It was Mother’s Day as I was plotting my Monday vase, so naturally I thought of what my mother might like in a vase. My mother (passed nearly seven years ago) was not nearly as snooty as I am about her flowers and enjoyed just about anything she could grow successfully. I am hard pressed to think of something she really didn’t like. Growing up we always had a seemingly magical forest of Cosmos and Scarlet Runner beans to play in. Many of the plants grown in the garden would end up in a vase on Monday! She would definitely get a kick out of all my wacky tropicals and the vases every Monday.
I ended up with her favorite teapot. I am fairly certain it was a wedding gift, the rim and base stained russet from untold thousands of pots of tea, many shared with me. I walked through my garden and cut everything that was in bloom and arranged it all in the teapot.
The big leaves in the back are Sea Grape (Coccoloba uvifera), the pink flower in the middle is a Brazilian Plume (Justicia carnea), Florida Gardenias (Tabernaemontana divaricata) on each side in white, Sweet Begonias (Begonia odorata ‘alba’) the smaller white flowers, Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis) are the yellow and Parrot Flower (Heliconia psittacorum) the red and yellow on the sides. The teapot is marked Hall, made in the USA.
My husband wandered through as I was assembling the vase and asked me, aghast, ‘Is that your Monday vase?’
This is a side shoot from Sweet 100 tomatoes I hope to root to extend my tomato season.
Here is my mother, ever the Southern Belle, at the peach packing house with her grandfather in the late 1940s.
Miss Betty and Mr. Tommy
The Shrub Queen 
Love the flowers, teapot and your Southern Belle mother.
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Thanks, belles rule!
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Amelia, your mother would have lied it—so light and “month of May”
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Thanks, George, I guess you’d say what could make me feel that way?
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Your vase is lovely but the photo of your mother and her grandfather is a treasure. And it makes me long for peach season!
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Thank you, that is a favorite photo of the whole family taken by an itinerant photographer just passing through. There are already peaches here in Florida, maybe they will send some north!
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What a wonderful way to remember your mother.
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Thank you, she was a great gardener and I am sure that is the source of my interest.
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Your mother is beautiful, and she would love your vase in that gorgeous teapot….I can see why it is her favorite….what a stunning tribute vase you have created!
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Thank you, the teapot usually sits on a shelf, so I am enjoying the vase as well.
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What a lovely tribute to your mother’s memory! Your husband’s comment on the tomato shoot had me laughing. In my own household, my husband would probably think a tomato shoot in a vase was a perfectly fine choice – utility is more important than beauty in his view.
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Thank you, my husband was properly horrified until he saw the teapot (I had been moving it around for photos) Sounds like you are living with an engineer!?
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Such a special arrangement you’ve made for the heirloom teapot. Your mother was quite lovely.
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Thank you
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Such a cute photo of your mom and grandfather. It’s heartwarming that you used her teapot for your arrangement. She might not know the Florida tropical flowers, but they are lovely shades of pink, with the white and yellow accompaniements, and the gardenias must smell delightful. I lost my mom a little over 7 years ago too.
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It’s always lovely to read about family history in a post; thanks for sharing yours. Lovely photograph of your mum and grandpa. Lovely vase too!
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Thank you.
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I love your arrangement of a teapot stuffed full of bright, exotic flowers.I am sure your mother would have loved it. My mother was a keen flower arranger too, she would have loved this meme. Great to show the photo of your mother and a bit of family history.
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Thanks, Liz. I should make some tea in her honor, Constant Comment was her favorite, I am not sure I have any since she has been gone.
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I loved how you remembered your mother this way – especially cramming whatever you could into her teapot! And I am pleased that your husband is aware of your Monday vases – the Golfer although professing not to like cut flowers will always comments on them now. Thanks for sharing your vase and your memories
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Thank you, Cathy. My mother is smiling in the Great Beyond, I am quite sure. Not so sure how she would feel about her picture being on the Internet, probably wigged out!
My husband usually comments on the vases now, the tomato cutting comment really made me laugh.
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Love that Brazilian Plume – what a lovely flower! I enjoy old photos and that one of your mom and great-grandfather is precious!
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I love the old black and white photograph! family history is so interesting!
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Thank you, that photo is a family favorite.
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The photo at the end really made this post special – I love the idea of using a teapot that belonged to your Mum, and the flowers are all lovely too. Most of them are unknown to me, but that is what makes it so interesting looking at vases the other side of the Atlantic!
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Thank you, when I lived further north, my flowers were very similar to yours. I had Spirea and Daffodils – here in South Florida my first Bird of Paradise just flowered!
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I always enjoy your arrangements, and this one no less. Thanks for the family photo too. All lovely!
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Thank you, Cynthia. I wish you could see the Rose Apples, it appears to be a bumper crop.
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Oh, Amy. Wonderful. I haven’t seen rose apples in years, and they always remind me of my childhood. As I reply to you now, I can see the rose apple tree in my grandmother’s garden.
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Just emailed a picture to you.
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