So, with a title like I couldn’t resist including a prop for this IAVOM post … Obviously a pile of brown onions 😉 !
Spring vase: with hedgerow wildflowers and salvia cuttings
The ‘onions’ in question are ransoms (Allium ursinum – foreground left in the image below), three-cornered leeks (Allium triquetrum – foreground central) and, I think, white garlic (Allium cowanii – foreground right). Maybe I should also include the garlic mustard in the oniony theme, for its smell at least?
White alliums: Allium triquetrum, Allium ursinum and Allium cowanii
Believe it or not, the vase actually started out with a much nicer, fruity smell. I was cutting flowers off the salvias over-wintering in the greenhouse to bulk them up. As usual, Salvia gregii ‘Emperor’ is miles ahead and has been busy growing like fury and flowering prolifically. It seemed sad to waste the flowers, so I collected them for a vase. S. Emperor has a particularly delicious smell, it smells of blackcurrants and is my favourite salvia to brush passed or gently crush (closely followed by S. elegans – pineapples and S. turkestanica – grapefruit).
The rest of the flowers in the vase are largely hedgerow pickings: garlic mustard and cow parsley (albeit a dark-leaved example) and garden staples: forget-me-not, honesty and centaurea montana.
A closer view of the lovely honesty flowers
I managed just one picture of the vase in the garden without holding it in my hands against the very blustery winds we are having today (also thunder, hail and heavy downpours, but hey, it’s April!)
Vase in the sunshine, briefly standing upright in today’s 45mph gusty winds.
I am happy to finally be able to catch up with Cathy@ramblinginthegarden for her weekly In-a-Vase-on-Monday meme. I’ve been meaning to get a vase together for ages, but Mondays have a way of being over before I know it and life has been hectic of late! Anyhow, follow the link to browse lots more lovely floral wonders.
Frogend dweller's Blog 
It’s a beautiful combination of blooms and plants. Alliums are fun, and the cooking onions around the base seem appropriate. 🙂
Thank you! 🤣 I think I’ve been watching too many cookery programmes lately
A lovely hedgerow mix, Allison, but boy, do I shudder to see invasive garlic mustard. Every spring, I root out the ones I find on my land, satisfied that I’ve got them all, only to be dismayed the following year to find the dozens I missed. I think they are winning!
Yes, it’s too late for our garden as well, but I regard it as a lesser evil than our bindweed and ground elder! 🤣
First ever onioned theme IAVOM? I love it and the colors with the deep plum accents. hope the hail stayed away.
😉 Well I start cooking every meal by fetching an onioin, so why not for a vase as well.
The hail was amazingly heavy and occurred in waves throughout the day. It’s put an end to the crab apple blossom, but I’ve not noticed any other damage luckily.
Same here with the onions…hail is weird, we rarely see it in Florida.
Nice color combination! I love the honesty flowers, which I’m unable to grow in my climate. I do have an Allium neopolititatum, also called white garlic, but I haven’t included it in a vase yet – perhaps I should take a whiff first 😉
Thank you Kris. Honesty has such a surprisingly statuesque, but hazy presence in the garden. I love it. Such a shame that you miss out on it, but then I look at the amazing flowers in your vases and know that you have other rewards!!
In fairness, the alliums don’t particularly smell once they are in the vase 🙂
I was certainly intrigued by the title, Allsion, and love how you have managed to put together a largely onion-themed vase, topped up by some extras. Your S Emperor sounds a really good do-er although presumably is not entirely hardy if you are overwintering it inside? Does it gor OK from cuttings? If so, I would be interested in having a cutting or two fi that was possible… 🤞 We get a lot of garlic mustard here too but it is relatively easy to pull out so I don’t find it offensive – hairy bittercress is currently the newest offensive weed here…
Actually, Salvia Emperor usually gets through the winter OK (even the previous winter’s very cold spell!), but I take cuttings of as many salvias as I can manage, for insurance purposes. The Emperor babies are suddenly taking over a large patch of shelf space in the greenhouse, hence my pruning them. Of course you can have some … I’ll see if I’ve got a smaller plant ready to send immediately. If not I’ll get some new ones going. I’ll be in touch.
Ooh, that would be lovely either way – thanks so much 👍
The honesty flowers really are lovely Allison, and the whole bouquet is pretty. I am quite taken aback at how much you have in flower – even further on than us. What a treat to have so many salvia flowers for cutting at this time of year. Love the props too! 😉
😉 The props were to hand of course! Thanks Cathy. You look like you have caught up now though.
I’ve enjoyed reading all the comments above, and can only add that I loved the colours and the pop that the white allium gives, though I am on a campaign to remove or at least control the seedlings from right across my Mediterranean planting in the front garden. These were a legacy from the previous owners who say it growing along some rough ground, and thought it was so nice they spread seed all around!
I pull (to remove) as many three cornered leeks as I can every year! I am even trying to eat them in salads this season 🤣
The flowers are beautiful, but unfamiliar: at least, the onions. When I looked for them in our USDA map, only the three-cornered leeks showed up — as introduced plants in California and Oregon! I see we do have the garlic mustard, but I can’t remember coming across it. Instead, Rapistrum rugosum thrives here: an invasive that goes by the rather impolite but descriptive name of bastard cabbage!
We have oilseed rape doing the same thing here!
Absolutely adore this vase…wild and full of flowers. Perfect.
Thank you!
What lovely flowers and a beautiful color combination.
That’s kind, thank you!