“Is it snowing yet?” asked my 16-year-old son last night, his nosed pressed against the window peering out into the darkness. “Do you think there’ll be a snow day tomorrow?” There’d been a weather forecast for snow overnight in the south east of England and all three were hoping fervently that today would dawn under a blanket of white. A snow day on a Monday would be such a rare gift of a day. But, sadly, no. So off to school they had to go.
There may be no snow but it is decidedly chilly outside with a brisk east-north-east wind coming off the sea, so I am staying indoors and cheating with my Monday vase of supermarket daffodils. They were just £1 a bunch, so I bought five and have dotted them about the house to cheer us all up.
I also wanted to show you the rosemary that I used in a vase in November and have been reusing in other vases since – all the stems have rooted and are growing (look carefully at the bottom of the jar above; the ivy is also growing). I’ll carefully transplant these (but not the ivy – we are overrun with ivy!) into a compost/sand mix, keep them out of direct sunlight for a few weeks and hopefully they’ll take. Moving rooted cuttings from water to soil isn’t always successful, so fingers crossed it will work.
I’m joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her popular international weekly gathering, so do click on the link to see more vases from around the world.
Have a good week, snow or not.
acoastalplot 
All flowers are good ! I’m trying to figure out where by the sea you live…ha
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The south-easternmost tip of England 🙂
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Six inches here and no snow day…they would have been disappointed here too! Seeing the daffs was a joy as it shouts early spring to me. And thanks for the hints on growing the rooting rosemary!
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It only has to snow a little in southern England for everything to come to a standstill – we’re just not used to it!
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Those bunches are always so tempting, aren’t they, Sam? So cheerful 🙂 But I have to say that since IAVOM I haven’t succumbed, having to set an example and all that! It made me smile reading about your son’s desire for snow – when I taught on supply I didn’t want it to snow as I didn’t want to have to venture out any distance in it, but when I was ina permament job I did want the snow so that the school would be shut – those unexpected days ‘off’ were a real luxury!
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You are a paragon, Cathy! I’m always super-impressed that you find material year-round for your vases. Still no snow here…
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Without being repetitive can be hard – thank heavens for these bulbs! I make a little posy each week for the friend who picks me up for our barbershop group and she has had a lot of sarcococca recently!
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How fun! I can’t keep plants alive in the spring and summer, let alone winter. We had blizzard-like conditions here yesterday morning, and expect more snow tomorrow. It’s lovely on the weekends when I can stay home, but I’m really not looking forward to commuting in snow and ice tomorrow afternoon!
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Hope your commute was ok!
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Hahahaha the predicted storm fizzled into nothing, thank goodness!
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I’m sorry for the not a snow day. Those are always good on Monday, or Friday. I’d never thought of rosemary in a vase. I have two enormous rosemary plants in the yard and I will definitely try this soon!
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Rosemary is lovely in a vase for adding green and scent. A Monday or Friday snow day would be the best!
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Isn’t it great that a bunch of daffs is as cheap as chips? I never usually buy flowers but I do buy these early daffs so that I can pretend that it is spring. Yours are so pretty in the glass vase. We woke up to snow this morning, but it has gone now thank goodness. I can’t stand the stuff.
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I love it when the daffs are in the supermarket – they have a much higher pleasure to cost ratio!
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You can’t beat early daffodils for being cheering. I love how plants are so determined to grow, you just can’t stop them.
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There’s something very reassuring about plants’ determination to grow.
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I love that your rosemary has rooted while filling your vases. It’s one of my favourite herbs, I can never walk past without rubbing my hand over it, that scent is wonderful. Sorry you didn’t get your snow (although maybe you’re not…). No sign of any here either. Haven’t had any to speak of in years in fact. Since I bought a couple of toboggans as it happens. All my fault. CJ xx
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Ha ha, yes, we bought a shiny new toboggan when we moved here and have only used it once. Hopefully yours will get an outing soon.
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Snow days are a foreign concept here but I can empathize with the feeling of disappointment – a bit of winter chill and the rain that usually comes with it would be very welcome here. Daffodils are never a cheat – they’re necessary for good mental and emotional well-being when winter still has you in it’s icy grip.
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I agree Kris!
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Hi Sam, according to our site map, we also have about one third of an acre but yours seems much bigger than ours! Perhaps our house, being a bungalow, has a greater footprint. I do envy your wonderful variations in elevation. All those steps and slopes make your garden so interesting. And you know I have dreams about that brick wall! A view such as yours, alas, is the stuff of fantasy but I am taking note of erigeron. I must give it a go.
I remember years ago, when we moved into our first house, I forgot about a vase of rosemary sprigs that I had put on the bathroom windowsill. Weeks later, I found they had all rooted, without so much as a word of encouragement. I think that’s when the gardening bug struck. There’s nothing so rewarding as a bit of propagation. Have a great week, L.
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My calculations could be wrong (I paced it out!). We have pulled bits of erigeron out of the steps, grown it on in pots for a while, then transplanted it around the garden – it takes very happily, so I hope it does well for you. I can send you some if you can’t get hold of it easily. Propagation is hugely rewarding 🙂
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Thanks Sam, I feel a nice trip to a garden centre coming on. Have a great weekend.x
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Oh vases packed with instant sunshine Sam – they’re hard to resist. Good luck with the rosemary cuttings. It’s a snow day here 🙂
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It’s pouring with rain here. My children wistfully remarked earlier that if it was just four degrees colder it would definitely be a snow day…
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Beautiful cheery daffodils. I have some pictures from two Februarys ago of daffodils in vases on my windowsill against an outdoors scene of snowy trees. We built snowmen and stuck some daffodil stems in their twiggy hands for a quick photo. I hope you get your snow!
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Still no snow, sadly.
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I can never resist those big yellow supermarket daffs either, Sam. They’re the only flowers I buy all year, so who minds! I have some little stems of what I think is Osmanthus that I saved from a bigger bunch that my mother sent me in December, and those have rooted in the vase. I was going to try and pot them up this weekend. Sand and compost, you reckon? I thought they’d need a dampish rooting environment so as not to contrast too much with the vase of water.
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I did wonder about that – you’d think it should be very moist to reduce the shock but I’ve read that a mix of sand and compost is best. I will experiment!
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