Pansies are the theme of this week’s In a Vase on Monday, when we join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to share selections from our gardens each week. A few plants in my garden are just starting to come into bloom–candytuft, hellebores, creeping phlox. However, they aren’t quite ready yet for such a formal presentation. My pansies have come back strong from the unfavorable weather of late, and so here they are floating in a bowl.
Closeups reveal some of the striking detail of these delightful winter flowers. How can ones spirit not be raised by these cheerful beauties?
Let me invite you to visit our host for In a Vase on Monday–Cathy at Rambling in the Garden and see what she and others are sharing this week.
A Walk in the Garden 
Looks good enough to eat !! So pretty.
LikeLike
Thanks, Cathy. I’ve never tried eating them…are they edible?
LikeLike
I like your mix of colors. Your bowl is the perfect color and size for this presentation. Very nice!
LikeLike
Thank you, Marian. One year we tried all the same color, this is the year for the mix.
LikeLike
Love your Pansies floating in a bowl John, thats so pretty, I’ve tried it with Hellebores before but not Pansies, I wonder if Violas would look good like that too.
LikeLike
Thanks, Julie. We’ve tried floating violas. It works, but it takes a lot of them to make a meaningful statement.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pansies are edible John – or so I believe, as I haven’t tried them (yet!). They look gorgeous like this – and prove how simple a Monday vase can be. Do tell – did you get your Arranger to do this one too….? 😉 I like the creamy ones best – and realised only very recently that I much prefer the blotchless or nearly blotchless pansies , but don’t know why. Probably the strong colour contrast of blotchy ones. Thanks for sharing this today – and giving us advance notice of the other flowers you have on the way 🙂
LikeLike
Of course, my Arranger did the vase. I couldn’t participate in your meme without her. I’m still not sure about eating the pansies…we’ll see.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a very pretty way to display pansies! I’ll have to try it – when there are enough to cut.
LikeLike
Thanks, Kris. Pansies and violas are what keep us going in the winter.
LikeLike
If you brush pansies (or violas) with egg white and then dip them in sugar they make fabulous edible decorations for cakes or what-have-you. Being a flawed baked, I have rescued many a fallen cake this way. Very pretty floating in your bowl, as well.
LikeLike
Thank you, Rickii. Perhaps I can encourage my Arranger to try your recommendation on our next cake.
LikeLike
Lovely display of pansies. Such a beautiful combination of colours … my favourites are the two-tone purple/lilac ones. According to Martha Stewart pansies are edible, as are violas, and we should serve them as a garnish for cocktails, soups and desserts. My husband loves growing them so I may just give them a trial.
LikeLike
Thanks, Elizabeth. If Martha says it’s doable, then it must be so. I’m getting more interested with each comment.
LikeLike
We have chosen a similar theme this week John!! I have never thought to float pansies but they look lovely displayed like this. Reading the comments I can see that I can also eat them and crystallise them for cakes, so I had better increase the numbers that I grow.
LikeLike
Isn’t it fun, Julie, to pick up all these good ideas by sharing a few pansies?
LikeLike
My favorite flower….spring flower here. And I can’t wait for my seeds to grow and sprout.
LikeLike
Thanks, Donna. I hope you will show us the results of your planting.
LikeLike
Floating them is such a good idea John! You can really study them then. I have a few with very short stems, so I might do this with mine at some stage… at the moment they are under the snow, but when it melts they stand up again immediately. Such cheery flowers.
LikeLike
Thanks, Cathy. Stay cheerful. Stay safe in the snow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Enjoyed this and Will use at my next bunco party
LikeLike
Thanks, Karin. I hope your fellow bunco players will also enjoy.
LikeLike
Your arranger is quite the artist, John, and i give her full credit for such a beautifully composed arrangement in such a lovely pink glass bowl. The bowl caught my eye second, as I love colorful glass and have a set of depression glass plates and cups in a similiar shade. Like day lilies and some orchids, all of the Violas, including pansies, are safe to eat. But why consume such beauty? i would much rather eat them with my eyes! Last week I reviewed a book called, “How To Grow Perennial Vegetables,” by Martin Crawford, which you might find of interest; because flowers are some of the “vegetables” Martin includes. It was enlightening, and I learned that some of what I’ve been pulling as ‘weeds’ could as well go into my salad bowl or skillet. Cheers! Elizabeth
LikeLike
Thanks, Elizabeth. There is always something to learn as we go through this wonderful gardening life.
LikeLike
Simply perfect! I love them too. And violas – they always make me feel happy (their little ‘whiskered’ faces perhaps?). A friend of mine who we used to call ‘the vegetable queen’ adds them to salads too. Simply for colour, not flavour (although they are, obviously, edible). She did a salad for a party of mine and my (then) partner said in horror, ‘But you can’t eat pansies – they’re so difficult to grow!’ Not a gardener – it turned out they were the flowers he was made to grow when he and siblings were given seed packets as kids. By the way – I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it – but I do so enjoy your headline picture when I visit your page!
LikeLike
Thanks, Cathy. The headline picture is of a mahonia blossom I think I photographed in January or early February in my Chapel Hill garden. I collected it growing wild in my grandmother’s woods, so I don’t know its parentage.
LikeLike
So beautiful, John! Give us a picture of the whole plant later on?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Will do, Cathy. The picture is one of my favorites.
LikeLike