In a Vase, on Monday – Last Of’s

In less than a month spring will officially be over and done with – kinda sad, really. Summer here is often hot, humid and dry, with early mornings and evenings – the most comfortable time to be outside – full of whining mosquitoes. However. Still of week of May left and, with Iris, Lupine, peonies and lilacs not yet in bloom, the garden continues to offer lots of spring bulbs to cut and bring indoors to fill a vase or two. Every Monday, Cathy at Rambling In The Garden encourages us to share a vase highlighting what is growing in our gardens. My vase this week features a pair of ‘last of’s’ to bloom in my garden – the last of the tulips to bloom (Pittsburgh Triumph) and the last of the daffodils to bloom (Narcissus poeticus var. recurvis.)

I added a few N. Quail – mostly they’re staring to fade in this weekend’s heat – for colour and fragrance, plus three Lupin leaves. I just love these deep purple tulips.

The recurvis name is so apt – not only do the petals curve back from the centre, but the edges also curve inward. What I really like about this daff is the narrow red, ruffled edging on the corona. So dainty.

For my Ikebana windowsill vase, I mercilessly snipped three of the only four stems of this variety of Narcissus I have, also just in bloom this week. I don’t know its name, but it’s similar to the Poet’s Daffodil, except of course the petals are yellow. And wider. And don’t curve back. They do curve in though, a bit! You’ll notice I put the screens back up in the kitchen window…