In a vase on Monday: Fritillarias

21bb potted Fritillaria meleagris, Feb. 2016, StuttgartPotted Fritillaria meleagris in our living room this week.

Fritallarias in pots, late Feb. 2016, Stuttgart, enclos*ure

The plants are 13″ to 15″ tall.

29 potted Fritillaria meleagris, Feb. 2016, Stuttgart

I love the checkered pattern on the blooms.

31 potted Fritillaria meleagris, Feb. 2016, Stuttgart, enclos*ure
Right now, almost all the supermarkets and florists here are selling small plastic pots of three or four blooming or almost-blooming spring bulbs (about €3.30 each — cheaper than a lot of cut flowers).

Potted Fritillaria meleagris, Feb. 2016, Stuttgart, enclos*ure

I replanted these into two purple ceramic pots that I had from a previous plant purchase. Then, to catch the excess water, I also put them down in blue pottery teacups from Rwanda’s Gatagara Cooperative.

25 potted Fritillaria meleagris, Feb. 2016, Stuttgart

I covered the soil with seashell chips.

32 potted Fritillaria meleagris, Feb. 2016, Stuttgart, enclos*ure

The yellow-blue sake pitcher and cups in the photos above were made by American ceramics artist Hayne Bayless.  They were purchased years ago at the Smithsonian Craft Show — which will be held this year from April 21 to 24 at the National Building Museum* in Washington, D.C.  If you plan to be in the D.C. area that week, you can buy advance (discounted) tickets here.

To see what other gardeners have put in a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

*The Oehme/van Sweden exhibit will still be there.

The Sunday porch: Oxford, Ohio

woman in hat and stole, Miami University“Woman in hat and stole on porch,” Oxford, Ohio, ca. late 19th or early 20th century, by Frank R. Snyder, via Miami University Archives Commons on flickr.

Is her slight Mona Lisa smile about her nice outfit or the photographer? (Click on the image for a larger view.)

Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness, simply didn’t know where to go shopping.
— Bo Derek

The winter garden: Greene County

Farmhouse window, John Vachon, Library of Congress“Plants in window of farm home. Greene County, Iowa,” 1940, by John Vachon, via Library of Congress Photographs Division.

The pleasure of working outside is only matched by the pleasure of dreaming inside.

Tyler Whittle

The winter garden: El Paso, Texas

plastic flowers in Tex. cemetary, C. Highsmith, Library of Congress“Plastic flowers festoon Mt. Carmel Cemetery in El Paso, Texas,” February 2014, by Carol M. Highsmith, via The Lyda Hill Texas Collection of Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America Project, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The Sunday porch: celebration

Anniversary celebration, Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History“Anniversary celebration” from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Unfortunately, the couple’s names, their location, and the date are unknown.

The Luther Hamilton Photograph Collection, from which the picture is taken, contains almost 1,000 photos made or collected by the Luther Myles Hamiltons — Sr. and Jr. — during the first half of the 20th century, principally in and around the town of Crystal Springs, Mississippi.

Click on the image for a larger view — or here.

Let us love nobly, and live, and add again
Years and years unto years. . . .

— John Donne, from “The Anniversary