During the past week I had often thought there would be no hope of salvaging enough floral matter – or anything worthy of display – to contribute to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden’s In a Vase on Monday this week.
The rain has been constant, every single day, and I have watched my garden from the window during constant battering’s of torrential rain accompanied by strong wind gusts.
Yesterday afternoon, however, there was a break in the rain. I dashed out into the garden to take photos of a couple of plants that didn’t look too bad to share today, thinking today’s contribution would be a post entitled something along the lines of “what could have been”, if only the weather had been kinder.
But low-and-behold, today we have sun! After having 57 ml. of rain yesterday, and around 95% to 100% humidity every day for the past week, today the humidity has dropped down into the fifty-percent range, but the day is warm, reaching 27 degrees Celsius.
I waited until the middle of the day before collecting any flowers to give the petals an opportunity to dry out a bit. I know that isn’t the recommended practice, but after the sodden mess some of the plants were in yesterday, I thought it best to wait. I had noticed yesterday that the lavender and salvias weren’t looking too much the worse for wear after the week that was, so snipped a couple for a vase. They are “old” favourites, and always look pretty in a vase.
As I paused to admire the Aloe “Pink Fairy”, which has just begun to flower – and survived the deluge of rain very well – it occurred to me that they might look pretty with the lavender and salvias. That’s my “new” addition to the vase.
Don’t they look lovely? I don’t think the little buds have fully opened, considering the tiny bell shaped flowers at the lower part of the stem and the closed buds above, so it will be interesting to see if they open now they are indoors.
The last Hydrangea flower on one of my bushes looked too lonely to be left alone, so it had to join the vase as well. Surprisingly, I have two “new” hydrangea buds on this plant, so will keep watching them to see if they fully develop at this time of year.
I remembered when Cathy displayed her vase last week, she noted that daylight savings had just begun in the U.K, so added an old watch as a prop. Here in Australia, we turned back our clocks this weekend just gone and are now on regular Eastern Standard Time time again, so this week, my prop is my Grandfather’s fob watch. He passed away in 1946, in England. In 1951, when my parents emigrated to Australia, Dad brought his father’s watch with him. Now, the watch belongs to me, and although it no longer works it is a possession I treasure as it was once owned by my Grandfather, who I never met.
So in acknowledgement of the end of daylight savings, I am adding my Grandfather’s “old” fob watch.
Thank you for the inspiration to add my “old” fob watch to this week’s vase post, Cathy. And as always, thank you for hosting In a Vase on Monday. ❤
In My World 
We’re having similar weather to you. It’s horrendous. The fields were just beginning to dry out, now they’re like lakes again! Glad you found some lovely flowers for your vase.
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Thank you, Cathy, Too much rain, as you know, can be hugely destructive in the garden! I am definitely hoping for more fine weather.
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Lovely blooms you rescued from all that rain. If I remember not all of AU changes clocks, right? Hoping your weather settles.
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You’re right, Donna. I live in New South Wales, only around five to ten minutes drive away from the Queensland border. Queensland don’t change their clocks! So living in a border town and keeping up with the different time zones for six months of the year can be challenging.
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The watch does indeed make the perfect prop for you Joanne , and is a nice thing to have to remember your fathe and the garndafather you never knew – I am sure you would be able to get the watch fixed if you wanted… And I am pleased too that you were able to find material for your vase after you wet week – it’s some time since we last had more than 2″/50ml of rain in a day, even though we have had a lot of rain since last autumn. The aloe is an interesting addition – how big does the plant grow?
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And here I was thinking England has a lot of rain – or is that only up north? The aloe plants are only about a foot tall, but when in flower they are double the height and quite stunning en masse.
I didn’t mention in my post, but some jeweler friends of ours said they would see if they could have the watch fixed for me. The only place they could find a jeweler qualified to repair a fob watch was in England, so the watch actually made a trip “back home”! That was about 20 years ago. It arrived back in Australia repaired, but after about five years, it stopped working again. I just love it now as a keepsake, to remember my grandfather by. ❤️
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I recognized the Aloe flowers on first sight, Jo, although those produced by my smaller Aloe hybrids don’t deliver nearly that many stems. Our time change was 3 weeks ahead of yours, 2 weeks ahead of the UK. I have to wonder why nations don’t at least collaborate on the timing even if all seem disinclined to eliminate the seasonal time changes altogether.
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What, you mean counties should actually make things easier for people by collaborating? 😉 If only! We can’t even get the states of Australia to all agree on daylight savings, so I think I’ll stick to my gardening – out there, I’m oblivious to the time, lol. xx
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Glad you were able to find enough to create a vase, Joanne. Sounds like your weather has been extreme! Will that continue through your fall and winter?
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We are now at the end of our “rainy season”, Eliza. During autumn, winter and spring we have far less rain, so we are heading into my happiest months of the year, when it isn’t too hot to spend time in the garden, the mosquitoes are (mostly) gone, and I can make my garden look lovely again. 🙂
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Sounds blissful, enjoy!
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The Aloe flower is a delightful addition to the vase, and goes very nicely with your hydrangea. I can understand why you treasure the fob watch, a link to the past.
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Thank you, Noelle. Aren’t the aloe flowers gorgeous? They did drop petals quite a bit, but I just picked them up each day and the vase continued to look lovely for most of the week. 🙂
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That is a wonderful combination and I like the new Aloe. I have a few and they are all hot colors. It is so nice to have some tangible pieces of history like the watch.
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Thank you, Amelia. 🙂 I thought I had some deeper coloured aloes too, but I will have to wait and see what other flowers eventuate now the weather has cooled slightly.
And I agree, it is wonderful to have keepsakes as a reminder of the past, and where we came from. ❤
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All oranges and yellows here.
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Blending the old and new look good – but bummer on the stretch of wet weather. We’ll may have several days of it starting this evening.
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I hope you haven’t been washed out, Frank! I have heard several reports of more than expected rain occurring in different parts of the world, so I know it’s not just affecting us here. We were actually lucky, there we no floods this year in our area, just constant drizzle with occasional heavy downpours of rain.
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The Aloe flower is interesting as I have only seen a tiny one before. Lovely to see you could add to the original vase and I do hope your weather calms down a bit. Wind and rain is not a pleasant combination! And you have a great prop too!
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Thank you, Cathy. 🙂 I need to add a post of the aloes growing in the garden as they look really striking in situ. I’m spending more time lately both outdoors and catching up on indoor chores now that we have cooler weather, so I am a tad behind on blogging!
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That is warm…even for you this time of year, right? The Aloe and Hydrangea blooms are lovely combinations, and what a cute little kitty!
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Thank you, Beth. 🙂 Yes, 27C is rather warm for this time of year, but not unheard of. It’s the humidity though that makes the days feel so much hotter than they actually are, and the humidity sticks around when it’s raining, unfortunately. We are heading into a drier time of year, so I am hoping Mother Nature remembers that! 😉
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This is a soothing looking combination. Maybe that is the word I keyed in on due to your use of aloe and lavender, plus the very full hydrangea. I can imagine a warm bath with these scents. Lovely!
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Soothing is the perfect word, Karma. ❤ I think that’s a great word for the way all flowers affect me, they always sooth my mind and make me feel peaceful. Hmm, a bit like the affect my dogs and cat have on me as well. I hope the flowers you see blooming now that your weather is warmer have the same effect on you. 🙂
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Whoa, your weather has been all over the place! I adore that Aloe bloom, so perfectly arching & delicate.
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For the last few days we have had fine weather, Tracy, which has been a very welcome surprise! I have been out into the garden to take a few photos this week, so will post them soon. 🙂
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