Many thanks to the creative and dedicated Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting In A Vase On Monday! Be sure to use the link above to visit her blog and see what others have expertly arranged or unceremoniously plunked into a container to enjoy this week.
Can it be the last Monday of August already? The last few weeks have been busy with getting ready for the beginning of school and the start of the choir year. It's funny, I've done both for over thirty years and I still worry that on the first day, I won't know what to do. It's a bit like planting a garden. Each September a new group of seeds arrives and the gardener's job is to create an appropriate environment, provide consistent attention and care, and stand back and admire what each is capable of becoming.
On Sunday, the decision was finally made to severely cut back an Arctostaphylos in the parking strip that had stubbornly decided to fall over and grow sideways. While it looked lovely, it was beginning to take up the better part of a parking space on the street. I'd tied, propped, begged, and cajoled it to grow in the opposite direction but to no avail. The main trunk and several branches simply had to be cut. There is still a bit of it left and hopefully it'll grow up rather than out. It seemed fitting that a few small bits would make their way into a vase.
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Joining the Manzanita are some seed pods of Lunaria annua, sometimes called Money Plant and a few Japanese Anemones.
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Joining the vase, which came from a neighbor's estate sale, is a bit of amethyst, a favorite stone of my grandmother, which is supposed to rid one's home of negative energy, help with grief and loss, and bring stability and inner strength.
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Can it be the last Monday of August already? The last few weeks have been busy with getting ready for the beginning of school and the start of the choir year. It's funny, I've done both for over thirty years and I still worry that on the first day, I won't know what to do. It's a bit like planting a garden. Each September a new group of seeds arrives and the gardener's job is to create an appropriate environment, provide consistent attention and care, and stand back and admire what each is capable of becoming.
On Sunday, the decision was finally made to severely cut back an Arctostaphylos in the parking strip that had stubbornly decided to fall over and grow sideways. While it looked lovely, it was beginning to take up the better part of a parking space on the street. I'd tied, propped, begged, and cajoled it to grow in the opposite direction but to no avail. The main trunk and several branches simply had to be cut. There is still a bit of it left and hopefully it'll grow up rather than out. It seemed fitting that a few small bits would make their way into a vase.
Joining the vase, which came from a neighbor's estate sale, is a bit of amethyst, a favorite stone of my grandmother, which is supposed to rid one's home of negative energy, help with grief and loss, and bring stability and inner strength.
Also on the table are fallen petals from the anemones, and the "money" part of Lunaria annua that is rubbed away along with the seeds to enjoy the shiny bits used in arrangements. These will soon be blown away by the wind to sprout where they will. Greens, flowers, seeds, an entire summer's work. Things past/things yet to be.
The end of summer vacation and the beginning of a new academic year.
(When the arrangement doesn't really go together, give it some other kind of meaning, right?)