For this week’s vase, I again chose peonies, which are at their height of bloom, perfuming the air around them like a little slice of heaven. Foxgloves have come in this week, standing sentinel in the spring bed, taking over from the bleeding hearts that have nearly finished. Soft gray buds of lamb’s ears complete the arrangement.
I’ve used a pink frosted glass vase to compliment the colors in the arrangement and set it on a vintage crocheted doily, edged with pansy trim. A real treasure bought at a yard sale – a lucky find that day as I’d never seen anything like it before or since.
I love peering inside the soft, ruffled petals of peonies and inhaling their sweet scent. Such loveliness is meant to be savored and appreciated – their time seems so short. So while they are here I will indulge my senses with their voluptuous beauty.
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling In the Garden, who hosts a weekly meme to showcase what is blooming in our gardens by creating arrangements to enjoy inside our homes. Wander over to see what gardeners all over the world are arranging this week. Feel free to join in, sharing your own weekly vase with a link to Cathy’s blog.
Eliza Waters 
Lovely flower portraits, I love the top photo with just the flowers close up
Thank you very much!
Beautiful and peonies smell heavenly!
That they do, thanks Julie!
Wow! You continue to out do yourself. I like what you write about their loveliness being meant to be appreciated- it is such a brief time that we have them.
Thank you, Kim! ❤
I was able to buy peonies at the store. A thrill since I can’t grow them at The Holler. Gorgeous boquet and photos~
Thanks, Cindy. I adore peonies, so it is nice you at least can buy them at the florists. Are you back from your trip?
Beautiful Eliza! I’m sure you know this but we have to be careful with pets around Foxglove. The whole plant is poisonous as well as the water in a vase holding them.
Thanks for the reminder, Frank. Digitalis, while it is a medicine for the heart, also has the capacity to kill. Hope all is well with you. 🙂
Beautiful flowers, lovely vase, and the doily is terrific. It reminds me of visiting my grandmother and aunts’ homes. And, those are good memories to have. 🙂
Yes, same here with the memories. I have such a soft spot for all those handmade textiles. I have drawers full of them and it is hard not to take on more. 🙂 Thanks for your visit, Judy!
Beautiful images Eliza!
Thank you, Maria!
Beautiful, the smell and look of summer 🙂
Indeed it is! Thanks!
On Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 1:21 PM, Eliza Waters wrote:
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I love the mix of peonies with foxgloves, but the lamb’s ears are such a wonderful addition and really make this unique. Your crocheted doily is gorgeous! I am learning to crochet and will have to ask my sister (who is my crochet teacher and is coming to visit next week!) if she can make something like this, or even help me! So glad you shared that Eliza!
Thanks, Cathy. Glad you like the doily – to a practiced eye, it may not be so tough to figure out. If you need close up shots, send your email address and I can send you some. Wouldn’t it be great if you could make these little wonders? 🙂
Oh yes, some close-ups would be lovely Eliza! I’ll mail you so you have my address. Thank you!
Eliza I am absolutely in love with your vase, the flowers in it and the exquisite doily under it….stunning with the foxglove added to beautiful peonies.
Thank you so much Donna!
The foxgloves look perfect with the peonies – have you had to cut the stems short, or are they a short variety? That doily is amazing – the pansy detail is so intricate. I am not surprised you snapped it up! Thanks for joining us today
Lovely! Especially the close-ups, I can almost get my nose in there! I have a very similar doily made by my grandmother – so pretty, must look to see if I can find it – it should be in a more prominent place, thanks for the nudge!
Hope you find it, I love mine. Thanks for your visit!
The foxgloves provide a nice accent for the peonies. I ADORE peonies but thus far have been unable to get them to bloom in my southern California garden, although hope springs eternal – my Itoh peony has nice foliage, just no blooms.
Thanks, Kris. Peonies like it cool, so I applaud your efforts to coax a bloom. Tree peonies might be easier? Best of luck!
There is something so charming about foxgloves. I love their speckles. And I have a memory of of a drawing in a children’s book of a certain Mrs. Fox going out in her hat, coat, dress and gloves, which looked remarkably like the flowers. And that doily is indeed a treasure…
That book must have been so sweet. I love the fantastical art of children’s books, esp. fairies. 🙂
Just absolutely beautiful Eliza! I must, must, must include a drift of peonies in my garden – can you believe I have not a one? One is not enough now – a drift it must be! And I am one of those Lambs Ears lovers too. I let it grow wild in my garden. The wool carder bees love it, I love it – it is soft, frilly but yet oh so tough! Beautiful in your arrangement. Oh, the Foxgloves. I had so many in Maine – so happy. Here, no luck – different soil. I’ll keep trying.
Thanks, Kathy. I agree that one can never have too many peonies! My foxglove have self sown quite a lot over the years, so I have quite the stand of them. I confess that I’ve got to the point where I often ‘weed’ them out.
I love the vintage doily and the beautiful flowers make for a wonderful artistic effect.
Thank you, Dor. I wonder if your teachers know how to crochet flowers? I just love this little piece. 🙂
Yes, my teachers do know how to crochet flowers. I plan to tap that knowledge sometime soon and will bring along a copy of the photo of your doily to show them. 🙂
Let me know if you need close-up shots. I have sent some to another blogger already who requested them. Happy to share!
Beautiful, Eliza! They look like I should be able to smell them through the screen!
🙂 Scratch and sniff! Thanks, Mary.
Another beautiful arrangement, Eliza…
Thank you, Julie. 🙂
Such sumptuous photos today, Eliza. Everything harmonizes in such a beautiful composition. It looks like you’ve had a good year for Peonies! You had a long wait, Eliza, and I’m so happy to see your garden full of flowers now! I hope you are out enjoying it 😉 Giant hugs, WG
Thank you! The weather has been delicious the past 2 days after a very rainy Monday (rest appreciated). Picked up another gardening job that will keep me busy and neglecting my own garden for a week or two. It is a renovation after 10 years of neglect. Kind of a big job, but I have a young helper, TG! 😉
Sounds like fun! I hope the weather cooperates with you, Eliza. Glad you’ll have a helper!
Beautiful Eliza.
Thank you, Julie. 🙂
Beautiful photographs of beautiful arrangement
Thank you kindly, Derrick!
These flowers just brightened my day! So beautiful…
Thank you, Ana! ❤
So beautiful Eliza! I love the vintage feel of the whole arrangement and that sprig of lambs ear.
Yes- I’m smiling 🙂
Thank you, Val, glad it made you smile. 🙂
I will never get tired of peonies! Sadly, they are mostly done at my parents’ house, so I will no longer get to brave the ants to pick some.
Yes, the season is really way too short!
The doily caught my eye right away. My mother used to crochet doilies like that, and I might even have one hiding in a box in the attic. Hopefully I will find it one day. I wish I had inherited her talent with a crochet hook. I swear, she could make just about anything.
Your arrangement is very beautiful. 🙂
So kind of you to compliment my arrangement, Robin. 🙂 Your mom must have been quite talented – I envy it. Did she make these types of floral pieces? I loved it the second I saw it!
She did, Eliza. She also made things that looked like exquisite lace. It was amazing what she could do from toys to stuffed animals to flowers to baby blankets to lacy tablecloths and doilies. She was self-taught, too.
Wonderful! You just triggered a memory of my grandmother making a shepherd and shepherdess doll all crocheted. I have them packed away, but maybe I should take them out!
really enjoyed this post – for the first time I have foxgloves in the garden – peonies finished whilst I was away Lovely arrangement
Thank you, Diana!
What a lovely post – like a prayer of gratitude.
Thank you! 🙂 Definitely grateful! ❤
Forgot to say that your arrangement is quite beautiful also. And the doily is quite a find. I remember as a kid the lady at the local Mom & Pop grocery would spend the day doing what she called “tatting”, with small wooden spools of thread.. I don’t recall ever seeing the finished product, so I have no clue what she was making. You brought back a great memory.
Nice memory. Tatting is usually a term for making lace. Italy, France and Belgium come to mind as famous for their lace. Was she from any of those places?
Thanks for the compliment on the vase!
That first photo actually took my breath away. Magic.
Thank you so much!
Quite a winsome pair, peonies and foxglove. Lovely. Susie
Thanks, Susie!
So lovely Eliza, you are very good at floral arrangements.
Thank you, Karen! 🙂
Hardly know what to say…they are so gorgeous.
Thank you, Gigi!
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