In A Vase On Monday
Monday brings the chance to share cut flowers from the garden by joining in Cathy’s weekly challenge In A Vase On Monday. I had hoped a promising anemone coronaria bud would make its way open in time for today’s vase, but in its stead is a variety of foliage and tiny blooms gathered yesterday morning.
The container is a small teacup from a favorite Pringle Pottery set, glazed in cream, light green and blue.
Pringle Pottery Cup
Dark red leaves of Husker Red Penstemon, feathery deep green Tansy fronds and a silvery-patterned, curving leaf of Brunnera macrophylla ‘Silver Heart’ provided a foliage framework for the arrangement.
In A Vase On Monday
Two fresh echinaceas, opening to a muted dusty pink, were the first flowers to be selected. To them were added a lone cluster of bright pink Achillea and a pair of lavender viola blossoms.
Echinacea, Achillea and Viola
A few tiny flowers of Pink chintz thyme are still opening in the meditation circle and several sprigs of this thyme were included for their subtle dots of pink, as well as for foliage texture.
Tiny flowers of Pink chintz thyme pick up the lavender of the viola.
Dark burgundy flower heads of Verbena bonariensis were clustered toward the back. A couple of stems of white Iberis sempervirens were included to try to keep the design from becoming too dark.
Verbena bonariensis
In A Vase On Monday
Materials
Flowers
Achillea filipendulina (Fern-leaf Yarrow)
Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower)
Iberis sempervirens (Candytuft)
Thymus serpyllum ‘Pink Chintz’ (Pink chintz thyme)
Verbena bonariensis (Tall Verbena)
Viola
Foliage
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Silver Heart’ (False Forget-Me-Not)
Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’ (Beardtongue)
Tanacetum vulgare (Tansy)
Vase
Stoneware cup glazed with bands of cream, green, blue. (from set of 4 cups and pitcher, Pringle Pottery, North Carolina, circa 1977).
In A Vase On Monday – Overhead view
Thanks to Cathy for hosting this weekly flower addiction. Visit her at Rambling In The Garden to discover what she and others are placing In A Vase On Monday and feel free to join in.
pbmGarden 
I love this lovely, small posy. I also found the same colour Achillea in the garden but decided not to use it. The foliage in your teacup is all such beautiful different textures it would even work just on its own. It is getting harder each week to find flowers to pick, I’m not sure what we will find after Christmas.
Thanks Christina. It is getting hard to find enough flowers in good condition. Glad I planted violas to tide me over. I’ve seen other gardeners already displaying hellebores, like Cathy this week, but mine are not in a hurry despite our warm weather.
Susie I love the dusty tones of the flowers…so many little delights brought together in this lovely teacup. Amazing how things still bloom. Nights are too cold as frosts have killed back most blooms now here.
We had some early frost too Donna, so there really aren’t many things blooming here either. It’s a treat to find a few blossoms that are still usable though.
Amazing that your Echinacea is still blooming! Lovely vase today.
Thanks Marian. It’s amazing to see some flowers push on through, ignoring the signals to rest for a while.
This is a sweet arrangement. I love the container. 🙂
Thanks Judy. The cup is from a wedding gift set. I’ve always loved the colors in it.
What a wonderful cup. It makes a beautiful “vase.” I must remember to give details the way you did with your nice list of everything at the end of the post. It is always helpful to see what really goes into creating these bouquets.
Thanks Linda. I picked up the idea of including a materials list from a flower arranging event and have found it helpful. Glad you find it useful too.
Your cup runneth over for sure. A wonderful colour combination and I love the fern like Tansy leaves.
Thank you Noelle. The tansy is a bit aggressive but I do find the foliage is attractive.
Lovely as usual, Susie. I hope you are enjoying this marvelous weather.
Thanks John, yes the weather has me wishing we were heading into spring. Hope it lasts a while.
These small arrangements can be every bit as satisfying as the big, blowsy ones.
Glad for your comment Ricki. I sometimes think of the small ones as minor or a bit of a cheat, but I love having little sprigs of this and that from the garden to enjoy.
Love the combination of colours, it looks so fresh!
Thanks Anca. I was glad to find some variety.
I loved seeing your arrangement in a teacup, and such a pretty one at that – it will remind others that we can downsize our vases when material is more limited or, of course, at any time. The echinaceas are such stars and many of us in the UK struggle with echinaceas of any sort so thanks for sharing yours. The shape of the cup shows the contents off perfectly, doesn’t it? Thanks for sharing
Thanks Cathy. I usually have some echinacea that are stragglers in autumn, but it was surprising to find these freshly blooming. They didn’t get very large though. Glad I called this container a teacup. It’s often hard to gauge the actual size of an arrangement, even if one is familiar with the flowers.
Yes, I don’t think we would have guessed it was a teacup if you hadn’t said
Your flowers are very sweet, and the colours in the cup work perfectly with the muted flower colours. The Tansy leaves are pretty as well.
Thanks Cath. I love the blue and green in the cup–they seem to coordinate with everything.
To my mind, the foliage almost upstages the flowers in this week’s vase, Susie. You have a way with foliage! I’m impressed that you found some Echinacea in flower this late in the season too.
Glad you like the foliage. I most often concentrate on the flowers, forgetting how interesting the foliage can be.
So cute!
Thanks, sometimes it’s fun to just be able to tuck a few things here and there. This was a simple one but it’s always nice to have some color from the garden.
Nice tones, love the violas, a little bit of cheer for winter.
Thanks. I’ll probably be relying on the violas for a few more vases and for that winter cheer.
It is cheerfull, on a dull December day, to see those late flowering flowers in your vase today.
Thanks Brian. Glad you enjoyed them.
The combination of colors is so stunning, especial on these cold drizzly days of winter. Your choice for a vase is a wonderful artistic touch.
Nature is the artist in this case Charlie. I had to just use whatever I could find blooming and it’s nice they blended well.
It’s a lovely little cup Susie, and the foliage you have used makes a lovely base for showing off the little flowers. Definitely a vase for contemplating in detail on the breakfast table! 🙂
Thank you Cathy! I think I’ll have to rely on foliage more and more for a few weeks. It’s nice how green much of the garden’s foliage is.
Very pleasing!
Thank you!
This is a lovely little posy / great flower and colour combination. I really like the cup too… Lovely restful colours. Thank you. Have a lovely week love bec xx I’ve got fuchsias in my vase which shouldn’t be hear at this time of year.
Very pretty! For some reason, it makes me think of Chintz fabric. Must be the soft colors!
Thanks Eliza. Would be fun to develop a textile pattern.
Love the combination of Echinacea with Viola.