Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden encourages us to share a vase highlighting what is growing in our gardens.
January has been mild in temperature but wet, making the garden soggy. Carefully stepping into squishy soil yesterday morning I retrieved a small pine branch that had dropped into the border from the neighbor’s towering tree. The branch is the starting point for today’s vase.
To support the pine branch I reached into a treasure trove of florist pins donated to me by a friend and former coworker. She had inherited the collection from relatives and was kind to pass them on to me. There are various sizes and shapes, mostly metal pins, but a few made of glass. The one I reached for is metal, an extra-heavy 3.5 by 4.5-inch rectangular one whose pins are sharp and nicely spaced. It gripped the branch easily in place.
This arrangement is a bit like a sketch or prototype. I like it much more in person than in the photographs. With more time I would have trimmed and shaped the pine branch more and would returned to the garden for some taller materials to support the design. Perhaps too I would bind some of the needles in green wire. Possibilities are endless.
The hellebore bud used last week opened after a day inside. It is included in today’s vase along with one other, cut Sunday, that opened the same way.
It is still possible to find a few camellias, so Yuletide is included again today. Daphne buds are reluctant to commit, but there are several stems with open flowers here and there. I caught the fragrance as I cut the daphne and now am longing for it.
Materials
Flowers
Anthurium
Camellia sasanqua ‘Yuletide’
Daphne odora (Winter daphne)
Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten rose)
Foliage
Anthurium
Arum italicum
Pinus taeda (loblolly pine)
Container
Black square plastic dish
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower-filled vases across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.