As the week begins I join Cathy with In A Vase On Monday, an opportunity to share an arrangement using materials collected from the garden.
In A Vase On Monday – Buttons Up
As Thanksgiving approaches button chrysanthemums are a bright spot in the garden.
In A Vase On Monday – Buttons Up
These were passed along over 30 years ago by my garden mentor Virgie, my mother’s first cousin. The little passalongs are appropriate today as I have been sorting through some old family photographs shared by my own first cousin. We are collaborating on our maternal family history. She’s been researching and creating family group records. I am organizing the pictures, writing narratives and posting it all on a family website. So I have spent many hours the past few weeks reminiscing. I discovered pictures of Virgie and of my mother as babies and am piecing together stories of them and other relatives, and meeting some I knew not at all. As i peer into some of the faded images I smile to see hydrangeas, elephant ears, ferns, roses, and vines growing around the porches.
I found one orange gardenia hip yesterday to include in this week’s vase. The chrysanthemums are displayed in a blue mug I purchased at the Eno River Festival one year. The Aucuba leaves are left over from a previous IAVOM, one from September. When I finally decided to take apart the greenery from that arrangement, I found several of the stems had rooted.
In A Vase On Monday – Buttons Up
Materials
Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’ (Gold Dust Aucuba)
Button Chrysanthemum
Gardenia hip
Blue-glazed stoneware mug
I had collected snapdragon, camellias, echinacea and clematis to use also but the chrysanthemums wanted all the attention. Having cut the clematis though I decided to share a peek anyway.
In A Vase On Monday – Buttons Up
Thanks to Cathy for hosting and giving us a chance to express our flower arranging passion. Visit her at Rambling In The Garden to discover what she and others are placing In A Vase On Monday.
pbmGarden 
Lovely that you are able to work on your family history and that you have plants that are the living proof of all the connections. The Chrysanthemum is very similar to one I have; thank you for also sharing the second vase it demonstrates that simplicity can be very beautiful.
Working on family history has kept me indoors when I should have been taking advantage of the great weather and gardening the last several weeks. Need to find more balance but I seem to just focus on one thing at a time. The clematis began aging before my eyes when I tried to arrange it, but was happy to see it flowering this month.
I love the way plants tie us to the past, especially those we remember. I just purchased a 23andme kit…can’t wait to see if there are any surprises.
Oh, my cousin just recommended 23andme. She showed me her report when I visited. I expect many a gardener gets started on the life-long road to the world of plants through passalongs.
A lovely manifestation of family memories and ties! Those lovely flowers must be such a lovely reminder of the past.
Thank you. Yes, I have quite a few flowers from family and friends and I love keeping those connections alive with plants.
Beautiful flowers encased with warm memories – it doesn’t get much better than that. 🙂
Thanks Judy. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Lovely story and passalongs, some of my favorite plants have been passalongs.
Thanks. It’s so nice to get a plant and a story at the same time.
Absolutely! Happy Thanksgiving.
It must be so fascinating collecting all that family history together, but time consuming too. Seeing the blooms in the background would certainly be an added bonus. The chrysanthemums with their yellow centres changing to white are most attractive and I see your leftovers are in a Caithness Glass vase (or something very similar!). Thanks for sharing
Hi Cathy, yes you spotted a Caithness vase alright–a special gift from my sister’s travels a few years ago. As these mums continue to age they fade to pink for even more interest, much appreciated at this time of year.
Sounds lovely
What a treat to have a plant with a family association like that. And what a treat for your family that two of you are spending time and energy putting together family history. That kind of information and photos are a real treasure. I have been gathering things to just try to do a family history scrapbook and it is not an easy task, so I applaud you!
Hi Linda, I would never have started this project on my own. My cousin is doing what I consider the heavy-lifting, all the research of the family groups. Her mother put together a book with lots of old pictures, wrote in names and a few memories, giving me a great starting point. Would love to ask questions of those folks now. I encourage everyone to write memoirs.
I love button mums and yours are extra special because of their history. Garden gifts are sweet treasures!
Thanks Eliza. I think gardeners really love to share their passion with others and it was true of Virgie. I seldom went to visit when she didn’t offer me something to bring home to plant. One thing regret didn’t make it was a sweet shrub. Still need to add that to my garden sometime.
Lovely buttons that look great in that navy blue vase! Have a great week!
Thanks Anca. Blue is my all-time favorite color so I couldn’t resist this mug when I came across it for sale.
What fun to do family research as a shared project. I did some research some years ago and found out that 200 years ago part of my family lived close by here, although I was born many miles away. It is amazing what you can learn, there are so many resources out there for this sort of thing.
I love your dear little mums. And gardenia hip? Now that surprised me. Who would have thought they had hips?
The gardenia hips are fairly rare, I usually see only a few. They have great orange color. Fascinating that you found yourself back in an area of your ancestors in a round-about manner.
I have some buttons on my front porch that might make it to Thanksgiving if it doesn’t get into the 20’s again. Very pretty.
Hope the mums weather the cold Lisa. I’m hoping my camellias do the same until Thanksgiving.
I love the yellow centers of these mums. Their history makes them all the more special. Enjoy your trip into family history!
Hi Kris. The mums are like little splotches of sunshine aren’t they? The family history project is helping me take my mind off the news.
I now have visions of your home filled with two months worth of rooting vases. Most impressive. I didn’t know that gardenia set hips, I guess that they don’t often get to that stage here. The button chrysanthemums are such pretty heirlooms. Have you passed them on too?
It’s true some hydrangeas also rooted in water, as did some purple heart. Once plants go t that trouble it’s hard to toss them out. Some years I’ve had more gardenia hips, but this year they seem to be scarce (or maybe I’ll looking too early). I have passed along some of those mums. In fact they look better growing at my neighbor’s yard.
Your trip down memory lane was almost as much fun as your lovely vases.
Oh, thank you Ricki!
It’s lovely to have that connection with relatives – I only have one plant from a relative – my grandfather. He had propagated some seedlings of some rock plants just before his death, and when the greenhouse was sorted through I was given a pot to take home. 🙂 Your Chyrsanthemum is a lovely one, and I like the simplicity of the arrangement with just one little dot of colour in the centre. 🙂
So nice that you have that one plant from your grandfather. He must also be the one who planted daffodils all over town.
Oh yes, did I already tell that story?! I think he was born with soil under his fingernails! 😉
These chrysanthemums are beautiful – and I really like the little vase with clematis and snapdraggons too – and I bet you’ve found out so much about your family history. Mum has passed on lots of plants to me for my garden (and most of all a love of gardening). I wrote about her and our love of fuchsias for In a Vase on Monday 🙂
It is lovely to have plants with family connections, I have some from my Mother, Grandmother and Great Auntie’s gardens. The chrysanthemums are a lovely fresh colour.
I can’t even count how many times I’ve tried to grow these in my garden.
These were given as rooted plants. Might be easier than seeds.