The blue theme

I am still contemplating if I should go to the allotment or not. I really need to net my cherry tree. I've partly built a cage around it and with a net I want to create a birdproof "shutter" which I can open to pick the cherries when ripe and juicy. The other urgent job is planting out all courgettes, squashes and pumpkins which means that the last of the horse manure needs to be forked in the ground before I can do so. 

It is past 8pm already, so if I just keep on writing there will be no point in going anymore. Tomorrow is another day and yesterday evening I left the allotment so late that I could hardly see where I was going! And I have been there today already to pick flowers (after I picked the first ones at home). So I've decided that I have paid my dues for today. Besides it's already closer to sunset now. 

This week I tried to use blue flowers in my bouquets. Surprisingly blue is a difficult colour for flowers. There is an abundance of red, pink, orange, yellow and white in the garden, but most blues tend to be more purplish-blue. Flowers that can be deep blue are cornflowers and delphinium. As I have a few delphinium spikes in the garden, I decided I could miss one. I picked it along with some cornflowers and popped it straight in a vase with water as you want absolutely minimize the time that cutflowers are without water. I then looked at it, and decided that this really was a case of "more is less".  I got another vase out and presto!

I really liked the bouquet last week with the bellflowers (Campanula Persicifolia). I have had these on the allotment for a few years, but never thought about picking them. Today I combined them with feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), which is a pretty plant that I love for it's history as a medical herb, its fine white daisy like flowers and its ability to selfseed. What more can one ask of a plant? I also added some stasha daisies and Golden Celebration roses.  

Other blue flowers are Love-in-the-Mist (Nigella) out of which I made a small posy. 

I am also very excited that the first of the sweet peas are flowering, so I combined those with some clary sage, making another posy for the table which proves the point about more flowers being purplish-blue.

With regards to last week's bunches, the peonies lasted about five days and were absolutely superb. When rain was predicted a few days ago I went out to cut any remaining blooms which are now gracing the living room being as fragrant as they are gorgeous! Excuse me, I just need to go and indulge myself in their scent.