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Simple Annual Flower Arrangement from the Garden – Cut Flowers
Every once and a while, I’ll make a cut flower arrangement that I really like. While most of my favorites feature “fancier” flowers like peonies or ranunculus, this one is different. I really enjoyed making this vase of flowers because of the simplicity. Not only does this one turn out it be beautiful, but it features easy to grow annual flowers that are a breeze for beginners. In fact, every single flower in the arrangement can be direct sown from seed after all chance of frost has passed. Awesome! I planted these bedding marigolds in the spring using the winter sowing method. The germination rate was absolutely amazing, and I…
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The ‘Hot Mess Express’ Flower Arrangement – Cut Flower Garden
In general, I try really hard to post consistently here on the blog and over on YouTube. After all, building some kind of online persona isn’t easy. Well actually, it may come really naturally for some people – but, not me. I’m scatter-brained and socially awkward. Some days, I definitely feel the stress when I know that I need to make more content. This particular day, it really seemed like I had a lot going against me. Most notably, it was hot. Like, really hot. Unfortunately, as I picked the flowers for this cut flower arrangement, most of them wilted almost immediately. Here’s hoping that I’ll have better luck next…
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Cup and Saucer Vine Catches Flies? – Cut Flower Garden
For the first time, I’ve been really successful with cup and saucer vine (cathedral bells vine). The germination was great, and the plants climbed easily up my fence with practically no assistance from me. In fact, the tendrils are actually really cool. Though tiny, they seem to act more like little suction cups that will adhere to any textured surface. At the beginning of the season, the vine quickly reached the top of the fence. I was happy to see this, as I was hoping that it would continue to sprawl and cover it completely. On the other side of my fence is where I keep my nasty, gross…
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Harvesting Onions from the Garden
When it comes to growing onions, I can confidently say that I am a failure. I’ve tried so many times, yet I always manage to come up with less than ideal results. I see people in the Pacific northwest grow enormous onions. Maybe my weather here in the south is just too hot? I’ve heard that you really need to feed these plants A LOT of nitrogen. Maybe I’m simply not adding enough throughout the growing season. Before you leave a comment about day length, don’t worry. I’m definitely planting the right types of onions for my growing zone. It’s just regardless of the method I choose – onion…
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Bright Summer Purples Flower Arrangement with Dahlias and Zinnias
Undoubtedly, one of my least favorite parts of summer is the mosquitoes. Right now, it’s almost impossible to enjoy the garden, let alone go outside without being bitten by what feels like hundreds of mosquitoes. I can only imagine that this has been made much worse by the heavy rains this year. However, I was able to apply some repellent (and light a citronella candle) to make this summer flower arrangement from the cut flower garden. The first flower that I picked was a large handful of the Benary’s Giant Lilac zinnias. These zinnias, in particular, are absolutely thriving this year. I’ve picked their flowers about four times so far,…
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Summer Hydrangea Cut Flower Arrangement – Cut Flower Garden
The hot and humid weather of summer is officially here. In fact, we’ve had a thunderstorm almost every day for the past two weeks. This means that the garden is filled with both weeds and with mosquitoes. Ugh! The mosquitoes are so bad. Anyway, let’s make a flower arrangement! The last of the larkspur is finishing up in the yard. These are really the last usable stems, as the rain has totally battered the plants. The wind (and a rogue pumpkin vine) has almost completely flattened the entire cutting patch. Oh, well. The hydrangea bush in the yard is also blooming. It had a grand total of three flowers this…
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Summer Pastels Cut Flower Arrangement from the Cut Flower Garden
Sometime around the middle of summer each year, I always start to feel like I’m running out of flowers. Most of this comes from the fact that my growing space is so limited. Without any space, it’s impossible for me to succession sow. Once the flowers are done, there is usually a huge gap in time before whatever replaced them started to bloom. This means that I sometimes need to be creative. While things like the larkspur are very reliable, I often find myself looking for different types of fillers and foliage for my cut flower arrangements. This season, I’ve been really experimenting with petunias. I’ve never seen anyone use…
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Growing Love in a Mist Nigella in the Cut Flower Garden
When I first started learning to grow flowers, there were a lot of plants that I had never seen before in real life. In starting the cut flower patch I decided that I would try each type of flower at least once and then make a judgement whether I would continue growing them. I wasn’t really sure about love in a mist. Nothing about them really appealed to me. I mean, the colors were fine. However, I didn’t particularly think that I would like the shape of them. As it would turn out, I was wrong! Love in a mist is a hardy annual flower. That’s fancy talk that means…
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Sunflower + Zinnia Cut Flower Arrangement – Summer Cut Flower Garden
Over the last few weeks, we’ve been getting a lot of rain. Seriously, several inches everyday. While this is great for plant growth, it can definitely be a little rough on the flowers that are already in bloom. Top heavy plants like the sunflowers have started to topple over, especially. I decided to pick them and make a cut flower arrangement. Nearly all of my mason jars/vases are missing. I have no idea what happened to them. Anyway, I’m doing something a little different today. This is a wicker basket that I received a gift in. All I did was fill up some styrofoam cups with water, and then place…
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Summer Pinks: Larkspur and Zinnia Cut Flower Arrangement
Early summer arrangements from the cut flower garden are always among my favorites. The hardy annual flowers are usually starting to finish blooming, and the summer annuals are just getting started. This period of bloom overlap allows for some really beautiful flower vases. Let’s take a look at this mega pink one that I made recently. First, I needed to grab some larkspur. The larkspur is in full bloom right now. I can’t remember the name of the variety that I planted last fall, but it’s very lovely. The pink flowers within the mix are especially interesting. Many of the darker pink blooms have variegated petals. So pretty! To this…
