Ina Vase on Monday: Glad All Over

Cathy

Aug 1

I'm feelin' (boom boom) glad all over
Yes, I'm-a (boom boom) glad all over
Baby, I'm (boom boom) glad all over
So glad you're mine

from 'Glad All Over', Dave Clark Five 1964 ( boom boom representing the base beat)

You may have spotted a couple of spikes of gladioli in yesterday's End of Month View - no longer spottable because they have been picked for today's vase, as had been planned when I first spotted the emerging spikes myself. Having periodically planted gladioli but with no success, with a cheap pack of bulbs (Gladiolus 'Traderhorn') from Aldi I had little to lose - but nevertheless was still surprised to see some of them growing. Admittedly there are no more than half a dozen out of a pack of 25, but hey ho, beggars can't be choosers. Sadly, they are not the scarlet the pack promised, but more of a deep coral...

I have not used the ikebana vase (from Chive) the gladioli are displayed in before, mainly because when it came it was larger than I expected, and somehow ugly, like a white ceramic slipper, but as long as I don't look at it from above perhaps I can forget about that for the duration of the contents. Joining the gladioli, I amused myself by choosing a double stem of Echinops 'Arctic Glow', reminiscent of drumsticks, and to complement the 'red' and white, thought I may as well throw in some blue too, this time Limonium 'Seeker Pastel Blue'. The vase may not have the same finesse as those by some of our more accomplished IAMOV arrangers, but nonetheless I am fairly pleased with it in my own way, just wondering perhaps if I could have cut everything a bit shorter...?

You will struggle to see the prop in the first photo, but it is a little pin badge of a drumkit, a gift at the time I was learning to play drums, perhaps 15 years ago, following a conversation with a colleague who had booked flying lessons because it was something she had always wanted to do - I did the same with drum lessons, and played for my own amusement for 2 or 3 years.