In A Vase On Monday – May Blooms
Every Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase with materials selected from our gardens.
The vases more than the flowers were to be the focal point today. My daughter gave me a wonderful pair of modern sculptural vases for Mother’s Day. The oval shaped donut vases interlock and can be uses singly or paired.
Mother’s Day Vases 2023
I wanted to introduce them with a more stellar design but I will need to experiment and get to know the vases better. I stubbornly chose the wrong materials this morning, knowing the stems were too stiff to work well with the curving lines of the vases. So after much brute force, I manipulated the flowers enough to have something presentable, but only after adding a third vase into the mix.
In A Vase On Monday – May Blooms
In A Vase On Monday – May Blooms
The oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’) is doing great this year, unlike last year. It likes the rains we’ve had this spring. I was determined to use it today.
In A Vase On Monday – May Blooms
It took a lot of years and trying (and eventually, buying plants rather than seeds) to establish Bachelor’s Buttons in the garden. These are Centaurea cyanus ‘Blue Boy’ in their second year.
In A Vase On Monday – May Blooms
I included two yellow snapdragons that surprised me this week and a pink Hydrangea macrophylla, just coming into flower.
In A Vase On Monday – May Blooms
Materials
Flowers
Centaurea cyanus ‘Blue Boy’ (Bachelor’s Button, Cornflower)
Hydrangea macrophylla
Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’ (Lil’ Ruby dwarf Oakleaf Hydrangea)
Snapdragon
Foliage
none
Containers
Modern oval donut vase pair. Large vase – h: 8.4” w: 6.3” caliber: 1.7”; Small vase – h: 6.8” w: 5.4” caliber: 1.3”
Textured, incised ceramic pedestal vase, rice or bone color. 5×6-inches.
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting each week. Visit her blog to see her vase and check out those of other gardeners from around the world.
pbmGarden 
Those cultural vases are amazing – I love that there’s multiple ways to position them.
Katie, it will be fun to try them out in different positions.
What a wonderful piece of modern art, and what a great eye your daughter has. Is this the one who creates things out of wood? I had to smile thinking of you manipulating the stems to get them to work in the vases! 😀 What gentle colours you have used today, even the cornflower being toned down by the softer shades – how strange that has proved so difficult fro you to grow, It wouldn’t be anything other than an annual here, and I don’t think mine has eve r self-seeded – or perhaps I am too diligent about deadheading!
THanks Cathy. Yes, she’s the one (and only). A thoughtful gift as she knows about my enjoyment of flower vases. Alliums, poppies, sweet peas are still elusive but I finally got these blue gems.
It’s good to have vases that are so pleasing on a range of levels, isn’t it?
Those 2 vases are gorgeous….and I love the flowers in them. I thought they worked well together. The third vase added a bit but I prefer the 2 alone. Lovely flowers for May in your garden!
Thank you Donna. I arranged the vases, then moved them to another place to photograph. Everything shifted and I could never get the flowers back into my original design. You know, sometimes it’s better to just leave them alone but I kept messing with them…
I hear you. We have a vision and when it doesn’t come off we keep tweaking. Still they are beautiful vases and beautiful flowers.
You have a nice variety in of flowers this week. That is interesting about the Bachelor Buttons. I planted seeds this year and nothing came up.
Thanks. I’m sorry your Bachelor Buttons didn’t show up either. I think they are supposed to be easy to grow here but I didn’t have the touch.
Wonderful vase set, Susie, perfect for its mother/child symbolism. Your daughter picked well!
I have that very same 2-part vase! My husband bought it for me as a Christmas present. I think I’ve only used it once and I also found it a little awkward to work with. I think you did a great job with that springy mix.
This looks like a still life for late spring. I love the color mix with pastels. How wonderful to see Oakleaf Hydrangeas, a favorite. I could never grow Bachelors Buttons in Atlanta, one of those deceptively easy plants?
I’m with Donna re just the two vases; and it’s a really thoughtful gift. I’d love to grow oakleaf hydrangea…your flowers are outstanding this year…it just gets too dry in summer on my property.
How wonderful to have these vases from your daughter. Love the separate but connected — mother daughter.
Love to you both!
Jane
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Your arrangements make it look like you still have a bit of spring left there, Susie! I love the combination of flowers, especially your use of the various hydrangeas. Bachelor’s Buttons was the first thing I ever grew from seed, during a brief childhood sojourn in Chicago. I don’t think I’ve tried them since, though I still like them. I can’t imagine they’d be very easy in this climate! 😉
Oh yes, thank you. You truly brightened my day with the colorful arrangement and the truly nifty vases! So creative! 🙂
Oh, that is lovely Susie. The vases are so stylish – your daughter has good taste! And the hydrangea flowers are wonderful. Beautifully arranged as always. 😃
Your vases are as appealing as the flowers.
So airy and pretty…spring in a vase.