In a Vase on Monday – A change is as good as a rest – off to Lisbon

The more regular readers of this blog will have noticed that MOST of my flowers vases contain purple, pinks, lilac and white flowers with red appearing now and again. So perhaps people might think that’s the only colour scheme in our garden – it’s not.  I walked around looking for flowers to pick, it was a very overcast day here in Manchester, a couple of different yellow flowers popped out from the gloom.  They reminded me of the bright lantana,  and other daisy style flowers we saw all around Lisbon, when we visited last year.  

‘A change is a good as a rest’ – proverb

‘A change of work is the best rest’ Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four (1888) – 2nd Sherlock Holmes novel

Definitely time for a change!  So this week’s In a Vase on Monday, in a milk bottle vase, has many yellow flowers and a bit of red too.

In a Vase on Monday – Coreopsis – sunfire, red dianthus, Achillea, sweetpea – 26 September 2016

In a Vase on Monday

It looks so cheery, even though it’s feeling very Autumnal:

• Coreopsis – Sunfire – I really liked their ragged edge.
• Pansy 🙂
• Red dianthus –these flowers have appeared in ‘In a Vase on Monday’ before:
  • Keep Calm and Carry on (last week – 18 September 2016)
  • Restful Reds and Pinks (23 June 2016)
• Achillea – it comes in many colours and sizes. This one starts as yellow and fades to pink/yellow.  It only grows about 18 inches high.  I don’t know its name as it was a gift.  Its common name is yarrow and it’s appeared in a vase before.
  • In a Vase on Monday – sunny yarrow, oranges and reds (10 August 2016)
• White sweetpea – this is the very last flower from the plant at the end of the garden.

Yellow is associated with happiness and joy especially for flower bouquets it represents new beginnings – so that seems appropriate too – since I’m about to enter a new decade.

Coreopsis – sunfire, red dianthus, Achillea, sweetpea – 26 September 2016

Do have a look at Cathy’s flowers over on ‘Rambling in the Garden’ – she has one vase with very architectural pink Nerine which looks stunning.   She has another vase which has dahlias, zinnia and Persicaria amplexicaulis as well as foliage from oca – It ’s a New Zealand yam – I’d never heard of this before.

Wedding flower suggestions

Thank you to Cathy and Christina (who gardens in Lazio, Italy – Creating my own garden of the Hesperides) who have both suggested growing zinnia’s for our wedding next September.  We’ve never grown them before but they seem fairly straightforward so I’ll be ordering some seeds – purple, crimson and white flowers I hope 😉

Christina has a very zingy yellow vase with sunflowers and Rudbeckia with a more unusual flower 😉 She’s also got bright pink dahlias in another vase, much more like my usual colour choices. Fingers crossed my munched dahlias recover for my vase next week. Do have a look at her choices too – entitled mellow yellow.

Holiday booked – Lisbon, Portugal

It’s possible to travel the world looking at everyone’s efforts for In a Vase on Monday – I don’t think anyone joins in from Portugal though. When we went last year we saw some stunning flowers, hibiscus in front gardens, along with lemon and orange trees – as well as wonderful parks with formal box hedges.   We loved Lisbon, so much to see and do.

Eduardo VII Park, Lisbon – Looking down to Targus – October 2015

Our exciting news this week is that we have booked to go back to Lisbon again in a couple of weeks.  It’s to celebrate a big birthday for me; eek!

I am so excited to be going back to this wonderful city – we barely scratched the surface last year – I wrote about it as part of my #100happydays.  Lisbon has wonderful castles, churches, viewpoints (Miradors), art galleries and museums as well as great food and wine – everyone was so friendly and helpful too.   Excellent transport system – especially the trams.  More about Lisbon:

• #100happydays Challenge 6-13 Lisbon
• Wordless Wednesday – missing Lisbon – 21 October 2016

I discovered that Lavender is the national flower of Portugal so that must be why I love country so much.

So I guess I’m getting a change of scene and some rest, I hope.  Might read a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ novel you never know… I expect I’ll be reading a gardening book.

Have a lovely week,

Carpe Diem

Love
Bec xx