At last, there are sufficient flowers blooming in my garden to allow me to join Cathy at Rambling In the Garden, in her weekly In A Vase On Monday meme. For my first vase of the season, I’ve chosen 
narcissi from a fragrant, mixed collection that I ordered and planted last fall, which started blooming this past week. I picked three: double white N. ‘Cheerfulness’ and two jonquilla, yellow N. ‘Hillstar’ and N. ‘Stratosphere,’ yellow with an orange cup. The heirloom double daffodil tucked low has been in the yard ever since I moved here 26 years ago and I assume it is N. ‘Rip Van Winkle.’
I am so glad I ordered the fragrant varieties as they have filled the house with their delicious perfume. I must credit other IAVOM gardeners for the inspiration last spring!
In addition, I’ve added two blossoms of Korean spicebush (Viburnum carlesii), one of my favorite spring shrubs, which is just starting to bloom. A branching sprig of bleeding heart 
(Lamprocapnos spectabilis) adds a slash of deep rose color and a few grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) provide contrasting blue. White candytuft(Iberis sempervirens) peeks out from sharply-toothed, patrinia (P. gibbosa) foliage.
The vase is Japanese porcelain, an anniversary gift from my spouse in the mid-80s. That vase has held many arrangements over the years!
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 
So beautiful Eliza! I really look forward to your Vase on Monday posts. They give me both joy and inspiration! Thank you:-)
Thank You, Stephanie. I love creating these vases, so it is icing on the cake knowing they provide inspiration to you!
What a treat for the eyes. Just beautiful!
Thank you very much, Belinda. 🙂
What a gorgeous vase! So nice to have the season’s number one. I do love the bleeding hearts. Along with Dutchman’s britches, bluebells, and dogtooth violets, they speak to me of childhood memories.
Thank you, Lisa. I am so glad vase season has begun – I’ve missed always having flowers on the table!
Me too!
🙂
Look at those colours!!! … good enough to eat! 😀
Please don’t – they’re rather toxic! 🙂
Hm-mm … ** files information away for future reference** … the perks of being a writer! 😀
😀
Fragrance and beauty can’t be beat … Bring on your beautiful vases Eliza 😊
🙂 Thank you, Val! ❤
Hooray! Your flowers are back! And that’s quite a nice vase you’ve used this time. You must have an entire library of vases.
I have a hutch full, dozens of every size and shape. The funny thing is, I end up using only about 6 or 7 over and over. It’s the average size I gravitate to when I pick my bouquets, I think. Maybe this year I ought to take out the ‘lonelies’ and pick flowers just for them. (*lightbulb!*) Glad we had this conversation, thanks! 😉
I was thinking you ought to figure out how to put text and arrows on your pictures for those of us who can only pick out the vase from the list of IAVOM ingredients!!! Or, put ONE flower in your lonely, and the next week put last week’s flower plus one new flower in the next lonely…
You’re right, there’s a fair amount of assumption that goes on, isn’t there? Kris P. is so much better at that in her posts. She knows how to make thumbnail grid photos, listing all the plants in common and Latin names. As they are all SoCal plants, it is so helpful in learning new species which are unfamiliar to me. I’ll have to figure something out – thanks for the feedback. 🙂
The lack is mine, Eliza!
So beautiful. I had the one tulip and that’s it so far. LOL Your garden must be incredible. The bouquet is gorgeous.
Thank you so much, Gigi. I like my garden, but it pales compared to your CBG!
Gorgeous, gorgeous spring arrangement Eliza, I love it! 🙂
Thank you very much, Julie!
So pretty and it must smell beautiful! It’s great being inspired by Spring flowers just when it’s time to plant them here. I planted Cheerfulness and Yellow Cheerfulness and Muscari on the weekend, and some other fragrant Daffs, and Koreanspice Viburnam is on my list for planting this winter. I adore Bleeding Heart and remember them from childhood but it’s too warm here to grow them. I see it’s changed its Latin name since I last tried. 🙂
Thanks, Cath, it does smell divine. You’ll love Cheerfulness. Fragrance in the garden adds so much to the beauty.
Yes, it is annoying that they are making an old dog like me learn new names! And they don’t even make it easy – Lamprocapnos, REALLY? And the simple Aster went to Symphyotrichum! They probably sit around trying to figure out the most outlandish names just to mess with our brains! ;-D
Glad for their return. A treat each week
Thank you!
You have begun the season with an admirable splash of gorgeous colors!
Thank you, Dor! I’m excited for the season ahead. 🙂
It’s a beautiful display. It makes me feel cheerful somehow! 🙂
Glad to hear it – thank you, Bun!
So beautiful! Delicate and vibrant. I love the drops of moisture on some of the petals. I can almost smell them through the screen! Lol Flowers bring so much beauty & joy to the world. Thank you for sharing!! ❤
Thank You, Kim! How keen of you to notice the raindrops – it’d been raining all day when I collected them. 🙂
Lovely colors, Eliza, and so many fragrant flowers must smell wonderful. I’m partial to the fragrant Narcissi too, though some have disappeared over time. The bleeding hearts add such a romantic touch of color.
Thank you, Hannah. Fragrance is heavenly!
so pretty! I adore ‘Cheerfulness’ – the pale colour, frilliiness and, of course, fragrance. I will look forward to your vases on a Monday again now (I had to stop joining in as there was some security hitch with me linking to Cathy’s site which I was unable to fathom).
Thank you, Ann. You could still post your arrangements without the link – I enjoyed your vases very much!
thank you, Eliza. I will do that!
At last, indeed. I really like your vase arrangements
Thank you so much, Derrick, I really appreciate your saying so. 🙂
A beautiful mixture of flowers and colours!
Thank you, Anca!
How colourful – and lovely to be enjoying your beautiful vases again:)
Aw, thank you kindly, much appreciated!
Gorgeous, so full of colour and shapes. Love the bleeding hearts.
Thank you very much.
This is a lovely fresh spring vase. Your dicentra is miles ahead of mine!
Thank you, Allison. This one was in a bed that gets full sun, so always blooms first. The others in the shade have a ways to go. It helps lengthen the season.
Beautiful but you could have just put the Bleeding Hearts in and you would have won me over. 🙂 Is your header photo Bloodroot? I just picked three up yesterday.
Thank you, Judy. Yes, the header is bloodroot. The ants spread the seed, so you’ll find them popping up all over the place once you plant them. My colony has grown a lot in 20+ years, some plants showing up 30′ away!
What a lovely thing to see first thing on a grey morning! So fresh & spring-like…. (I covet that vase! 😉 )
😀 Thanks, I’m glad it brightened your day! ❤
Just beautiful Eliza! What color to brighten anyone’s day. The vase is perfect for your arrangement! You must be quite a bit further into Spring than we are here. The Bleeding Heart is just coming up – no blooms yet. My neighbor has a Korean Spicebush but I think she moved it to the front – boo hoo for me. I have currant spicebush blooming indoors as a few branches must have succumbed to ice falling from the roof and I don’t like them to go to “waste” – heavenly scent!
Thank you, Kathy. Scent is one of the great perks in flower gardening – an added bonus! This spring has been a series of starts and stops with the daytime temps yo-yoing between 40 and 60. The few warm days we had prior to this cold spell pushed everything forward quickly. Now we’re back in a holding pattern, which is good for the viburnum and bulbs lasting longer. 🙂
Gorgeous colors. After all the months of winter, the fragrance must be intoxicating. This is our first spring in our home and, aside from tulips (which have yet to bloom), we have few bulbs. I’ll have to get planting this fall so I can have a vase like this next May Day.
It is really a treat to have my own flowers again. I highly recommend the fragrant mixture (I got mine from vanengelen.com – their prices and quality are excellent, plus being from CT, shipping isn’t too bad.)
Thanks Eliza. I see a fragrant mixture in my future!
🙂
Bring on the flowers! Beautiful, Eliza, and I especially like the vase.
Thank you so much, Laurie!
Yay!!!! I have missed your vases – so happy they are back!
I sincerely thank you for that great compliment, Sarah! 🙂
🙂
oh, I just love that vase, Eliza.
Thank you, Kim. 🙂
Lovely and cheerful! And the vase is really nice. Best, Nataly
Thank you, Nataly!
So beautiful and springlike, Eliza. So nice to see, as we got a foot of snow on Sunday. It snowed for 24 hours. Beautiful, and we needed the moisture, but I feel bad for the baby birds and hummers. And the budding trees. Hope they all make it through. Thanks for the beautiful colors this morning. Really pretty.
Peace
Mary
Thank you, Mary. I think I’d have a hard time accepting a foot of snow at this point. But it has been known to happen here, though fortunately, it is a rare event.
Beautiful flowers, your floral arrangements are always so lovely Eliza.
Thank you so much for the kind compliment, Karen. 🙂
Bleeding heart and daffs – two of my faves!
Thank you, Cynthia. I have to agree with that. 🙂
Just Beautiful. I love that vase too.
Thank you very much, Julie. So glad to have flowers to play with again. 🙂
bleeding hearts-oh so pretty and look forward to your vases. I need to cut my flowers this year more often, I just have to go out and do it-lol
Thank you, Robbie. It is a calming and creative exercise, I highly recommend setting aside time for it. Think of it as a gratitude prayer to the garden. 🙂
I’ve been enjoying your posts, even if I can’t comment on them. 🙂
What a gorgeous selection of spring flowers Eliza! I also discovered N. Cheerfulness last year and that same Viburnum flowered for me the first time this spring too – both found on blogs last year. 🙂 Blogging is such a great way to find plants I can grow! I do love your porcelain vase too – such a pretty gift.
Thank you, Cathy! I agree, blogging is inspirational and has brought me many wonderful ideas and new friends, too. 🙂
What lovely bright colours Eliza, and such a pretty vase to put them in. Daffodils that last 26+ years must be real stars!
This arrangement is a visual treat Eliza!
Thank you so much, Maria!
Gorgeous bouquet! I have a perennial mound here and things are coming up. It will be a nice surprise since I wasn’t here at this time last year. I do see I have bleeding hearts too… yay!
Oh, nice surprise to have a garden all ready for you.
Thanks for stopping by, Denise!