Arrangements
Of course, I love to garden. But I also love to make flower arrangements! I think flower arranging is my first true love. Well, that and flower gathering, which, as a kid, I sometimes did in places where one isn't supposed to gather flowers. Ahem. Well, that is a story for another day!
The first few years we lived in this house I didn't pick too many flowers, as there wasn't much of a surplus. I rationed them out - a stalk of yellow primrose here, a few purple clematis there. But this year, I finally felt I had enough that I could splurge! As well, there were a surprising number of new wildflowers - daisies, monk's hood, flowering oregano, so those went into the mix too.
And what a mix it was!
Look at this gorgeousness - monk's hood, hydrangea, flowering oregano and phlox from my garden; globe amaranth and some other pink flower that I bought as annuals and in a flower basket. Glorious! And see how artistically I posed them, on a weathered stump? This bouquet is entitled "Sweet Sunshine". What fun!
Some serious dazzlement going on here, with flowers all grown in my garden: sapphire blue larkspur, ragged red monarda (bee balm), ferns, yarrow and daisies. I call this one "Fireworks".
Now, this is sweet. Hosta blooms and leaves, red monarda, pink sweet william, yellow calendula and rudbeckia, flowering oregano, and a happy blanket flower (gaillardia) as the centrepiece! I call this one "Petit Point," after the sweet old-fashioned needlework art.
I had a good profusion of lacy hydrangea by the end of August, so I cut several branches to make this beauty. Also, pink cosmos and purple monk's hood. The name of this one is "Snow Peaks".
An early autumn beauty: yellow rudbeckia and red celosia from a planter I bought, flowering sedum, white cosmos, hydrangea, and cedar boughs. Let's name this one "the Vincent", after Van Gogh, who made sunflowers so popular.
This one is my favourite - though I know that, as a mother, I'm not supposed to have favourites. Yarrow, primrose, pale blue larkspur, red monarda, some coreopsis, and sedum leaves. I call this one "Vermeer's Delight," as the glossy black wood of the table reminds me of the glossy dark backgrounds of his famous flower paintings.
I picked and arranged all of these bouquets myself; my kids, remarkably, don't pick any of the flowers in the garden. I don't know if this is because they fear my wrath, or because they are uninterested in the blooms. A bit of both, I think! Next year, though I will encourage them to put together some bouquets - the bounty of the garden increases each year!
As you can imagine, I would love to have a cutting garden...flowers intended not for admiring, but for snipping and plucking. Last year I tried to do this - I planted some pretty pink double tulips in a vegetable bed, and planned to pick them. Alas, the bulbs were old (left over from the year before) so they came out pale and spindly, and then the squirrels got them before I could. I may make some new beds this year, and designate them just for cutting flowers. Then I'll have flowers for me to admire, flowers for me to pick, and flowers for my kids to pick. Wouldn't that be grand!
The first few years we lived in this house I didn't pick too many flowers, as there wasn't much of a surplus. I rationed them out - a stalk of yellow primrose here, a few purple clematis there. But this year, I finally felt I had enough that I could splurge! As well, there were a surprising number of new wildflowers - daisies, monk's hood, flowering oregano, so those went into the mix too.
And what a mix it was!
Look at this gorgeousness - monk's hood, hydrangea, flowering oregano and phlox from my garden; globe amaranth and some other pink flower that I bought as annuals and in a flower basket. Glorious! And see how artistically I posed them, on a weathered stump? This bouquet is entitled "Sweet Sunshine". What fun!
Some serious dazzlement going on here, with flowers all grown in my garden: sapphire blue larkspur, ragged red monarda (bee balm), ferns, yarrow and daisies. I call this one "Fireworks".
Now, this is sweet. Hosta blooms and leaves, red monarda, pink sweet william, yellow calendula and rudbeckia, flowering oregano, and a happy blanket flower (gaillardia) as the centrepiece! I call this one "Petit Point," after the sweet old-fashioned needlework art.
I had a good profusion of lacy hydrangea by the end of August, so I cut several branches to make this beauty. Also, pink cosmos and purple monk's hood. The name of this one is "Snow Peaks".
An early autumn beauty: yellow rudbeckia and red celosia from a planter I bought, flowering sedum, white cosmos, hydrangea, and cedar boughs. Let's name this one "the Vincent", after Van Gogh, who made sunflowers so popular.
This one is my favourite - though I know that, as a mother, I'm not supposed to have favourites. Yarrow, primrose, pale blue larkspur, red monarda, some coreopsis, and sedum leaves. I call this one "Vermeer's Delight," as the glossy black wood of the table reminds me of the glossy dark backgrounds of his famous flower paintings.
I picked and arranged all of these bouquets myself; my kids, remarkably, don't pick any of the flowers in the garden. I don't know if this is because they fear my wrath, or because they are uninterested in the blooms. A bit of both, I think! Next year, though I will encourage them to put together some bouquets - the bounty of the garden increases each year!
As you can imagine, I would love to have a cutting garden...flowers intended not for admiring, but for snipping and plucking. Last year I tried to do this - I planted some pretty pink double tulips in a vegetable bed, and planned to pick them. Alas, the bulbs were old (left over from the year before) so they came out pale and spindly, and then the squirrels got them before I could. I may make some new beds this year, and designate them just for cutting flowers. Then I'll have flowers for me to admire, flowers for me to pick, and flowers for my kids to pick. Wouldn't that be grand!
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