In A Vase on Monday

Each Monday,  Cathy at Rambling in the Garden hosts this addictive meme which challenges us to arrange material from the garden in a container to enjoy indoors.  Click here to join in the fun!

Until a Saturday trip to Vashon Island, I was hard-pressed for inspiration this week's bouquet.   On the side of the road were several small piles of Madrone (Arbutus menziesii) AKA Madrona and Arbutus branches, their cinnamon-colored barkless smoothness demanding that the car be stopped.

The leaves were gone and there were no Madrona trees nearby so someone must have dumped them and perhaps deer ate the leaves?  Anyway the ones small enough to fit in the car came home with me. However, most of what's blooming outside is a bit small for these large branches.  They could go in a container by themselves but I couldn't think of one that would work until just now as I'm writing this. Maybe next week.

Snowdrops are plentiful right now and had I been thinking, a small bouquet of those with some pretty greenery would have been just the thing but that didn't hit me until just now either.   Crocus tommasianus are blooming but I don't know if they cut well or not, what was blooming last week is still going now but has already been used, and I can't bring myself to cut the hellebores.  What to do?
Cheat, that's what.

You perhaps remember this container from my trip to Wight's Nursery, already used in December.  It's since moved outside.  How about arranging plants instead of cut flowers? 

Such a sunny and calm day meant that doing this outside would be delightful. 

A new Euphorbia 'Ruby Glow' and an orange Libertia from Jungle Fever along with some other plants hanging around got stuffed in.  Cyclamen coum is still glowing with radiant blooms months after it came home.

Black mondo grass and some red twig dogwood add more color.

One of the dark-leaved bergenias echos the burgundy color in the veins of the heuchera and that of the Euphorbia.

 I should have elevated this to photograph it.  

Oh well, it looked lovely when I put it on a column outside to enjoy at eye level.  The Madrona branches were inserted several times but just didn't work with this so they'll wait to find a purpose.