In a vase on Monday series

A dozen years ago, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden started a meme called “In A Vase On Monday”, or IAVOM. She wanted to challenge herself to regularly cut and arrange flowers and greens from her garden. She also challenged fellow garden bloggers, launching a wonderful garden blog meme. It’s a simple concept: cut flowers from your garden, arrange them in a jar or vase, and share them virtually with others. Gardeners post from the UK, Germany, the US, and other parts of the world. Charming, eh?

I’ve enjoyed sharing a garden vase, off and on, over the years, but I lack the dedication of the Monday Vase die-hards. I applaud all of you.

I’m sharing two vases today that highlight my joy of blogging. For me, it’s about the community formed through sharing photos and words, about finding your people in this sometimes fractious world. “In A Vase on Monday” does just that.

I’ve followed Cathy at Words and Herbs for close to 14 years. She posts a beautiful vase most Mondays.

The vase below holds crocheted flowers, a Mother’s Day gift from my youngest son; however, kitty’s “scarf” is an intended bookmark, straight from Cathy’s crochet hook.

Cathy mailed several crocheted bookmarks for our Little Free Library all the way from Germany. Sweet, right? I placed some of her bookmarks in our tiny library; one became a gift topper for a friend,

A crocheted sunflower with green leaves attached to a decorative envelope featuring a floral and turtle design. — Flower bookmark

A ceramic cat vase wearing a crocheted scarf, surrounded by colorful blooms in a garden setting. — Crocheted bookmark/cat scarf

and this one is now wrapped around my kitty vase and will become part of my vase rotation. Please enjoy Cathy’s extraordinary garden at Words and Herbs.

This second vase is a treasured teacup, a gift from my university friend, Carrielin. I’ve had it for forty years. In mid-October on Eliza Waters’ IAVOM post, I spotted the same cat design. I checked with Eliza to confirm, and sure enough, it’s from the same collection of porcelain art, Couer Minou-ettes, by Portuguese designer C. Pradalie. The pieces aren’t rare, but even so, it delighted me to spot the same design, with flowers, from a fellow garden blogger. Eliza shares from her beautiful garden most Mondays.

If you would like to see what these gardeners and others have shared in a vase today, please follow this link to Cathy’s blog, then check the comments for additional vase posts.

Happy Anniversary in-a-vaser’s.

It’s that time of year when my garden fills with blooms, and I wish I could slow down time. Nature is something else, eh?

Today’s featured vase is a birthday gift for my longtime neighbor and friend, Jasmin. I used a container from an orchid that’s moved to a larger pot. The white provides a nice contrast to the flowers, which include purple, white, and lavender sweet peas, cuttings from the Pittosporum, emerging Nigella damascena, and Dianthus caryophyllus, also known ashybrid carnations, including ‘Georgia Peach’ and ‘Key Lime Pie,’ and the tiniest little flowers from Brunnera macrophylla.

I crafted a card to go with the flowers using a die designed by Eileen Hull to emulate postage.

I’ve been saving a stamp from the Philippines (Jasmin’s country of origin) to use on her card.

I added a birdhouse transfer, something she collects, and rounded out the other spaces with flowers. Jas is a gardener, too.

I’m grateful when bloggers come up with ideas to share mutual interests and to support each other’s creativity.

Thank you to “the Cathys” for inspiring this Monday series. You can visit Cathy at Rambling in The Garden at this link to see several stunning vases worldwide.