I cannot believe it is the third week in October and there is still so much to choose from for Cathy’s Monday meme. Because I am hopeless at making decisions I couldn’t possibly pick a favourite from the four vases dotted around the house so I have decided to include them all.
First up is my kitchen vase. I cannot tell you how much pleasure I get from having a freshly picked posy on the kitchen table. The contents for this vase were all foraged so we have one red dahlia, a few stems from two or three different chrysanthemums, nasturtium flowers and a bit of reddish foliage. I sensibly removed the stem of yellow berried pyracantha as it threatened to unbalance the half pint jug. Most of these were gleaned from my allotment site – honestly it’s a jungle down there – and the rest from my garden.
In the sitting room it is still summer with a pint jug containing dancing cosmos, Dahlia Onesta, and Anemone Coronaria Sylphide. Oh yes, familiarity is the essence of love and I do love these colours.
Elsewhere there is yet more Anemone Coronaria Sylphide in the little Caithness glass vase. (This vase bought from a junk shop in Emsworth at the beginning of the summer will always be a tangible reminder of joining in this meme. Caithness for Cathy.) I don’t mean to brag but I picked eight anemones from the allotment this lunchtime. The new anemone Meron bulbs/corms have been planted in pots for safe over-wintering at home. I have planted five bulbs in each litre pot (20 bulbs in total) so it will be interesting to see when the first frill of foliage appears. The planting guideline was August to October in pots or borders for an April blooming so we shall see.
Finally I wanted to include last week’s vase which with a bit of tweaking and judicious removal of spent blooms, but with nothing new added, is to my eye looking good and smelling better. I am especially pleased with the scented acidanthera which has now lasted eight days in a vase. Previously it flopped after a day or two but this time I seared the end in boiling water and new flowers have continued to open along the stem, much like Hesperantha, while the old spent flowers have been snipped off.
I love joining in with In a vase on Monday. Do go over to Cathy’s blog, Rambling in the garden, for lots more beautiful vases.
homeslip 
The colours in your kitchen vase are beautifully autumnal. I love your pink flowers, too, and I’m going to have to get some of those Anemones for my garden. They’re gorgeous. Amazing that last week’s vase is still going strong. All lovely.
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Thanks Sam. I find it hard to compost flowers I’ve picked and ‘arranged’ if I still think there’s a bit of life in them. I am looking forward to seeing lots of anemones next year. I think they will do well on your well-drained soil in full sun.
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Your home must be dancing with blooms. 🙂 Definitely bright and merry, I love them all! 🙂
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Thanks Eliza. I love having several vases around, it really brings the place to life I find.
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I agree!
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You do have a lot to choose from! When I see your Cosmos, I feel I really missed out in failing to plant any this year. The first vase is very autumnal – and beautiful!
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Thank you Chris. The great thing about gardening is that there is always next year. It is also good to have a break from certain plants I find. The season end in the UK has been very good for Cosmos, they are not usually as pretty as this in October.
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Sorry Kris, I didn’t spot the autocorrect!
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Beautiful as always! xx
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Thank you Amy.
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I am not surprised you wanted to include all your pretty vases – great photographs and lovely blooms. And Caithness for me? So thoughtful 🙂 Not sure which I like the best – but you must tell us the secret of your anemones…please… 🙂
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I think I may have to do a special tutorial on my anemones, except I’m sure it has all been down to beginner’s luck. I simply followed the planting instructions on the Waitrose bag they came in. These were planted in April and it was a very cool start to the season which may be significant. Other factors may be that the soil at the allotment is very rich (lashings of well-rotted manure and compost) and very well-drained (sand over flint). They also had full sun and I kept them watered at the base (they were planted conveniently close to my salad bed so I didn’t overlook them) and fed them occasionally with comfrey tea. Finally I have been picking every single flower throughout the season. Every stem, once it gets to at least six inches, has been snipped. The flowers open in the vase from bud. A row of 20 corms has produced almost a flower a week from each corm for nearly five months now. I have just planted 20 new corms in pots but I should probably buy another bag and plant them direct to compare performance from an Autumn planting.
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Sigh… I didn’t order any from Peter Nyssen this year because I have had virtually no success, but after reading this I really want to try them again. Spring sowing sounds worthwhile, which I didn’t do before. Do you expect yours to come up again? Thanks for all the useful detail 🙂
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I love your anemones, one of my favourites, but have never grown successfully…yours are superb.
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They are one of my favourites too and although I grow A. blanda and A. nemerosa I had never grown this coronaria variety before. I am delighted at how well they’ve done.
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My dear girl, you must certainly brag about your amazing success with anemones. Gorgeous, I dream about having masses of these lovely flowers. They are perfect in a vase. I only seem to get the odd one or two blooms on mine and that is if they deign to come up at all. When do you plant your corms? Lovely cosmos too.
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These were planted in April but I’ve just planted a fresh lot of 20 corms in pots, five to a litre pot and have them tucked away in my grow house. I should have planted half direct at the allotment (see my reply to Cathy above for why I think I’ve been so lucky) and may well do this on a fine day. To be honest though Chloris I think the weather this year – cool start, plenty of rain and me watering during dry spells – has been key. As we know, every year is different and there are no guarantees in gardening but I am excited to see how this year’s corms perform next year.
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Thanks, I will give it a go next April.
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All your vases are charming, but that first one is especially lovely to me. It is nice seeing your anemones too. Because of you I was prompted to buy some corms and must get them planted soon.
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Thank you Susie, I hope your anemones do well for you.
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Your kitchen vase is the very essence of autumn and I adore your Anemones which I would be bragging about if I had grown them so successfully!
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Anemones haven’t featured much in Blogland have they. They are such a gorgeous cut flower, opening from bud in the vase and ageing gracefully that I am so glad I’ve discovered them.
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I really love the autumnal vase in your kitchen. The cosmos are a lovely splash of pastel colour too – I also have cosmos now flowering and always think they should be a summer flower, but they needed until September to get going this year.
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Yes, they were late into flower this year here, possibly because it was so dry earlier. I think Monty Don said the other day that as a South American plant their flowering time is governed more by light than temperature so that as the day length gets shorter they flower more profusely until of course they are brought down by frost.
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That is really interesting as I really thought there was something wrong with mine this year – we had a very hot and dry summer. I think I also just forget they are late summer flowers.
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Oh, how beautiful. I love anemones, they’re so cheerful. Your jug is pretty too. I often put pyracantha stems in my fall posies because I love the bright berries, but I use old glass jars as vases a lot, so they’re heavy enough to stay standing. I hope you’re having a good week so far, Sarah.
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Thanks Jennifer. The weather has become very autumnal suddenly. I think I remember your pyracantha in your garden. Isn’t it amazing how we can grow the same plants despite a distance of thousands of miles, not to to mention the climatic differences.
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Gorgeous variety!
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Thanks WD, I do like pink flowers.
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Beautiful vases, you should be proud of such perfect anemones and the colour is gorgeous partnered with the blue glass vase.
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Thank you Kate. Flowers in vases is such a simple pleasure especially right now when the garden is looking a bit tired and end of season.
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Your vases have the most beautiful colours possible, you are an artist!
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Yes indeed there is still much blooming here too surprisingly…love the choices of flowers brought in to brighten each room!
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Gorgeous cut flowers and interesting fact about cosmos flowering later. And Wilcos have anemone bulbs in case anyone is near this shop and wants to experiment. Having read this I will now be doing so.
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