irises

Easy beautiful flower bouquets from your own garden

If Covid-19 is keeping you at home, why not bring your garden in with you? Even if you only have a small yard, chances are you have everything you need to bring a beautiful, garden-fresh bouquet into your home.

You may think you need daisies or roses or other traditional cutting flowers to create a floral arrangement.  You don’t.  Have you thought about adding in lantana or salvia or branches from your shrubs?  Landscape shrubs with beautiful stems – whether they bloom or not – can stand alone or provide structure, color, and texture to a vase full of flowers.

I used to have a very small bed that I called the cutting garden.  In the spring it was full of bluebonnets, larkspur, gladiolas, clematis and roses.  Later, it was overflowing with orange cosmos, lion’s tail and zinnias.  But you don’t have to have a special cutting garden to cut flowers to bring inside.

When I wander outside to cut flowers for a vase, I walk through the entire garden. Nothing is off limits as I add pretty blooms to my bucket.  One of my favorite additions, the perennial, Esperanza, also commonly known as Yellow Bells, (Tecoma stans) adds a hot pop of color with an arching form and soft foliage in any kind of vase.  Since they bloom from late spring into fall, I always have something yellow with which to make an arrangement.  I also have several colors of lantana throughout the garden, so I never have a shortage of filler.

Don’t forget about your vegetable or herb garden plants, either.  Rosemary, parsley, sage and basil are regular additions to my vases.  They add beautiful foliage and make the house smell wonderful.  You might even forego a fruit or vegetable in favor of the beautiful bloom it produces.  I always let my artichokes bloom because I’m smitten with the flowers.  I just buy my artichokes at the grocery store.  Consider using the lovely blooms of okra or onions the next time you create a bouquet.

Landscape plants for floral arrangements

Indigo spires salvia
Yellow bells
Lion’s Tail
Mexican oregano
Salvia Greggii
Verbena
Pride of Barbados
Crape Myrtle
Lantana
Rosemary
Loropetalum
Japanese Quince
Abelia
Bi-color iris
Native grasses
Pentas
Ferns
Artemsia
Oleander

Almost anything in your garden can be worked into a bouquet.  Now that you’ve identified some of your own pretty garden flowers that you’d like to put into a vase, how do you start?

First, cut your flowers and foliage early or late in the day, when it’s cooler and their stems are firm and full of water.  In the heat of the day, flowers become dehydrated.  Take a bucket of water out into the garden with you, so you can drop them straight into the water after you’ve cut them.

Plants with multiple buds or bloom spikes, like Indigo or mystic spires salvias or larkspur, should have at least one bud open when you cut to ensure that the remainder will open once in your vase.  Flowers that grow on individual stems should be cut when fully open.

Use clean, sharp tools like a small kitchen knife or floral snips to cut delicate stems and pruners to cut woodier stalks. Don’t use scissors – they will crush the stem and prevent proper water intake.  Cut stems as long as possible to give yourself more options when putting together the arrangement.  You can always make them shorter later.  Make cuts at a 45-degree angle to allow as much space on the stem to drink in the water.  For woody stems, you can also split the bottom inch of the stem with a knife to increase their ability to take in more water.

Removing most of the leaves from the stems, particularly below the water level, encourages water absorption and keeps the vase from being too crowded.  It also helps retard bacterial growth that shortens the life of the flowers and makes the water smelly and cloudy.

Now it’s time to decide how you want to arrange the flowers and in which container they’ll look best.

Any water-tight vessel will work.  Small cream pitchers or mason jars work well with small, posy-style bouquets.  Tall, columnar vases look best with a few long stems or flowers or branches.  Galvanized buckets or ornamental watering cans pair nicely with a wild arrangement of more rustic flowers.  A vase that flares out at the top will allow arching stems to droop gracefully from the bouquet.  I sometimes tie raffia or other ribbon around the vase, and I’ve also added sliced lemons to line the inside of a glass vase.

Just as with planters, for most floral arrangements, you’ll want to include thrillers, spillers and fillers.  The height of your flowers should equal about one and a half times the height of the container.  Start by adding some stems of your filler – these could be foliage or more delicate or smaller-sized blooms.  Then add your focal point.  This could be a single bloom or 3 to 5 blooms, depending on the size of your vase.  (Using odd numbers of blooms will be most visually appealing.) These might be the largest or most unique blooms in your arrangement, and should be taller than the filler.  Then add your accents – smaller than your showstopper, in complementary colors and textures.  You can choose to go with a monochromatic collection of blooms, or vivid, contrasting colors.

I sometimes find it’s easier for me to “build” my arrangement in my hand, starting with the focal point and turning the collection with each addition and lowering the height of the stems as I work my way around.  There’s no right or wrong way; these are just tips to help you create a beautiful balanced arrangement.  You can also make dramatic, exotic asymmetrical bouquets, tightly combined cube or fishbowl vases, or floral foam arrangements for shorter centerpieces.

The best way to ensure you get the longest life out of your arrangement is to add a ready-made preservative like Floral Life.  These contain the right amounts of nutrition, cleanser and citric acid.  Change the water daily and remove spent blooms.  You can also cut the stems again to help lengthen bloom life.

My garden and design photo faves of 2019

It’s a new year and I’ve just passed the 6 month  milestone in a new garden.  I miss so many things about my previous garden – an acre and a half that I nurtured and loved for more than 16 years.  I’m also excited about having a new challenge.  A BIG new challenge!

So, I’m recapping some of my favorite 2019 photos of my gardens, both old and new.

This Japanese flowering quince always joined the daffodils and hellebores as the first harbingers of spring.  These are plants I will definitely incorporate into the new garden.  I’ve already planted several varieties of daffodil bulbs.

The row of Mountain Laurels lining the old driveway was heady with grape-y goodness when they were all in bloom.  Luckily, there is a Mountain Laurel in the new garden.

I dug up and brought several hellebores from my collection to the new house and they are thriving.  I lost one in the process (I might have been too busy to take good care of them in their pots for months before I began creating a bed for them).

These lyre leaf sage also came with me.  They provide lovely ground cover all year and put up these delicate blooms in the spring.

All of the Austin Garden Bloggers will recognize this as Lucinda’s iris – passalongs that I believe we all share.

Rest assured, Lori, the ditch lilies you brought me back from Wisconsin in a bucket traveled with me to the new house, too.  I’d never leave those behind!

Dianella and loropetalum were building blocks in the previous garden and the will be again when I start building some big beds.

I think I’ll find a home for another ebb tide rose, too.

The current yard (it’s not a garden!) is covered with ivy.  I hope to craft a happier habitat for beneficials and pollinators and birds.

I loved the hot, confetti pops of color in the front bed at the previous house.  This is the one I jokingly called the hideous bed.

Swedish ivy always perked up the shadier nooks and crannies in the garden.

I fell in love with crocosmia at many Garden Bloggers Flings and was happy to add some to my garden two years ago.

I always made room for cordyline in the garden and in ornamental pots.

Of course I brought all of my pots with me.  I think we moved 75 of them – yikes!  Having them all here made us feel right out home on the big back deck and outdoor living areas.

This eyesore area at the new house needed an overhaul.  We had to regrade, take out trees, build a French drain and dig out a dozen trashy shrub volunteers.  As a small project, it was my first garden creation.

I started by giving some curves and shape to this part of the French drain to define a new bed area in this square space.  Then I painted the dilapidated concrete.  This area is the view out of the dining room French doors that open onto a courtyard.  I designed these steel panels and had them custom built  to surround the AC units at the previous house, but don’t need them here.  They were perfect for adding interest to this odd space.

Plants and a bird bath were the crowning touches!  The wrought iron table and chairs in the courtyard offer a lovely spot for morning coffee.

Lots of fun projects are on tap for 2020.  I hope you’ll come see how things are progressing.

Happy New Year and Happy Gardening!

Spring flowers scattered around my garden on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

We’ve had a tumultuous winter and spring.  Well, it isn’t officially spring, but here in Central Texas, spring starts in February.  We’ve already had a 91-degree day, then a week or so after that we had a low of 21.  It was the first hard freeze of the winter in my garden.  Of course, everything had already started to sprout and put on buds. We love the warm days, but then we pay for it.

Today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, so we can see what’s blooming around the world today.

I covered for the 21-degree freeze.  I normally don’t do that any more — it’s just too much work.  But we’re getting things ready to put our house on the market and move up to northwest Austin and I’d really rather not have to replace plants and fill holes.  (And, I want to take some of the great plants with me!)

Nonetheless, there are things blooming in the garden, in spite of the yo-yoing weather. I planted these Ostespermum, African daisy, late summer last year and I’m getting another round be beautiful blooms.

These pass-along white cemetery iris bloom first among all the iris in the garden. They’ve made the rounds among most of the Austin garden bloggers so they brighten gardens all around town.

I can always count on the bulbs and love the daffodils in my garden.

I’ve had these in the garden for a long time.  It’s called yellow fortune.   The contrast of the almost orange cup with the bright yellow makes a colorful display.  I’ve taken to collecting different varieties of daffodils over the years.  It’s fun to see who comes up each year.

These ice follies have naturalized and definitely need to be divided.  Hmmm…a good opportunity to take some with me to a new garden once we find a house.

The flowering quince makes a lovely backdrop for these frilly, delicate daffodils, called double campernelle.  She’s getting lost in the quince and the primrose jasmine beside her, so I may have to rescue her and bring her with me as well. (See how I keep adding to my list?)

 

The native Texas Mountain Laurels continue to bloom – only the open blooms succumbed to the cold.

Some of the trees hadn’t even produced buds yet, so I will get to enjoy the Kool-Aid, grapey-goodness scent of these beautiful evergreen trees for weeks to come.  And, when brought into the house as part of a cut flower bouquet, I can continue to appreciate Mother Nature’s air freshener!

It was hard to cut back the roses when I had several blooms on Archduke Charles, but I brought them inside and pruned the rest.

The four roses in the new rose parterre aren’t all the same height at maturity, so keeping them similar requires careful pruning.

Livin’ easy, grandma’s yellow and ebb tide show no signs of emerging buds yet.

 

Catmint remains one of my garden favorites.  Mostly evergreen with a compact, clearly defined form, it stays orderly in places where I want a small mounding plant.

‘Walkers low’ makes a pretty, reliable border plant, getting only about 12-14″ in my garden.  Advertised as getting up to 24″ tall, that’s not my experience and I’ve had them for several years.

I’ve enjoyed them in the front bed and last year expanded their reach into a few other beds as well.

The Mexican honeysuckle on the trellis behind the green goblet agave is awash with coral-y/salmon-y blooms.  They grow up into the air and over the fence, draping delicately onto the side of the greenhouse roof.

Hinkley’s columbine has started blooming and brightens up the woodland path garden.

The prairie verbena loves this spot by the street.  Hot and dry, this bed bears the brunt of the full, scorching Texas sun.  The perennial verbena provides a beautiful, soft contrast to the ginormous squid agave next to it.

I think we’re finished with freezes here in Central Texas.

I’m ready to start working in the garden and soaking up the spring sunshine.

How ’bout you?

 

 

Bulbs and bores … hellebores, that is

The promise of spring bursts from the irises in my garden today. This clump of stunning blooms, passalongs from Pam Penick, of Digging, has come into its own this year.  She calls them Shoshanna’s irises, named for a friend who passed them along to her.

Last week, I was lamenting that our exceptionally warm winter didn’t do my hellebores any favors.  There were no blooms in sight and with a heavy sigh I gave up hope of flowers for this year.  Less than a week later – voila!  Blooms galore.  She must have known I was sad.

 You can see here that she was trying to hide those buds and blooms – like hellebores do — but I helped Phoebe posed for photos this morning so you could see her.

Any hellebores in your garden?

A garden path less traveled…

On Sunday we finally got to join our host, Christopher, of Outside Clyde, at his mountain top garden, Ku’ulei’Aina, (which means My Beloved Land) and his mother’s neighboring garden, Bonnie Brae (as the steep mountain path winds). It was a beautiful, warm day, filled with sunshine and the sweet smell of green on the mountain top. We started with a delicious fresh lunch outside and then scattered about like little beetles, seeking a path less traveled to explore between the two quaint cottages.

 This cairn at the entrance to the property gives guests a rustic welcome.

Christopher built the house, which is literally perched on the mountainside. 

We all listen to the history of the two houses and gardens and get our guidance for winding through the mountain paths.

I didn’t get the history of this old fireplace, but I’m sure it has stories to tell of days gone by.

I couldn’t stop looking at the azaleas.  The early spring meant there weren’t very many still in bloom.  We did see quite a few of the tangerine-colored ones — I assume they bloom a little bit later.

Nestled in the very green of the woods were clusters of every kind of flower imaginable.  Some of them just popping up on the mountain, countless numbers of others, carefully yet randomly planted to contribute to the natural look and feel of the winding paths.

This is Christopher’s mother’s deck.  The view was incredible – I’m sure every post has the next picture in it.  Carol, of May Dreams Gardens is sure to have one in her post!  Though I didn’t photograph it, I did enjoy sitting on another small circular deck, a few steps down from this one and under the canopy of some beautiful trees.

On our way back over to Christopher’s we were all impressed with this huge boulder with the stream running out from under it. 

His stone labyrinth was inviting and I’m sure all 93 of us took a turn wandering through it.

I caught this little guy trying to crash our party.  We were all having such a wonderful time, I don’t think anyone else noticed!

THANK YOU, Christopher, and your whole team, for a wonderful Fling and for sharing your own garden with us all.  It was amazing and I’m so glad to have been able to see it firsthand.

Early bloomers are putting on a show in the spring garden

Even though it’s only March, it’s already spring here in Central Texas.

After our exceptionally mild winter and welcome rains, the early bloomers are already hard at work in my garden.

In addition to the daffodils I included in my last post, many of the other perennials are already flowering.

This loropetalum is bursting with hot pink fringe-like blooms.

It’s the one I’ve pruned to become a small tree.

These pretty little blooms below called to me at the Natural Gardener last week.

And as soon as I started typing, the name flew out of my head! I’m sure you know just what they are – they aren’t mums, they might be gaillardia.


The wisteria is starting to bloom. Like last year, there is some growth on the back side of the fence, but there are plenty of buds for me to enjoy inside the fence.
I love looking at the Mexican plum tree buds against the pretty blue sky.
The stone wall makes a nice backdrop for the trailing lavender lantana behind the pool.
The hellebores would have preferred a colder winter, but some of them are giving me some blooms — this is ‘winter’s wren.’
The strawberries are blooming their ever-loving heads off! Soon we will be able to eat more than one ripe one at a time. I long for the day when we get a small bowl full.
My absolute favorite low-grower is ‘homestead’ verbena. That bright purple color is just stunning.
All of my blackfoot daisies are back again from last year. You just can’t beat these little guys for drought tolerance.
The alyssum is mounding up all over along the rock path already.

‘May night’ salvia can do great in the garden here, but my luck with them has been hit and miss. I love their low-growing form, but they are hard to get established.
Kallie’s window box is full of little pretties that I got last weekend at the Natural Gardener.
After some slacking last year, many of my irises are showing off for the first time. I don’t know the name of the purple or the white iris, though I believe the white one may be a pass along from Pam of Digging or Annie of The Transplantable Rose.

As always, Fletcher wanted to know what I was doing in the garden with that camera around my neck, so he had to come check out the salvia, too! I’m sure he thought there must be something edible in there!

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