All colours are of the sun, and are good.
— Elizabeth Goudge
With July’s sunshine come the colourful flowers – bright pot marigolds and tangerine Californian poppies, scarlet Achillea, purple salvias, geraniums and catmint, and sweetpeas of every hue. July is the month when I switch from wondering what on earth I can spare for a vase, to wondering what I can leave out. Soon I’ll have dahlias, cosmos, persicaria, Verbena bonariensis and more sweetpeas than I can shake a stick at, many varieties new to me this year. The pinkish sweetpea in the picture is the first of my ‘Spanish Dancer’ to bloom.
The sun blazed this morning as I sat on the top garden step and surveyed my small, buzzing, colourful kingdom, leaping up for my camera when a flighty red admiral settled first on the hot stone wall, then the railings, then a garden chair.
In a Vase on Monday is hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, and I recommend visiting her page to see hers and links to all the other vases created by garden bloggers across the world, whether filling them with the abundant delights of high summer, or the precious blooms of midwinter.
The scarlet Achillea really caught my eye Joanna. What a lovely selection of colours!
Thank you – that Achillea is new to my garden. I can see it is going to supply me with weeks of scarlet loveliness. Xx
Oh what a fabulous shot of colour Joanna which immediately caught my eye on my blog reader and has made me smile on a grey and breezy morning. The quote has also bought back fond memories of an author whose books I devoured as a young teenager so thank you 🙂
Thank you for your generous comments. I adored The Little White Horse, but fear there are many others I missed out on as a child which perhaps I will have to hunt down as an adult.
I like to re-read my Elizabeth Goudge books periodically – is that what you have been doing? Lovely quotation to accompany your vase full of colour so thanks for sharing both
Charming arrangement and great photo of the red admiral.
Simply beautiful! I like the flowers you have selected for your vase and the way you have combined them in that special metal jug.
Your bouquet sings of summer! I love your photos, Joanna – everything works to compose a lovely scene.
Thank you ever so much, Eliza. I do enjoy composing and taking these photos very much (as I am sure you can tell) so it’s lovely to get appreciative remarks!
Beautiful, and yet another indicator of how different our climates are! My own California poppies, sweet peas and snapdragons are all long gone.
I am not sure how long my Californian poppies will last, but the sweetpeas will carry on for me until October, until I am bored to tears of them!
Love the setting and the vase (and flowers) where did the peaches come from?
Thank you – not from my garden is the answer! Just an ordinary punnet from the greengrocer…. although I would die of happiness if I could grow peaches.
How many times can I say Wow…Artsy, whimsical, colorful and dainty. Love it !
Thank you Patsi for your kind comments.
Lovely! So light and summery!
Thank you!
Another lovely bunch, I love the movement in the flowers. Pretty
Thank you Dorris
Reblogged this on PEN PAPER AND PETALS STUDIO and commented:
Hello! I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer! I wanted to share this with you. This inspires me to bring a bit of outside indoors and display my favorite container, too!
Happy Saturday!
With much love,
Lisa