The garden has turned distinctly mushy over the last couple of days. Lots of plants and seed heads have lost their backbone. Our patio archway, which is covered in acres of green passionflower vine is now looking like it’s had a very bad hair day. Very emo. The snow, ice and wind have done a good job of wiping the slate clean for a new year’s growth. Even the ground has lost its structure. Walking down the alleys is akin to wading through a slush-puppy spillage. So, even though I had a hankering to pull together a vase for Cathy’s popular Monday meme, there was not much to choose from … until I spotted a patch of Vinca major.
Did Vinca ever look so wonderful? How very lovely those whirling blue windmill flowers are against the glossy, tear-drop leaves. So reader, I cut them all and used them for today’s posy. Indeed, it seems strange to get so much joy from a few stems of Vinca when I spend my time pulling it out of the border whenever I see it. Good job it’s intractable!
Here is the vase, looking quite fresh, in spite of a number of dead bits and bobs I added:
I really like the appearance of wet hypericum seed pods. Wrinkled, but shiny, like medjool dates. Especially set against some russet oak leaves.
My pennisetum macrourum is mostly stripped of its fluffy seed now, but there are a few spikes almost complete. It is a grass with great winter form. I’ve added a few of the best bits to the bunch.
Then there a couple of copper-coloured twigs from a salix that was coppiced at Wimpole (possibly S. britzensis). These are debris from the twisted rings I’ve woven into plant supports for the border, but they still radiate that wonderful colour.
Then I’ve added some stems of my stalwart winter honeysuckle, plus a couple of pieces of Senecio greyi to fill out the vase.
Well, that has ended up being is a surprisingly pleasing vase from very little anticipated material. Cathy is right that there is near always something to be gathered for a floral display, be it twigs, leaves or seed heads. And if there are fresh flowers, well, the options are endless.
Why don’t you head over to Cathy’s blog @ramblinginthegarden to enjoy a variety of pretty posies and arrangements inspired by her meme.
Frogend dweller's Blog 
Perfect representation of the season, showing us there is always something beautiful if we take the trouble to look for it.
Thanks Christina!
Oh, that’s so pretty. Some summers I’m so happy to have vinca. Isn’t it fun to give plants another look?
Definitely! In fact, there are several cultivars I wouldn’t mind at all, if only they didn’t out compete everything else.
Magnificence snatched from the must and mess!
The contrast of blue flowers and shiny green leaves of the vinca is so attractive (I cut some from my health club’s car park to include in the wedding posy I made for Younger Daughter a couple of years back) and you have foraged some great additions for your Monday vase – the pseudo medjool dates are brilliant and what pretty stems the salix has. A lovely result, despite any surrounding mush and mess!
Vincas have their uses and right places and they are a lovely blue! Did you sneak out at dusk to collect for your posies? I like to imagine so!
Well done for creating a lovely vase when everything outside seems so bedraggled. Really pretty.
Sorry to have missed this earlier. Hope your hand is strong again.
Wonderful – and you are so right that there is always something out there just waiting to be picked! 🙂
Thanks Cathy … just so long as it’s not all covered in snow!!