In A Vase On Monday – Old And New
In A Vase On Monday is an opportunity hosted by Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to create and share an arrangement using materials gathered from one’s garden.
In A Vase On Monday – Old And New
A pair of Phalaenopsis orchids were on standby in the dining room for use in the final Monday vase of 2016, but before my sisters arrived Christmas Day (bringing dinner no less) I swept through the garden to see if I could cobble together a home-grown arrangement to end the year.
I have been keeping an eye on a half-dozen of the Sugar Rush series of Erysimum plants purchased several weeks ago. They are still unplanted but I hope to change that dubious status soon. As more of them bloomed the flowers have become decidedly multicolored. I am unsure if that is normal. It took a little courage to cut the stems but I finally decided they just might work in this week’s vase.
Erysimum
Despite some cold nights Yuletide camellias are continuing to open. Although redundant, having relied heavily on this flower since Thanksgiving, I plucked several fresh blooms just in case. The golden center coordinated nicely with a gold Erysimum.
Erysimum and Camellia Sasanqua ‘Yuletide’
Before heading indoors I checked on the Hellebores planted nearby. Excited to find a couple of nodding blooms, I selected one for today’s vase. I think of Helleborus as starting a new cycle of flowers for the upcoming year.
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten rose)
There was no time to labor over this arrangement. With the rush of expected company in mind I quickly filled a multi-stemmed vase and inserted the flowers.
In A Vase On Monday – Old And New
Materials
Camellia sasanqua ‘Yuletide’
Erysimum ‘Sugar Rush Red’ (Wallflower)
Erysimum ‘Sugar Rush Gold’ (Wallflower)
Erysimum ‘Sugar Rush Purple’ (Wallflower)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten rose)
Phalaenopsis (Moth Orchid)
Multistemmed container
In A Vase On Monday – Old And New
It is nice to finish up 2016 by sharing this little container of colorful flowers and thereby completing the 52nd vase of the year.
In A Vase On Monday – Old And New
In A Vase On Monday Retrospective
Mondays have taken on new meaning since my initial participation in late January 2014 and I have become a little obsessed with finding something to place in a vase each week.
During some parts of the year the garden offers enough bounty that the choice becomes what to omit rather than what to include. At other times like today when the garden is resting, fewer items stand out as obvious features for a vase, and the creative challenge is to treat like a star whatever is available.
In either case, in times of abundance or scarcity, naturally some arrangements are more successful than others, but I find there is always something to learn. Besides it is just pure fun to imagine and experiment and play with flowers each week.
It is helpful to be able to look back at what was blooming in past years or at what vase I used to display certain flowers. As a resource last year I began creating annual galleries of my Monday floral designs with directories to link back to the original descriptions.
Now at a glance I can view the entire year of vases by referring to these pages from the Floral Design menu.
If you are interested to check them out, these are quick links for each year:
Another aspect to IAVOM is visiting as many other participants’ sites as possible each week to see what is blooming in other parts of the world. I always get ideas and insights from studying what other Monday vasers have created. And of course, I always appreciate reader comments–it is great to stay in touch.
A special heartfelt 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 
Love the vase and its contents, I can’t get enough of your Yuletide Camellias! I am also enjoying being a Monday Vaser – sounds a bit like a hockey team. Happy New Year.
Yuletide has been a valiant and constant presence since autumn. Hope to tuck it away though for the next vases and find something different to use. Don’t follow hockey but that phrase does have a certain ring to it.
I don’t follow hockey either. We’re the Vasers!
I do agree about the Hellebores seeming to be ‘new’ season flowers. I’m longing for bulbs to start blooming, just before we left for England a couple of snowdrops started to flower so that is hope for the new season. I love the colours of your wallflowers, such delicate shades.
The snowdrop flowers seem like a nice symbol of rejuvenation and hope. Have been thinking about you.
I can smell the Erysimum and isn’t it exciting to be going in to a new year. A great idea to make a compilation too.
Thanks Alison. Yes, the Erysiumum is fragrant, a nice bonus. I’m ready for a clean sweep of this year.
Love this particular vase and the variety it offers. Looking forward to another year and enjoying your creativity.
Thank you Marian. Enjoyed meeting you this year and hope to see you again. Unfortunately I’ll not be able to get to the symposium due to other commitments, but I think some friends will make it. I’ll be jealous hearing about what I missed.
Susie – I am so impressed with how you have showcased your weekly vases, year by year. It is such a good idea and although my photos are all in monthly IAVOM folders it would be so easy to add each week’s main picture to a slideshow like this rather than catching up in retrospect and I think I will start this from next year. Thanks for the inspiration – and looking at your photos the overriding impression is one of elegance. You have your own distinct ‘Susie style’ which impresses and inspires us week after week – you unfailingly thank me for the meme, but the rest of us have a lot to thank you for as well. Today’s creation is as simple and elegant as always – thank YOU for sharing! 🙂
I think we all have a certain style that may vary from week to week but looking over time is very obvious. Thanks for taking time to look at the annual pages of the vases. If you do decide to build a gallery for next year, here’s how you can add the directory automatically. Tag each post with something consistent, like in-a-vase-on-monday-2017. On the gallery page, insert the following shortcode on the page:
[display-posts tag="in-a-vase-on-monday-2017" order=asc posts_per_page="52" include_date="true" date_format="F j, Y" wrapper="div"]
Each time the page is loaded the latest list of blog entries matching that tag will be displayed.
Oh thank you for that, Susie – I will definitely give it a go. Does it need those square brackets around the whole lot, as you have shown? Well done for working out how to do this automatically and so effectively
Yes, keep the brackets to enclose the shortcode. Hope it helps.
I love your galleries, Susie. Your skill is evident in each and every creation. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
Thanks Kris. The galleries have been handy. Sometimes I wonder if I made up the exact same vase last year. This way I can check (and no, so far I hadn’t, but it felt like it!).
You have finished the year with a bang. Another grand arrangement in the “Susie” tradition.
Thanks John. Nice to finish up any year with flowers in bloom.
That cluster vase is perfect for showing off a collection of disparate blooms. Happy rest-of-the-year to you!
Thanks Ricki. Hope you enjoy it as well.
You certainly did a beautiful job for the last Monday of the year! I love love that Camellia: so crisp and positive. Mine are finished for this season..until the next round in January! And a Hellebore: what a nice surprise. The only flowers I have on a plant are on the beautiful one I bought at Trader Joe’s last week! It was perfect for the several holiday evenings we hosted and is still going strong, ready to be planted outside very soon. Happy New Year, Susie, and thanks for providing each Monday’s color story!
Libby, thanks for the good words and good wishes. TJ’s is usually a reliable place to get some instant color. I found orchids at a good price at Fresh Market before Christmas with plenty of unopened buds. Happy New Year to you!
Beautiful title and vase, just adorable! I also love the way the flowers look so demurely. Looking at your 2016 vases one can clearly see your style – I’d recognize your vases any time! Keep up the good work 🙂
Thanks Annette. The flowers do appear shy about being featured. Didn’t have time to condition them properly but they perked up eventually. Hope to improve and expand my style in flower arranging during the coming year. Look forward to seeing where your interests lead as well.
I like the way that gold centre has been picked out by the Erysimum too. Looking back over the past three years is a wonderful category of what is flowering in your garden as well as being a beautiful slideshow. What I also noticed was how many lovely ‘receptacles’ you have used, today’s being one of my favourites! Bringing them altogether on one page for each year is a brilliant idea which I will hopefully get round to copying next year! 🙂
Cathy, the gold Erysimum complementing the camellia center was my favorite part of choosing g flowers this week. Finding a vase that works with the flowers at hand is sometimes a bigger challenge than arranging them.
A lovely reminder of your beautiful contributions to IAVOM in 2016. Looking forward to 2017 and your garden. Happy New Year.
Thanks John. Happy New Year to you also.
You are so fortunate to have flowers blooming in your garden year-round! I have a good solid four months without blooms at all outdoors, so I do enjoy visiting blogs full of flowers, like yours, during those months! What a wonderful idea to create a directory of all your artful arrangements–they all are fabulous! Happy New Year!
Beth, it is nice to have a little something blooming most of the time. Sometimes I wish for more of a break from gardening without the guilt, but 4 months does seem like a long time. Always happy when you stop by my blog. Happy New Year!