The kettle belonged to C’s parents, originally used for boiling water on a wood stove, but stored in a cupboard over the last few years. When C found it, the lid fell off and almost broke his toe – it takes 2 hands to carry it when full of water. I’m looking forward to having it boiling ready for a cup of tea on the wood cook stove next winter.
The first Hydrangeas and Sweet Peas are out. The Sweet Peas are Cupani, and the Hydrangeas are ‘Bridal Bouquet’ and ‘Blue Wave’.
The sunset coloured rose is ‘Crepuscule’, and the Canna buds are ‘Australia’, which has dark purple leaves.
I planted an entire pack of the large seeds of Cerinthe last Autumn and they have taken over the bed, covered with intense purple flowers with turquoise and apple green bracts, each one curled like a shrimp. I prefer their common name of ‘Honeywort’ as they are always full of bees.
Geranium phaeum, ‘the Mourning Widow’ has made it for another winter. This is one of those plants that I struggle to grow, while some people pull it out by the armful. Nasturtium of course is the opposite, covering entire small trees if I don’t keep it in control.
We are celebrating the 4th anniversary of ‘In A Vase on Monday’ this week at Rambling in the Garden, with a challenge to use something which is not a vase. Happy Anniversary Cathy!
Absent Gardener 
I don’t know if you have deliberately chosen them, but all your blooms seem to have just the right sort of ‘tone’ of colour to match the dull black of the cast iron kettle – that first photo really shows this well, but then what lovely close ups! Thank you so much for rising to the challenge today, Cath
Hi Cathy thanks, there is quite a bit of rusty brown colour on the kettle, although it doesn’t show too much in the picture – so I did chose orange and rust colours with white and blues on purpose rather than pinks and purples. Thanks for the challenge!
You are welcome, Cath, and it’s good to see that all contributors who knew about the challenge have risen to it
Absolutely stunning….such a lush bouquet in that beautiful old kettle….and that rose has me swooning….love the color as it mixes perfectly with the other blooms and the kettle.
Thanks for such a nice compliment 🙂
Spectacular arrangement of blooms. Love the rich colors and iron pot.
Thank you – I have a lot to learn about really controlling the arrangement and conditioning the flowers properly, but I enjoy the colours and scent.
A beautiful arrangement which looks fantastic in the kettle. The darkness shows of all the colours. Geranium phaeum is one of my favourites.
Thank you, I love it too, even though it’s fussy for me.
Lovely, as always. I imagine your garden as a huge space with vast quantities of flowers and am exceedingly envious. I used a teapot for a vase today too but not one with such history!
Thank you, It often looks good in my imagination as well. 🙂 the reality at this time of year is masses of weeds, but there are flowers in amongst them, and I comfort myself that the bees like the weedy ones as well. Your teapot is lovely, a beautiful quirky style and a nice way to remember your MIL.
What a fabulous arrangement – and love the kettle.
That rose is gorgeous too, I hadn’t heard of it before.
It’s a Noisette, so a little tender to cold weather, and not very prickly. I have grown a few from cuttings. I have read that it can grow into a big climber, but mine are all in difficult places so haven’t grown very large as yet. The name is French and means something like sunset or twilight.
A beautiful arrangement and I do like that kettle. 🙂 I am always surprised when I see your Monday vases as I forget just how far away you are and in the opposite season! I love Our photo used as a header. I am one of those who pulls Geranium phaeum out by the armful. But Nasturtiums struggle here! LOL!
How funny! I wonder what is the difference- is it that the Geranium needs the cold weather, or just that I haven’t found the right place for it. The nasturtium sort of makes sense, they are quite tender to frost, but seem to thrive in cool wet weather.
My G. phaeum loves it warm and dry.
Great response to the challenge, Cath, and a lovely bouquet you’ve assembled. The cerinthe and sweet peas offer a nice contrast to the nasturtiums and roses. And you have hydrangeas already!
Thanks Eliza, these are the first of the Hydrangeas and the oldest plants, none of the really blue ones are even thinking about flowers yet. I’m excited about the sweet peas, the scent of the first Sweet Peas seems like summer to me.
I love this little kettle-ful of flowers! It’s wonderful to see these lovely early summer blooms as winter sets in here.
Thanks! I am about to put away the sweaters and flannel sheets, you will be getting them out.
Beautiful. All these gorgeous blooms make me nostalgic for summer. And I love the kettle.
This makes me like Mondays. All those lovely flowers in vases. Thanks
Wonderful and surprising collection of materials, making for a standout solution to Cathy’s challenge. I struggle with Cerinthe, much as I love it. It either takes over whole beds or refuses to make any kind of showing at all. I had planned to give up on it but this post has me convinced to give it one more go.
Mine has definitely taken over – I know when it’s finished I will find the remains of sad little lavenders and other things I can’t remember underneath, so I will plant it in a more wilderness area next time. I just love those colours though! And it flowered early in the season and was full of bees. So I just have to sort out better companions. Daffodils were quite good – they were tall before the Honeywort got full sized. I suppose it will go to seed in mid summer? So I need something to take over for mid summer through to early Spring. I suppose a quick flowering wild flower like Virginia Stock mixed with rainbow chard seedlings and even Jerusalem artichokes.
A super and very pretty arrangement! Loved the kettle. And the peachy bud of ‘Crepescule’ with the canna buds and Cerinthe are perfect.
Simply gorgeous. Couldn’t live without Cerinthe self-seeding itself around the garden! Loved all the different tones, textures and colours.