It's not particularly inviting weather to do a stint of gardening, so I am hiding inside. Luckily I can also indulge myself indoors. After nearly a week abroad (hence no bunch last week) I am pleased to find that some of my seeds have germinated. The first tomatoes as well as some flowers that I sowed in the study have popped their their heads through the earth. Stock apple blossom and Salvia viridis blue (annual clary), are looking especially healthy and promising. I also noticed that in the greenhouse a few sweet peas are coming up. Even though I have been sowing my own seeds for more than a decade, I can't stop being intrigued by the magic of putting a little seed in a bit of earth, giving it water and seeing it germinate. 

So while daydreaming about scented stocks and sweet peas, I decided that for this week's bunch the best course of action would be some quickly picked favourites, ie the wonderfully fragrant Daphne odora Aureomarginata and Helleboris orientalis. The latter is flowering relatively abundantly in the front garden and the Daphne bush can still miss a few branches before it being noticeable. It's a slow grower, so I can't cut it endlessly, but I decided that for this week I wanted a lot of scent, so I cut off quite a few branches. 

I also cut six multi-stemmed branches of the hellebores. I've learned that you should always have uneven numbers in an arrangement, so I cut three stems of the light purple and three of the dark purple. I gave the Hellebores the 20 seconds in hot (boiled) water treatment and then a few hours in the cold and dark in a vase with cold water.  I also have some really dark blues, near blacks. Maybe I'll save those for next week, but first have a look at this week's bunch.