Grey clouds, drizzle and a distinct lack of brightness are not conducive to collecting material for a Monday vase, or to taking photographs, but I’ve skipped a few In a Vase on Mondays and I have missed the weekly excuse to faff with flowers. I busied myself with other tasks, hoping that there would be a chink in the clouds, a glimmer of sunshine, but no – dull, damp greyness all day. When it’s this gloomy it starts to go dark even earlier, so by 3pm I could wait no longer and I nipped outside to see what I could find.
There is not much going on in the garden at the moment. It’s been very wet and windy and cold resulting in lots of soggy brown everywhere. There are plenty of tiny cyclamen but I didn’t want to pick any of those. A couple of the cosmos plants are still flowering, though, despite being battered by the weather and looking very dishevelled. The flower colour is less vibrant, more muted, but it’s welcome nonetheless. I can’t bring myself to rip out these plants while they’re still flowering. I also found a few nicotiana flowers in the back wall border – the plant is tucked in the lee of a faded aster, sheltered from the worst of the weather. And there are still smatterings of marigolds and scabious. The orange of the marigolds fairly leaps out at you among all the faded plants and the white/cream of the scabious glows in the gloaming. To these flowers (which I know I have used quite often this year for my vases) I added clippings from a rosemary branch that was hanging off the bush, which must have ripped off last week in the strong winds.
Trying to get a decent photo in such low light was a challenge. The first picture was taken with my DSLR – I changed the ISO setting to try to get as much light as possible without it being completely blurry and I think it’s worked fairly well. I took the other two pictures with my iPhone to see how it would cope. These are much more grainy and muted but I quite like the effect.
I’m going to visit Cathy’s blog now to see what everyone else has managed to find this mid-November Monday.
Wishing you a good week with plenty of chinks of light.
acoastalplot 
That is so beautiful! It reminds me of a Dutch master painting. Also, of the colours favoured by architect/interior decorator, Ben Pentreath (have you seen his lovely books?) Fancy, having cosmos still in flower, that’s wonderful!
Margaret P
http://www.margaretpowling.com
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I like the second picture best. Not sure why, maybe because of the darker colours and the shadow.
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You did well – very cheering! And I think “faffing around” is the best phrase ever. I wish people here would say that.
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It’s interesting to se how the photos differ – I rarely take photos with my phone but am always surprised just how different they are. You have more cosmos left than me – my one bloom and a few buds was all I could muster, and no marigolds. It’s intriguing to watch out for these hangers-on, isn’t it? Thanks for sharing yours
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This is for you! https://youtu.be/yBpOUf7zNJk x
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Charming!
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It’ s amazing what you can find hanging on even after frost. I hate these days when it hardly gets light. Your vase is so pretty.
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The dark background shows off the colours really well. I pulled up all my cosmos and marigolds on the allotment a couple of weeks ago. I still have rudbekia which I am able to cut for the house. I am making more use of foliage now for my vases.
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The light is fitting to the time of year, but the flowers are a lovely surprise for mid-November! Especially the Marigolds that glow so prettily. Glad you could find some snippets still Sam! 🙂
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There are a few blooms here too but all a tad bedraggled. You did well with yours xx
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Very beautiful ♥
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It’s lovely still having colourful flowers in the garden. We still have cosmos and marigolds,but I do need to take them out so I can plant the tulips. It’s hard isn’t it! Sarah x
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These are nice with the rosemary. Frosts have finished our cosmos and nicotiana, so it is interesting to see yours are still going strong. Funnily enough the scabious is OK.
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Considering the light levels. that first photo is gorgeous. In fact, I think the low light makes it even lovelier. I like the way the colours look against the grey back drop. I’m amazed that your garden is still giving you colourful blooms to display this far into November – ours is a wasteland, although I think there might still be a few straggly geraniums limping along! x
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