Being able to pick a few orange and blue flowers from the garden to arrange together makes me inordinately happy – there’s something about this particular colour combination that speaks to me. I know that sounds daft, but I just love it, always have. While I was taking these photos, my daughter was watching me (giving me one of those looks that only a 16-year-old can give her mother) and ignoring my enthusiastic suggestion to “Look! Look at these flowers – see how gorgeous these little forget-me-nots are and the colour against the orange marigolds and the tulip – just look!” Oh well. I suppose appreciating these little wonders isn’t for everyone.
Flowers in the small green jug: marigolds, wallflowers and forget-me-nots.
Flowers in the apple jar: cherry blossom (the big blowsy tree in our back garden is just coming into bloom), more forget-me-nots, grape hyacinths, more wallflowers and one sweet-smelling ‘Brown Sugar’ tulip. I’m not there yet with my dream of being able to pick armfuls of tulips but there are more coming into flower, so I hope to have a few more for vases soon.
It is a great pleasure to be joining Cathy’s weekly Monday vase gathering today – I have a day off because I worked on Saturday and I’m trying to make the most of it. My three offspring actually all got up this morning (the middle one hasn’t seen many mornings since school shut) and joined me for a dog walk to the lighthouse through the wooded valley and home again, which was a real tonic. My other plans include some pottering in the garden – there is a lot to do out there but I’m taking it slowly – and cleaning the bathrooms (which is not fun but entirely necessary).
We’ll have pork noodles with loads of veg for dinner, then probably feet up in front of the tv. David and I are working our way through Detectorists on BBC iPlayer – have you seen it? I highly recommend watching it if you haven’t. Beautiful English countryside, gentle humour, wonderful characters. Just the sort of thing to help you forget the current state of things.
I do hope you are well and also managing to find small things to keep your spirits up. More soon x
acoastalplot 
I agree with you on that colour combination, Sam – but are your calendula ones that have overwintered? Mine rarely do, so it’s lovely to see yours – such a rich colour and made all the richer by combining it with the blue. I had forgotten Brown Sugar has a scent (not brown sugar, I suppose…?!) and am looking forward to picking my own tulips soon, perhaps next week – but not armfuls either! How could anyone (even 16 year olds!) not find your colourful vases joyous today, so thanks for sharing them and your family news. Thanks for recommending Detectorists too – the Sunday Times had recomended it was worth catching up on and it had already caught my eye
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recommended that is – I can spell and it was a slip of my finger!
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My favourite colour combinations too – I wish I could find Brown Sugar (Christina at Creating my Garden of the Hesperides mentioned it’s one she loves), but I buy mail order and Peter Nyssen stopped doing it this year. BBC iPlayer is a bone of contention – I pay a GB TV license but can’t get iPlayer here in France. Still, I will imagine the two of you enjoying! Hope you have plenty of satisfying work at the moment – and picturing you with those armfuls of tulips! Have a good week.
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I am always banging on to the children about the beauty of things. ‘Look at the sunset. No LOOK at it. Oh, have you seen those flowers? Look at that tree.’ On and on and on. Very occasionally the youngest will comment on a sunset, which of course encourages me no end. Gorgeous flowers, I can’t believe you have marigolds. And the cherry blossom is such a pretty touch. Glad you had a day of, very well deserved I think. The walk sounds blissful. CJ xx
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haha, I thought all my banging on fell on deaf ears and now I have one child who has done an RHS horticulture qualification “just out of interest” and they both send me photos of sunsets wherever they are in the UK or on their travels. And clouds. I count that the major achievement of my parenting.
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Beautifully vivid colours. A vase of flowers is always a welcoming sight. We have been watching ‘Detectorists’ today actually – have seen it several times already but it still raises a smile! Glad all is well with you and your family X
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Your daughter may surprise you and pick up the flower bug someday, recalling your delight with the process of arranging them. I for one love the blue and orange contrast. Your ‘Brown Sugar’ tulip lives up to its name too.
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An uplifting combination of colours and flowers. I (just about) remember being sixteen and thinking my mother was quite bonkers for some of the things she enthused over. Now, of course I catch myself doing just the same. Such is life 🙂
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Ooh, that tulip looks like a chrysanthemum color, like something that should bloom in autumn rather than spring. Rad! Oh, I remember ‘Brown Sugar’ now. I saw that in a catalog. Anyway, is marigold the pot marigold or calendula?
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Lovely. And a day off must have been welcome. We are just getting warm enough to work in the gardens. Take your sustenance wherever you can find it!
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Lovely selection of pretty, bright, and cheerful colors. Just what we all need. The grape hyacinths almost look like raspberries.
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Absolutely gorgeous – colours singing out. My tulips are just wee pointy leaves beginning to poke out of the ground. I loved the look of Brown Sugar in the Sarah Raven catalogue last year and bought a collection with it and Ballerina, but found it didn’t work in practice. Perhaps it’s our colder climate up in Scotland but Brown Sugar was very very brown indeed. This year I resorted to a cheap and cheerful B&Q mix to go with my wallflowers – bought back in October and still to show their faces. Doesn’t last October seem like years ago now?
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Love the blue and orange combination. Not familiar with Detectorists, but we have britbox which gives us access to lots of BBC content. Right now we are watching Kim’s Convenience, a Canadian show available on Netflix. A show with gentle humor and endearing characters.
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