Among my souvenirs

It is a time of great passion for me at this time in spring.
I am utterly enchanted by the exquisite, delicacy of the sweetly fragrant lily of the valley.

I have planted plenty of plants in to the garden through the years but they don't seem to feel quite at home & I lose them. I now plant them in pots & they have conceded to stay. This way I can keep a close eye on them & also bring the pots out from under the shelter of the plum tree once in flower so as to admire them as often as possible. This spring I have installed some of the pots up on a table in the garden and quite by chance discovered that the fragrance wafts more freely this way as we pass by.

There must surely be a lily of the valley angel..I think she may live in under my ancient plum tree.
Hope renewed!! some of the young woman out there are writing the sweetest, most eloquent, delightful & heartfelt blogs. I could not help but fall in love with a blog entitled she would have liked wings, now could I?!! Demure Folk, (toile) & The Simple Life are three web logs (I learnt that the other day...that's where the word blog comes from in all it's ugliness) by the dearest girls and of course an endless abundance is being written by a fine young chap
 ; )

I hold simple dreams.....to walk through woods of bluebells & to be able to pick actual bunches of lily of the valley. No wonder that this divine wee flower is often said to symbolize purity. It speaks to me too of innocence.
  I am equally besotted with a heritage rose growing on my front fence. Today I saw a couple walking by who stopped to stare, captivated by the beauty of my Souvenir de la Malmaison, just as am I.

There is a story told of this gorgeous beauty..
.. the 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' rose was given to Napoleon by the Empress Josephine to bring him back safely from war. it was claimed to resemble Napoleon's hat and was also carried by French soldiers in the Battle of Waterloo to protect them. The 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' is named after Josephine's garden in Malmaison near Paris."

 Today was freezing here, only about 13 degrees so it seemed quite odd to put on a scarf & jacket to work in the garden & yet still be able to pick all these gorgeous flowers. I have been meaning to use a teapot as a vase for some time..worked brilliantly!

 so I tried a few more..teapots that is!

Dear Ania, the green teapot that you liked the other day is in the centre..would you believe it has "Made in Poland" stamped on the bottom  : ) I also remembered a little trick with vases that I had once seen in Victoria magazine

see in the left hand side of the photo I have used a small glass vase that fits in to a larger one & in the space between the two I've put small white pearly buttons. That way the buttons themselves don't sit in water & get all slimy. I love the effect..I started off using actual mother of pearl buttons but I soon realized that various ordinary white/creamy ones would do just as well. One spring, while I was working at the antique shop in town, I took flowers in for the counter in this same vase arrangement, part way through the day we turned around to find a woman fishing out the buttons with a hair clip!

once again, the little jug
& saucer from my
market last weekend
worked really well to
hold small roses...dear
little Cecile Brunner




 soon the winds will come & blow all the blossoms away as if the world were a bride, to be drenched with delicate petals of blessing!

Just before I go have a wee look at this..a lemon blossom in the garden

now look closely..see the tiny little baby lemon in the centre of the flower. Truly remarkable!
Thanks so much for visiting I loved having you here.

MUCH ♥

XX