Goodness we have had some weather. Really high winds.
Whoops!
And frosty nights. The poor garden is huddled and lying miserably with its ears back waiting for the next onslaught; I read that it is going to get even colder. It is going to be a challenge finding Ten December Blooms which are interesting enough to write about later in the month. But we will see. In the meantime I have used my silver lustre vase to represent the frosty appearance of my garden this week.
I love the jade green of the sea poppy foliage, Glaucium corniculatum ‘Burnt orange’. I think it sets of the Solanum laxum ‘Creche ar Pape’ really well.
And it looks good with the little snowballs of Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ which has pink buds opening to white flowers.
Other foliage includes spiky rosemary, Pittosporum tenufoliium ‘Irene Patterson’ and Teucrium fruticans grown from a cutting which I brought back from Corsica.
I cannot think of the name of the yellow daisy flower above at the moment, it has lovely glaucous leaves, Here they are. What on earth is it called? it’s going to bother me all day.
The fluffy seedheads of Pennisetum villosum pick up the shaggy heads of the Astrantia major.
Other flowers include the tattered remains of the blue flowers of Ceratostigma willmottianum and the last little buds of the wonderfully fragrant annual Zaluzianskya which has white and maroon buds and smells divine. And there is some winter jasmine which is a mainstay all winter and then white heather for luck.
Garden bloggers are creative and resourceful people and I am sure there will be plenty of lovely vases to see even as the winter closes in. Do go over to Cathy at ramblinginthegarden to see what everyone has come up with.
Chloris
The Blooming Garden 
Absolutely blown away by the variety of blooms and foliage….and all mixed beautifully in your stunning vase!
Thank you Donna. It is very rewarding at this time of the year poking about in the garden and finding there are still some little jewels to pick.
A lovely vase this week, Chloris. I esp. like the Glaucium foliage and the Solanum laxum ‘Creche ar Pape.’ I find it amazing that so much is still blooming for you. We are fully dormant.
Thank you Eliza. I am surprised too. We have had some hard frosts.
I cut back Astrantia major weeks ago, not realizing the potential of the seedheads in bouquets. I won’t be so hasty next year. I continue to admire your collection of vases!
Chloris says:
November 27, 2017 at 3:42 pm (Edit)
Ah my vases. I have an absolute thing about jugs. I believe you call them pitchers. Anyway, whatever they are called, I cannot resist them and I am always acquiring new ones. As my mother loved antique ones too, I do have quite a collection.
Reply
I love the silvery overtones of your vase this week. Really does capture the mood of your weather quite successfully. Love the viburnum.
Thank you Susie. I think this silver lustre jug will be appearing quite often this winter for frosty vases.
you managed to find an amazing amount to pick considering you’ve had several frosts already. We are in for an arctic night here tonight with temperatures dipping to minus 4°C. I just lifted my Plumbago from it’s pot by the terrace and put it into the greenhouse where, when I opened the door, the heater came on. It is set for frost-free so I do hope it isn’t actually zero already.
It looks as if we are in for a hard winter, is it unusual for you to get frosts this early? I have just dusmantled my old timber greenhouse and have plants everywhere at the moment. Every room is a forest.
Your pretty vase is full of treasure just like your garden. Cold here too but thankfully not windy. Usually the cold comes much later, I have to bring in the more tender stuff tomorrow. Viburnum x bodn. Dawn has been flowering for a while. Keep warm 🙂
Thank you Annette. Winter flowering viburnum is great and flowers for months. It is great for vases.
Zaluzianskya ? Does that just trip off your tongue and spell itself when you write it down? Never heard of it myself – are you sure it’s not just something quite ordinary and you are trying to bamboozle us with your knowledge? 😉 Seriously, the overall silver effect works so well and you have done brilliantly collecting all these different treasures to create the overall effect ps just occurred to me that Christmas day is on a Monday, a first for IAVOM, and I wonder how people will feel about that…certainly shan’t be expecting lots of people to post
No, it doesn’t trip off the tongue, all I can remember is the two z’s. I had to look up how to spell it. I think it is known as Night Phlox but I don’t like made up English names, specially when the Latin is as flamboyant as this. It is an easy annual and I always have a few potfuls of it. It smells divine, but only in the evening, so I bring it in when I entertain.
A Christmas vase? We will probably all have Christmas arrangements but this is one time of the year when I buy a few flowers.
When I have a minute I will look it up – sounds like a good do-er
I am impressed and very envious of your vase full of flowers – I can’t bring myself to cut anything and our house is so hot I don’t think anything would last very long – could the daisy be Senecio?
I still can’t remember the name of the plant. Usually it comes to me in the middle of the night. I don’t think it’s a senecio.
I do like to bring a few flowers into the house, specially in winter.
That viburnum is cool. We do not have them here, or they are not very popular. The pittosporum does not show up much, but it is nice foliage. I do not recognize that unknown yellow daisy. That does not happen very much; although I notice it happening more now that I see flowers from other places.
I like the winter flowering viburnums, they keep going throughout the worst of the winter. I’m not keen on Viburnum tinus though, it smells of wet dog when it rains.
That one is common here, and might not be all that bad during dry weather, but gardeners are just so abusive to it that it always looks bad and gets powdery mildew. ICK!
Maybe you should tell the garden it’s time to go to sleep. Still, you made up a lovely arrangement, I like the Solanum especially.
I don’t want the garden to go to sleep, I still expect a few flowers. Perhaps it could have the odd nap.
You really have captured that frosty look with silvery foliage, white flowers and feathery fluffy seed heads. And you still have Astrantias in flower! I am going to look up that Ceratostigma and see if it is available anywhere here. C. plumbagonoides does well in my garden, but is quite short, and I woild like a taller one. How tall is this one Liz?
The ceratostigma can grow up to 1 metre tall. The big drawback is that it is very late coming into leaf and looks dead well into late spring. I usually lose patience with it and cut it right back in late winter so it doesn’t grow very tall with me.
I love that Solanum but I was completely fixated on the fact that you still have Astrantia blooming in your garden. Astrantia is on the short list of plants I covet but haven’t been successful in growing – not up there with peonies, but close! My western (US) garden guide claims I should be able to grow them here with regular water (there’s always a catch) but I failed the one time I tried that in my former garden. The fact that I’ve never seen them for sale locally is probably a clue of some sort but maybe I’ll hunt some plants down my mail order this coming spring and try again.
Good luck with the astrantia search. I love the deep wine coloured ones.
That’s really pretty. At least you still have some blooms!
Thank you Beth. Late blooms are always extra precious.
Wow, so stunning. I must plant some more ceratostigma. Mine died last year and I really miss it at this time of the year. Thanks for sharing. Such a glorious arrangement. Karen
Thank you Karen. I love the pretty blue flowers of ceratostigma, but every spring I threaten to dig it up because it is so late coming into leaf and looks awful for weeks.
We’ve had a lot of wind and rain here but no frost yet. You’ve done a marvelous job of making the most of your frosty garden’s offerings. What a lovely arrangement and a gorgeous container!
Thank you Peter. We have had frost and snow but right now it is relatively mild. But I don’t mind what the weather does because I have got a new greenhouse to play in.
I really love the container and the vase was a lesson for me. New to me Astrantia, that particular Plumbago, Solanum and Viburnum! Looks great and I needed a cool down. Been madly planting vegetables.
Thank you Amy. I am fascinated by your potager and the idea of planting veg in the middle of winter
The veg are coming along, Zinnias as well. Italian Sunflowers are being recalcitrant.
I think I know about plants until I come here and learn about things I’ve never heard off. Zaluzianskya, however is one of my favourites, an absolute star of a plant. Your jug is very elegant and it’s brilliant to see it so full.
Thank you Alison. The fragrance of Zaluzuanskya is amazing. A pity about the unpronounceable name.
Nice. You always manage to find and put together the most interesting arrangements, and I’m always amazed by the variety. I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding this month’s stars.
I am still working on this month’s list, I will post it in a few day’s time. Of course, snowdrops will be featured.
A lovely variety of flowers and foliage in a beautiful vase. I’m sure the rosemary smells wonderful. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had some wild weather and frosty nights so I’m glad that plants have survived for you to share here. Keep wrapped up and warm when you go out in the garden.
Thank you Linda and now we have had snow too. But still there are a few brave flowers that have survived.
Dear Chloris, Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a kind comment. I realise that there is no link if you wish to follow my blog posts and I’ve just added the Blogger link. Thank you so much for your interest. You are an experienced gardener and by following you in the future I shall learn a lot about gardening and plants.
Oh dear, it does look as if you have had some damaging winds. Thanks for posting a cheerful vase in the circumstances.
The trouble about losing that pear tree is that the rose Paul’s Himalayan Musk was growing up it.
What a fantastic variety of foliage and flowers, beautifully frosty looking in that vase. I loved the glimpse of books behind warming them up and making it all cosy. I do hope that tree didn’t cause any damage, it takes a fair amount of time and energy chopping them up at this time of the year. A few of ours look a little wobbly, I’m hoping they hang on in there.xxx
Thank you Dina. The Pianist loves wielding a chain saw and chopping up trees, it terrifies me, because between you and me, he is very clumsy and accident prone. Anyway, it’s done now and the only problem is the poor rose that was climbing up it.
Wow. Another gorgeous arrangement, Chloris. If I ever get to Suffolk, you’ll have to please, please invite me for a lesson. You can ‘breathe easy’, however, is that’s not likely to happen any time soon! I’m in awe of your talent.
Thank you Cynthia. I wish you would come to Suffolk, I would love to meet you.
Having a wonderful read through your blog! Waded through the comments here to see if anyone knew the name of the yellow daisy with spoon-shaped leaves, because I’d forgotten the name too! But I think I’ve got it now: Othonna cheirifolia.