Since it's almost Valentine's Day, roses seem like the perfect flower for this week's post. Though I only have one rose in my garden, I have the remains of many roses from many romantic bouquets: Dried and turned into potpourri. If I grew old roses or David Austin roses, I might be more of a fan of roses as cut flowers. But since I don't, I have to admit that my favorite roses are dried like this necklace of rosebuds and pearls.
I've never actually worn it even when it was new and pink. Instead I put it at the feet of a little gilded figure of the Buddha in our Thai Spirit House. If you look carefully you can see the hand-painted scenes on the back walls. On the top are two ceramic figures that we refer to as our studio gods. The pig is a leftover from the Year of the Pig. The figures on the lower shelf are stoneware Christmas ornaments that are so delicate they live here.
This rose pomander may have lost most of its color but it still has a strong rose fragrance. Not the world's most practical item but certainly a very pretty one. The item in the background is an ink stone used for grinding an ink stick to make black ink for Japanese calligraphy. It's 5.5 x 10 inches.
I've had this raku vase since the 1970s when I bought it from Fanny Garver Gallery right after I finished graduate school. I was working as a waitress so I always had a little cash on hand when something special came along. The vase is composed of three separate parts: the scrolled base, the body and the lid and is 9 inches tall. I've been putting dried rose petals in here for years.
This quirky image is taken looking into the interior of the vase, which is resting on its side on the base. You can see the mix of lavender and rose potpourri topped with dried rose petals that I've had in this container for years.
Years ago my husband flipped the vase over to look at its decorative curved bottom (below) with the artist's name stamped into it (John Natale). Unfortunately Mark forgot to keep a hand on the lid which fell off and broke. He glued it together for me and was most apologetic. I was able to be fairly understanding about it since his mom did the exact thing to a pot that he made when he was in college.
To see what gardeners who are able to go out into their gardens for material to put into a vase are doing today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
