Lilac, pincushions, tulips and recycled glass – In a Vase on Monday

I managed to dodge the torrential rain to get my contribution to ‘In a Vase on Monday’ – late as usual but I’ve got a very good excuse.  I picked lilac from a dwarf tree my mum gave me last year, an anemone, the last  purple tulip, some Scabiosa (often called pincushion plants), and  the greenery is from a white potentilla which hasn’t started flowering yet.

The vase is actually a tea light holder made from recycled glass with a little metal hook.   I bought it at the Eden project a couple of weeks ago – as you can imagine they use a lot of recycled materials and there are some really lovely things on their website shop.  I liked the colour combination of shades of purple/lilac and a bright green.

Do have a look to see what other people have picked over at Cathy’s blog – Rambling in the Garden

She’s got a rainbow of colours and ribbons this week – it really cheered me up – Thank you Cathy.

The lilac bush smells wonderful – it’s sitting next to my bistro table at the bottom of my garden – not that we’ve had much time to sit outside as it’s been very wet and windy.

dwarf lilac bush – May 2015

I haven’t been around much recently on the blog or in Manchester – we were in Cornwall ‘on holiday’ for a week which definitely wasn’t enough time.  I fellt like I’d just skimmed the surface of Cornwall. We are already planning our next visit, probably in September.

Since I’ve been back home, I’ve been horrendously busy. Big life issues have got in the way to say the least – a very old, close friend of mine died very suddenly at the end of April; pals from University and I organised his funeral last week. We are all in a state of shock.

So we had a lovely, but very weird holiday to Cornwall, we were staying in beautiful, cottage Charlestown with a view of the sea from the windows. Charlestown is an 18th century port (with its own tall ship) on the edge of St Austell with a couple of restaurants, pubs and a lot of craft/art shops. Good walks along the cliffs locally too.   I’ll write in more detail about our holiday another time.

Life Guard Hut – St Ives – May 2015

We visited:

• The Lost Gardens of Heligan
  I have wanted to go to Heligan for a very long time. The rhododendrons were  out near the house; they were stunning and over 60 foot high; there is just so much to see there all year round.
• The Eden Project This was our 2nd time – we visited September 2014 – this time the aerial walkway in the tropical dome was open and the view was stunning.
• Caerhays Castle
  it has the national collection of magnolias but we went to see the camellias, rhodenendron and azaleas – There are miles of forest walks and we saw four people all day.
• St Ives – wonderful place the sea was turquoise and the sand was white – it was very, very windy the day we went though.  My Chap finally got to go inside the Tate Gallery – he was very happy.
• Looe – the sea was out, so not a lot of fishing boat activity, but there were some great fishmongers.
• Polperro – the archetypical 18/19th century Cornish fishing village but it seemed to be full of holiday cottages and v shabby.

And alot of walks along the sea and cliffs – throwing stones in the sea and listening to Ludovico Einaudi.
If you’re local – do to Caerhays and Heligan before the rhododendrons  and azaelas  go over. You won’t regret it.

There are many wonderful gardens in Cornwall – have a look at the Great Gardens of Cornwall

*****

It has been the hardest and weirdest few weeks of my life but I know I’ll get through this difficult time.

They say it’s better to bury your sadness … In a garden that waits for the Spring to wake from its sleep and burst into green.   Conor oberst – musician – www.conoroberst.com/

I’ll do this though my sadness is very deep – I know gardening will help me.   The Great Gardens of Cornwall helped to replenish my soul and my Chap, my friends, my garden, the hills and the sea will do the rest.  That and the RHS Chelsea flower show on TV.

*****

Have a wonderful week everyone – Carpe Diem

Love Bec xxx