Each Little World

Similar bouquet, different dates

May 27, 2012: With temps slated to hit the 90 degree mark over the holiday weekend, I decided to bring some of the beautiful bounty of the garden indoors where we could enjoy it. I remembered creating a bouquet a few years ago in this same chartreuse vase that had peonies and the little stems of pink flowers from coral bells (Heuchera). When I went looking to see what I had done in that bouquet that I so fondly remembered, I discovered that I used a much more limited color palette. This time I added a 'Border Charm' yellow intersectional peony, some catmint, old German irises, bronze fennel and a bit of sprirea whose flowers haven't opened yet.

In addition to the color differences, I discovered that the flowers I used in my 2012 bouquet were blooming almost three weeks earlier than when I created the display below on June 15, 2009. Just one more sign of our accelerated spring! The pink peony is the same one in each picture but picked early below and near the end of the bloom sequence when the color is much paler above. And the Heuchera bells are from a different variety as well. The  daylily above is 'Cricket' while the species or lemon lily is on the left and Dumort's in the center below. The limey green flowers are Lady's Mantle and a few flowers of Geranium cantabrigiense 'Biokovo' are peeking out here and there.

Mark's favorite peony

There is nothing Mark likes better than flowers that are past their prime. When he goes out into the garden to take pictures for the blog, I never know what to expect. Same thing when it comes to cut flowers in arrangements in the house. He's taken dozens of shots of this white peony from Seneca Hill Perennials as it fades and the petals becomes more and more elongated and transparent. Since this is a young plant, I brought the second bloom indoors to enjoy as I didn't want the peony to use any energy setting seed. He won't let me toss the arrangment as there's lots more life to it from his photographic point of view!

Flowers in interiors

I splurged on Ngoc Mihn Ngo's new book, "Bringing Nature Home," as a treat for my birthday earlier this month. Though I have been pouring over its pictures, I've yet to actually use any images or techniques to create my own bouquets. Instead her lush little volume sent me to my garden bookshelves to see how my long-time favorite titles in this genre hold up. The answer is surprisingly well; or maybe it's just that they are such old friends they still look good to me and still have lots to say. 

"Flower Arranging," 1979: This book, published by Conran Octopus, features the work of six designers who are from the U.K. Of particular note are the bouquets of the late great British interior designer, David Hicks. I've always been a big fan of HIcks and these images focus on his "tablescapes," little arrangements of art, interesting objects and something from the garden. 

"Madderlake Flowers Rediscovered," 1985: Madderlake was the florist in the 1980s. Their designs featured lots of garden flowers but they also used lots of orchids and other exotics. Like Ngoc Mihn Ngo's book, the interiors where these bouquets appear are as captivating as the floral designs. Madderlake does fall and funk particularly well. The pictures are all as captivating as the flowers with many different photographers credited, including Shelia Metzner whose deco interiors jump off the page. Published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang whose art books in the 1980s were all noteworthy.

Alan Boehmer, one of the three talents behind Madderlake, worked at Chris Kerwin Antiques and Interiors in Madison for a time — giving us a link to Madderlake's big city glamour.

"Decorating with Flowers," 1990: This is the only book that concentrates on the work of one floral artist — Ronaldo Maia — with text by Denise Otis who was the editor of House and Garden at the time, and photos by Ernst Beadle. A big format book, even more extravagant than the previous two titles. This is the one book where I can point to floral creations that I copied right down to the containers. (And looking at these pictures makes me regret getting rid of some of those containers). Maia even inspired me enough that I planted specific flowers in my garden so I could replicate his arrangments with them. He is the first person I remember showing how to make a splash with carnations or gladioli. And the book has twenty-one pages of tips and how-to instructions, complete with step-by-step photos, making it a still valuable resource.

All three books are still available through on-line used book resources and I often see them in brick and mortar secondhand book shops as well.

Recycling paper bags and newspapers

I recently bought a beautiful Japanese ikebana basket from SRI, which is located in the NYC area. My bamboo basket arrived in a big but lightweight cardboard box. When I opened the box I discovered my basket lovingly secured in the midst of packing material created by loosely hand-rolling newspapers up into fat sausages. A piece of tape held the edge in place. The same technique was used on brown grocery bags that had the bottoms cut off and a cut made down one side to flatten them out prior to rolling. Small bags were stuffed with newspaper and even all the bottoms from the grocery bags were combined into their own plump roll. I had to take a couple of pictures and share this wonderful idea from Stephen at SRI to create a soft and environmentally friendly packaging material with the things that all of us have on hand. 

No flowers needed for this vase

Though we have an Anthropologie store in Madison, I don't shop there much. I'm not skinny enough, cool enough or young enough for most of their clothing. But a purchase now and then means I'm on the mailing list for their catalog — which is how I discovered this vase. As a gardener, I am a follower of the philosophy that one can never have too many vases. Most of the ones I own, however, are very restrained: wood-fired ceramics in natural clay colors, some clear glass styles and one or two slightly more colorful containers.

But none are as bright and bold as Anthropologie's "Curvey Chrysanthemum Vase." Though they call the color "mint,"  I think it's more of a soft teal. And given that we have a fair amount of teal and red in our interior, it should be at home in a number of locations. At nine inches tall and six inches wide, it also doesn't take up a lot of space. Best of all, it doesn't really need flowers! Though I can picture it with a big mum like its ceramic counterpart or perhaps red Gerbera daisies or twiggy red dogwood stems, it looks great just as it is. It's already brightening our winter landscape indoors.

Foliage Follow-up: 01.16.2012

 

As I mentioned yesterday, much of the garden is slowly disappearing under the snow. We do have a few bouquets of foliage from our garden decorating the house indoors, however. One of them is a small vase I've mentioned before. Another equally small container sits on the edge of the bathroom sink, and is filled with foliage clipped from Heucheras and Heucherellas that I picked from the garden in late October or early November.

The size of that bouquet is shrinking as the various leaves fade away, so I created a new larger foliage arrangement last Wednesday before the weather turned wintry. This one contains leaves from Hellebores, Autumn ferns, Arum italicum and Gentsch White Hemlock branches. Everything but the hemlock is now under the snow. But most of them will be sporting green when the snow melts next Spring.

To see what kind of foliage other gardeners are celebrating today, visit Pam Penick who hosts Foliage Follow-up on her blog, Digging, on the sixteenth of every month. 

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 12.15.2011

This year, I am happy to report that we are not buried under snow here in southern Wisconsin; something that's pretty much been the case the last few years. That doesn't mean, however, that there are flowers blooming outdoors in the garden — except for a few hardy streamers of Witch Hazel and errant Hellebore buds. But we are not without flowers for the monthly celebration of Garden Blogger's Bloom Day as this arrangement of all the silvery, glittery, girly items massed on my bathroom vanity demonstrates!

 

 

 

 

 

The Art Nourveau silver mirror, hair brushes etc. belonged to my maternal grandmother, then my mother and now they've come to me. 

To see what's blooming indoors and out, in gardens near and far, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this monthly botanical adventure.

The babe in the bath

There is nothing that gives me more outright garden fun than giving this little lady seasonal hats. Here's her latest. She's on the bathroom vanity along with a lacy maidenhair fern. Both the Coleus and the Heuchera leaves have rooted, so — with a little luck — she can wear a green hat all winter.

Bringing fall indoors

 

I cut the last of the toad lilies and assorted foliage on Nov. 2 to enjoy indoors. By the end of the first week, some of the ferns and other plants were dying. So I did a little rearranging and added some dried Hydrangeas to perk things up. But the backbone plants of the garden — Hellebores, Heucheras, native Pachysandra, NY ferns and an Araum Italicum — have been indoors in water for a little over two weeks and are still going strong. One more reason to celebrate foliage!

My too late summer containers

When garden blogger Daniel Mount was recently in Madison looking at potential gardens for a tour by folks from the Pacific Northwest, one of those we visited was the home garden of Jeff Epping, hort director at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison. Seeing Jeff's dozens of garden pots of every size and type — all filled with marvelous plant combinations — inspired me to go home and do something!

First I went looking for a large shallow pot that could hold a group of dwarf evergreens. Amazingly enough I found one locally at the Bruce Company. And it looks like it was made to go with our other large outdoor pots made by Wisconsin artists. I planted this low one with things I already had on hand that were waiting for permanent homes in the garden. I also added a couple of small rocks and two self-seeded white pines. And then mulched it with white pine needles.

On the other side of the deck, I gathered plants that were scattered around the garden (in and out of the ground!), put them in pots and grouped them around the Buddha for emphasis. Not perfect but not bad, considering it was very late in the season to being doing this kind of display.  

Plants in the display include three varieties of Begonias, herbs, and ornamental cabbages that can take the cooler fall temps. 

But the recent frost warnings made me bring everything into the garage for a few days until the overnight temperatures started to rise again. The truth is that many of these plants are going to have to permanently move indoors for the winter any day now. I admit that my containers are a far cry from those at Olbrich, but it's been a fun experiment and certainly has inspired me to give containers more thought in the future.