"Did you paint them?"

Sometimes teenagers and "flowers" are an hilarious combination. I put "flowers" in brackets as my flowers this week are again a bunch of twigs. 

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One of our neighbour's tree produces really nice catkins in early spring so I cut a few overhanging branches in the hope that they -in the warmth of the house- will open in a few days. I combined them with dogwood (cornus) from a friend's garden and of course I have promised the friend at least one nice bunch this summer in return. For now though, things are pretty cold and this morning even covered in snow (which doesn't help capturing the colours of the stems, by the way.)

Inside the house the vase became a bit of a talking point, with one of the teenagers wondering if this was really nature. "Did you paint them?". I strongly denied that I got the toddler's paint out. Honestly, dogwood really produces these bright yellow-orange and red stems!

The great thing about seasons is that they come again!

The great thing about seasons is that they come and go and then come again. I'm so pleased that it is January because the Daphne odora Aureomarginata is in flower again. 

I took me a few days to make up my mind about my bunch for this week. There is plenty of interesting branches and foliage around like hazel catkins, ivy berries and various dogwoods, from bright yellow to fire red, to name a few, but with the Daphne in flower, I knew I had to do something with that. 

The flower of Daphne odora Aureomarginata are pretty nondescript, but they make up for that with their wonderful, powerful scent. I added some yellow roses that are still on my Golden Celebration bush - although I do doubt that they will actually be able to handle the heating inside. We'll see. 

I also added some viburnum flowers and for foliage, rosemary and fern leaves. The little vase is on the bar now and it's a delight to walk past it.

A bunch of dried flowers

Dried flowers probably remind people of rooms that are in desperate need of redecorating. Where one feels the urge to throw out the dusty bunch of pale dried whatsits along with the cheap brown furniture and the 1960s flowery wallpaper. 

However, in my opinion, dried flowers are great and they are underrated. Some flowers show off their intricacies much better when dried and they are perfect for putting flowers in those badly lit areas like for example our hall. 

For dark rooms fake flowers are of course also an option. Although they will remain "perfect" they will also gather dust and eventually they will no doubt start to bore you. Dried flowers are a much better option. They are the real thing and thus more environmentally friendly. Come next season, you can just replace them without feeling guilty at all!

So this week a bunch of dried flowers as indeed I have thrown out the bunch I had in the hall. Last year I specifically grew Statice (Limonium sinuatum) and Strawflower (Helichrysum bracteatum - see picture below) for drying. My first sowing never showed probably because of the slugs. The second sowing went okay. Although the number of harvested flowers was slightly disappointing, it still suffices for at least two bunches together with common yellow yarrow (Achillea) and seedheads of oriental poppies and Love-in-a-mist.

The trick with any flower that you want to airdry is to pick them at the right moment. For strawflowers this is not straightforward as multiple flowers are produced on one stem which inevitably means that the main flower is too far ahead at the moment that the other ones are just right ie just about to open. In my bunch I have used both the ones that are just right and the ones that are probably a bit too far ahead. It's nature after all. 

Interestingly, statice is often used in fresh bouquets, but strawflowers look really out of place in a fresh bunch - and believe me, I've tried. 

Maybe I'll be a bit more adventurous this year and grow more varieties for drying. For now, just a few pictures of my new little bucket of flowers for the hall. 

Note, I have used some grey oasis ie dried floral foam which, if I'm honest, is probably not very environmentally friendly. The picture with the wine glass is to show how small the arrangement actually is. 

A bunch of twigs for the first vase of 2015

That came around quickly. I'd given myself time off from gardening over the holiday season, thinking there was still an eternity to do everything that needs doing this winter. Looking at the calendar right now I realise that the eternity has been reduced to a matter of weeks or for some jobs, at least less than three months. 

I've decided that making a to do list is too depressing, so I am just going to focus on the jobs that are most urgent and hope that in that way I'll get everything done. At the moment that's sowing broad beans, another batch of sweet peas and also preparing for planting the new fruit trees that will be delivered next week.

It'll be no surprise that the flowers are few and far between. Even the winter ones like Helleborus and Daphe odora are not yet fully in bloom. The only ones that I could find on my allotment were some Euphorbia oblongata which, if I'm honest, are past their best if you look close up. I combined them with some globe artichoke leaves, curry plant branches and dogwood (Cornus) twigs, making a slightly more architectural bunch then one I would pick mid-summer. So it's mainly a bunch of twigs, but one that nevertheless makes a nice vase for inside. 

Challenge completed (well apart from writing every week, that is)

So much for writing every week. Life, especially building work, has taken over a bit, so I just haven't been able to find the time to write my blogs. But I have been doing my flowers. So hereby, a few days before Christmas a quick overview of the last two (!) months.

  

November 1: the last one from the allotment: Cobea Scandens, Euphorbia Oblongata, Verbena Bonariensis, Carnation, Ageratum, Chrysanthemum coronarium 'Primrose Gem' and whatever else I could find.

November 2: Hardly any flowers left in the garden so hence an arrangement with eucalyptus, rosemary, ornamental grass and the last of the Sedum Herbstfreude.

November 3: Okay, no flowers, but a bunch nevertheless. Various little pumpkins (which will be eaten later later this year), with some rosemary sprigs and James Wong's Popcorn Fiesta. The rosemary sprigs last a good week without water. 

December 1: A wreath for the front door made from willow, ivy and led lights, the latter of course should last me a few years. 

December 2: Another wreath, this one for indoors made from willow with pine cones, callicarpa berries and (obviously not from the garden) cinnamon sticks and ribbon. Ivy does last relatively well without water (which is great if you want to avoid the use of environmentally un-friendly floral foam). At this moment the only parts, both indoors and out, that have wilted a bit (but they are not brown or anything) are the sprigs with the flowers/berries. So do avoid those or just replace those after two weeks. My garden is never short of ivy!

December 3: I planted up these forced paperwhite daffodils in September and they have been flowering now for more than a week! Absolutely gorgeous. I am definitely not going to limit myself to five bulbs next year! They were flopping over a bit, so I cut some twigs from to keep them up and added some ivy at the bottom of the pot to hide the pot and the bare earth. 

December 4: I bought these led candles, as then they can be "lit" while completely surrounded by foliage and I used up my last bit of floral foam (ever?!?). I picked eucalyptus, holly, rosemary and lavender sprigs for this table piece. The whole house was smelling great while making it!

So this concludes my year of putting a bunch of home-grown flowers on the table (nearly) every week. In addition to flowers for myself, I also gave lots away as presents. 

It was a true challenge every now and again. But always a very enjoyable one. It made me think outside the box. I only went a little bit over budget, mainly because of the paperwhite daffodils. 

I'll continue with my bunches in 2015. So what remains now is to wish you

Happy holidays and a wonderful, happy, healthy and especially garden-wise a very enjoyable 2015!   

Who ate my chrysanthemums?

This year for the second time in my life I have tried to grow Chrysanthemums, the ones with the long stems that you usually see in the shops. Having seen pictures of some people having these outdoors in huge quantities, I thought I'd give it a try again. The last time I tried the plug plants didn't do much, but with a few more years of gardening experience and a larger greenhouse I thought I should give it another go. 

Second time lucky! I got some flowers this year of all 6 plants which I kept in the greenhouse. I realised a few weeks ago, that staking would have been a great idea too and probably if I had fed them a bit more and potted them on a bit more, I am sure they would have done even better. However, with just the one zigzag bunch and possibly more next year, I'm happy for now. 

That was until I found that in the last few days something has been eating the flowers! Not the leaves, just the flowers! The culprits were found quickly enough as they had previously ravished my mizuna (rocket type salad leaves) and those that escaped obviously moved on to greener pastures or in this case the more coloured pastures of my chrysanthemums!

Left with about half of the flowers that I had, I decided that the only thing to do was to add some other flowers to the bunch. Last week's Euphorbia oblongata was still doing fine and thus presented itself as the obvious candidate as it compliments rather than distracts from the vibrant chrysantemum blooms. 

So next year more plant food, more potting on and more vigilance with regards to caterpillars. For now though, I am enjoying my first bunch of home grown chrysanthemums. 

The last day of October

On the last day of October, the warmest Halloween since records began, and more importantly the end of the growing season, I am picking up where I left it exactly three weeks ago. Since then I had loads and loads of flowers: Cobae Scandens, sedum, cosmos, chrysanthemums, dahlia's, ageratum, roses and many more. As I may have mentioned before, we're doing a house extension which meant that in the last two weeks I spent most of my time painting and wallpapering, and it is by no means finished ... 

I did do some bunches of flowers though. It's just that I didn't get around to write about them. In between the painting I have also tried to sow some flowers for next year and I am pleased to say that a few of them, the sweet peas and the cornflowers in particular, have germinated and are doing well. 

So below a few pictures from the last few weeks as well as today's vase with cosmos, ageratum, Euphorbia oblongata and sunflowers. This year I spent a lot of time deadheading and it has paid off. The sunflowers have really responded well to this, to my surprise, and six plants have given me continuous flowers for three months! They have gotten smaller over time but are as charming as they have ever been. 

 Cosmos

 Cosmos, dahlia's from seeds (the pink/purple ones), Dahlia Karma Choc

Rose Queen of Sweden, Chrysantemums (Korean hybrid), Dianthus 'Green Trick', and white Snapdragons (Antirrhinums).

Whereas the sunflowers started off to be double or triple the size of the cosmos in August, they are now the same size and as cute as ever.