In a Vase on Monday: Pretty (Pink) Pods

Having decided to spare a few allium (probably A hollandicum) for today’s vase, I sought other material on the purple spectrum, cutting Geranium phaeum ‘Raven’, a deep purply-blue aquilegia and foliage from Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’ – but the combination just didn’t seem to work. Glancing up at the wisteria W floribunda ‘Multijuga’ in all its glory, it occurred to me that the purple hints in the racemes were on the same spectrum as the allium – would they last in a vase? I have no idea, but I decided to give them a try.

The popping of the seed pods in the plants is in response to a stimulus that acts as a trigger, such as touch or environmental factors. This mechanism aids in the dispersal of seeds and ensures the plant’s propagation in its natural habitat.

Having cut spent flowering stems from all the hellebores over the weekend, amassing a large trugful of them, rather than compost them all I decided to use several stems in today’s vase. Not only was it the last opportunity this year to use hellebores in a vase, but this time I could also be sure, with seedpods well-swollen, that the stems will remain upstanding, unlike vases when the blooms were fresher. I wish I could tell you what colour the original blooms were, but I can’t; now, they are a very pale green with dark speckled centres, giving them a kind of vintage appearance.

Do you remember that garden Bunny Guinness designed at Chelsea Flower Show in 2011? You know, the one with the beautiful hazel-hurdle-raised-beds burgeoning with edibles and ornamentals. Well, if you don’t, it was stunning. I could not stop staring at its honed perfection. But, I thought at the time, ‘this is a Chelsea Garden that can’t be recreated in reality’. So, was I right? Can you combine ornamentals and vegetables without either party being compromised? Can you truly make a space that is at once pretty, productive and practical?

Averting my eyes from the tulips which were shouting “Pick me! Pick me!” as I walked past, I headed towards the bottom end of the garden to pick some of the marauding Spanish bluebells that have sneaked their way in under/over/round the fence. The impact of bluebells in the garden has really registered in recent days, with the uninvited guests and the more local residents joining forces to provide by far and away the biggest splash of blue in the garden out of all the seasons. There may be little patches of blue from spring bulbs and isolated spots in the summer months, but bluebell season is something else and the splashes will only get larger and more widespread as time goes on, with even the English bluebells popping up in other parts of the garden than the woodland. By picking the Spanish bluebells, however, I can at least try and restrict their desire for dominance!

If you want to repurpose your old glass kitchenware, just Grow these Purple Plants in jars, bottles, and vases. Now, you may wonder that why “Purple”? Purple, the color of royalty and luxury will vibe up your space to the next level. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, it will infuse your space with positive energy and a calming aura.

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Heinz

I was trying to avoid tulips for today’s IAVOM, as they could easily become a mainstay for many weeks; however, these creamy tulips were tucked out of the way where they mightn’t otherwise be seen and, like last week’s fiery contribution, they are also a bit of an enigma. They are growing in the cutting beds where they were planted around 10 years ago with the sole purpose of cutting them. Presumably, they flowered in the first year of planting but, although there has been foliage in some of the intervening years, I don’t think there have been any further blooms until now. My guess is that these are mature bulblets from the original bulbs, now large enough to flower: I have only picked the two blooms that were in full flower, but there are others to come. They may be ‘Exotic Emperor’, which I have bought periodically over the years.

I promised you tulips today, but even I wasn’t expecting these ones, remnants from a previous planting in a pot now filled with Carex ‘Everillo’. I can remember buying some fiery tulips two or three years ago, but have no idea why I would have put them in that particular pot, as their bright and brash colouring would have necessitated a planting location near the bold borders. Nevertheless, there they were, pushing aside the grass and cocking a snook at the main borders filling up with foliage of plants that will in due course have pink and purple blooms, so I had no qualms in cutting short their exhibitionism.

Dera Burreson