellow and purple ones last week). These three reminded me of ripe cherries and raspberry ripple ice cream.  This could be because I’ve got holidays on my mind. We’re off to Cornwall on Saturday for a week – I am so excited!  I went last September (2014) for the first time in nearly 30 years. We had a wonderful time, especially at the Eden Project, so we’ll be going back there, the ‘Lost gardens of Helligan’ and the beaches too. Heaven!

These tulips were planted last autumn – I’ve mentioned before how much I like purple. These came from Wilko’s but as usual, I’ve got no idea what they’re called.

Three purple, pink and raspberry ripple tulips – in a vase on Monday 27 April 2015

The dogwood (Cornus) is a variegated one with red stems in the winter.   It’s at the end of my garden and pokes out between a row of conifers in my neighbour’s plot . It hangs over into our garden; so we prune it, so it doesn’t poke me in the eye when I’m gardening.    Dogwood is easy to grow but it definitely needs pruning for it to be at its best; it spreads though if it’s left and the old wood doesn’t have the glorious stem colour.  There are loads of varieties including ones with yellow stems, it’s very common in gardens here in the UK because of it’s all round interest and its hardy.

I liked the contrast of colours with the purples, pinks, greens and whites. Also thought too much foliage would overwhelm the tulips.

I’ve used the same vase last week as I haven’t got any other tall thin ones – though I think The Chap might be bringing something home from work for me.

In the sunshine – tulips and dogwood – 27 April 2015

We had a good day in the garden yesterday after a very hectic few weeks.   I rearranged my strawberry plants, put a dwarf raspberry in a larger pot and put the tumbling tomatoes in hanging baskets.   Also I tidied up all the fuscias in pots we’d over wintered in the garage and thought about what I’d put where.   A bit of TCL for my cosmos seedlings too – fingers crossed they survive us going away.  And The Chap put up the solar lights up too – we’ve eaten out in the garden 9 times so far this year.

The other things I’m enjoying this week are the wonderful blossom on the cherry, apple, hawthorn tree – they look incredible this year.     There are many around where I live, as it’s full of Victorian houses and mature gardens.  I’ve only got room for two dwarf apple trees in pots in my garden but I’d love more.  The blossom is really brighting my drive to and from work; I really must get out and take some photos this week as they’ll be gone soon.

Cherry blossom – 26 April 2015 – NO FILTER!!

Do have a look at Rambling in the Garden where Cathy hosts ‘In  a vase on Monday’
 www.ramblinglinginthegarden.wordpress.com. She’s got a wonderful selection of vases this week and is celebrating her 1000th blog post – I’m a very long way off that milestone. It’s great to see what people are growing around the world.

What plants have you enjoyed this weekend? Or have you been to Cornwall? Any suggestions where to go?

Have a lovely time

Carpe Diem

love Bec xxx

In a vase on Monday – purple and yellow tulips with Berberis

‘If age teaches you anything, then one of it’s lessons is certainly not to hurry if you’re already late’ – Sergei Lukanenko (a science fiction writer)

This week’s ‘In a vase on Monday’ is some berberis (cut carefully because of its vicious spikes) with yellow and purple tulips.  The tulips have been growing in a border on right hand side of my garden (the sunny side). I planted lots of white, cream, purple and pink tulips last Autumn (from Wilko and Sainsbury’s so as usual I’ve got no idea what they’re called).   The yellow one’s were a lovely surprise last week. My Chap planted them when I wasn’t looking – as he loves yellow and tries to sneak more yellow flowers into the garden.

This is the first vase my Chap bought me when we got together; it arrived with flowers too :-).  I like it because of the twist in the glass – and it often has flowers in it on our dining room table.   He works in the wholesale florist industry, selling just about everything except fresh flowers, so I have quite a lot of vases. It was lovely to do a full size arrangement this week – most of mine have been mini ones so far – Tag in a vase on monday

A close up of the purple and yellow tulips with Berberis – 21st April 2015

I didn’t know much about berberis apart from its sharp spikes and it’s evergreen. Ours has red berries in the Autumn and the bees love it.  I’ve seen it growing right across the UK so it’s pretty hardy. People often plant it as hedges or under windows to deter burglars.  But, after a bit of research, I discovered there are hundreds of varieties, it grows wild across Europe including the Middle East but also in Himalayas.   The berries are high in vitamin C but very tart; the dried berries are used in an Iranian rice pilaf called ‘Zereshk Polo’. The berries are also used in hedgerow jams as it’s high in pectin.  I’ll have to look out for the dried berries in the specialist delis in Manchester and have a go at cooking with it. I’ll ;let you know how I get on.

Things have been very hectic for me recently, especially at work,so I’m a day late with my ‘In a vase on Monday’; I hope you don’t mind.  I felt so much more relaxed walking around my garden this morning deciding what to pick for my vase; I decided not to rush, just as Sergei said.  These tulips are really cheering me up so think I might use the picture as a screen saver at work.

Do have a look around Cathy’s blog – Rambling in the Garden for more lovely vases and flowers from people across the world – https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/ 
She has lovely tulips this week too.

Have you got tulips flowering near you?

love Bec xx

Wordless Wednesday – first tulip in my garden

First tulip – 7 April 2015