I’m always a little intimidated by this meme. I love seeing other people’s vases, but the vase photography and the arrangement seems a little beyond me. Today I got a bee in my bonnet that I wanted to take part again.
For me it’s about appreciating what’s in our garden at the moment (since I seem weak on the arranging and vase photography front!) Hours later, my vase had been round the houses and I still wasn’t happy …
The vase is composed of my favourite iris (see my footnote below), bronze fennel and one of the Bon Viveur’s favourites, red valerian. I think I was attracted by the way in which the fennel and valerian brought out the warmer red in the iris colour.
There’s also a touch of Nepeta mussinii ‘Six Hills Giant’ in bud.
My footnote: this iris – called I. pallida by me – is possibly not that species at all. Here are my findings.
Below is the ‘vase’ iris …
Down in the garden my variegated Iris pallida has started flowering. Here it is, for comparison …
Not the same, I think? The shape of the flower (the vase iris seems a little more ‘towering’, with longer standards), the colour of the beard, and the tone of the lilac. So I’m still searching for a name. Any ideas?
Thanks to Cathy for hosting this lovely, sharing meme.
(And a note to those powered by ‘Blogger’, such as Amy Myers at a Small Sunny Garden and Kris Peterson at Late to the Garden Party – I’m having trouble posting comments on your blogs. Can you advise?)
Buzz over to Cathy’s blog, Rambling in the Garden, and see what glorious vases everyone else is composing this Monday.
Garden Dreaming at Châtillon 
I like your arrangement photographed in all of its settings. The iris is a beauty. Sorry I can’t help with the ID.
Thanks – the iris is, very nice. Hopefully someone else will ID. I’ll be over to your vase later!
Beautiful Iris Cathy. Thanks for the reminder by the way! I’m with you on Blogger Blogs… last year it frustrated me so much that I actually set up a Blogspot Blog just to enable easier commenting. I’ve not posted on it this year and I’m wondering if I should delete it because it seems such a lot of work! If the Blogspot blogs had a like button it would be so much easier wouldn’t it?
Thanks for visiting, Gillian. Everyone else seems to have been able to post comments. For me, it’s not even an option now. Where there used to be boxes asking for ID etc, it’s now blank/empty!
Your vase is lovely no matter which spot you choose.
A gentleman, as always!
Your pale purple – lavender/mauve – iris looks very much like an extremely vigorous and very early variety that I grow. It is known as ‘Kelway’ having been bred by them, and is a real trouper.
On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 10:13 AM, “Garden Dreaming at Châtillon” wrote:
> Cathy posted: ” I’m always a little intimidated by this meme. I love > seeing other people’s vases, but the vase photography and the arrangement > seems a little beyond me. Today I got a bee in my bonnet that I wanted to > take part again. For me it’s about appreciating wha” >
Thanks so much! This iris is all over our village – I shall immediately start searching ‘Kelway’ to confirm your educated guess – thanks again.
Cathy these are beautiful flowers I hope to see in a couple of weeks….most of us are plonkers so don’t feel intimidated. Love seeing your vases…especially those irises.
Oh yes – I’m a plonker! I won’t feel intimidated in the future, thanks Donna.
Oh please don’t feel intimidated, Cathy – as Donna said the majority of us are just ‘plonkers’ (!!) and the meme has shown us how effective simply plonking can be. My vase certainly took no longer than 5 minutes to put together once I had cut the material – but in the early days finding the best place to take decent photographs proved hard. Now I will always take it outside if I can, for better light. and if need be I will use a cloth or fabric on a bench to give a less cluttered background. Yours against the stone wall look lovely – very natural, as you said. The valerian is an almost surprisingly good combination for the iris. Thanks for sharing – and remember, the joy is for YOU to have the pleasure of your vase during the week 🙂
Lovely comment – and helpful! – Cathy, thanks. Yes, I think maybe cloths to drape behind, beneath vases would be an excellent idea. It is, as you point out, the effort to find a less cluttered background (you should see my house!) that’s causing me the aggravation. I shall be back to ‘plonk’ again – hopefully next Monday.
Lovely to see the irises, which I used to have here. Can/t help with the name. Your vase f.lowers are always lovely. Thank you! M
And thank you for commenting Mum!
I love the old-fashioned iris, they are simpler and lack that gaudy frilliness of the newer hybrids. (Not that I don’t get caught up admiring them as well!) I think your arrangement is lovely and as John said, “no matter which spot you choose.” It is the act of creation that I believe should be the focus. The rest is just icing. 🙂
You are so right, Eliza. I usually have vases of flowers in the house and I only worry if I’m doing the Monday vase. A little ‘letting go’ and ‘enjoying more’ on my part next Monday, perhaps!
Yes!
All the others have said it before me. Thus meme is about the fun of having a vase of our own flowers. Creating a vase that reflects what’s in the garden gives great pleasure.
Thanks Christina – will try not to fuss so much and keep on plonking!
It’s good to see you pop up again, Cathy! Your Iris are lovely.
I know there are periodic issues on the part of WordPress users trying to comment on Blogspot blogs. Supposedly, the OpenID function provided by Google/Blogspot allows this. Registration isn’t required and the source I checked on-line claims that just entering a name and a URL should be sufficient but I don’t know how to check that from my end. I did verify that OpenID access is permitted on my end. I’ve cut off anonymous posters due to the horrific spam problem I had for a time.
Hi Kris – unfortunately I’m not getting the option to enter anything now (used to have it in the past). Where those boxes used to be (for selecting ID etc.) there is nothing on my screen. Very strange! I guess it must be something to do with my Windows 10/my laptop here, from what both you and Cathy (at Rambling …) have said. Thanks for visiting my vase! Looked at your lovely vases this morning – wonderful … especially the sunshiny ‘Moonshine’!
Well, you are a perfectionist. I just plonk flowers in a vase or jug and usually photograph them on the dining room table. Your iris arrangement is lovely. Finding names for irises is difficult, there are so many. I have added to their number by doing a bit of breeding. My first attempt is in bud now, I can hardly wait.
Perhaps, as you say, I’m fussing far too much. So interesting that you’ve been doing some breeding! I hope you are delighted when the new one opens – and also that you post a picture!
The iris is beautiful Cathy, and the photo against the wall is perfect! My valerian is just about to open too. It really does bring out the pinky red tinges in the iris petals. 🙂
No reason to be intimidated, Cathy, you’ve done a lovely job and have combined the irises nicely and they’re quite tricky. It’s all about having fun and I quite enjoy this meme.
You are always kind! I probably should be having more fun myself!
a vase with flowers brings so much beauty and cozy elegance to a home ♥
Love the combination of the blue iris and valerian – wonderful and dramatic.
Thank you so much – I made a beautiful, dramatic vase (hard for me to believe!)
Such a delicate shade of blue makes the iris a real beauty.
Thanks for following my greenbenchramblings blog. I hope you enjoy it.
I’m sure I will – looking forward to reading more of your thoughts in the future!