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Grow, Gather & Style : Fall Flower Arrangements

 

GROW, GATHER, STYLE

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My speaking engagements for the next year will focus on creating a garden with intention. Whether starting from scratch, adding new plant material or just pointing out existing plants, it is important to have a yard from which you can grow, grab, and style. Meaning I can step out to my yard, snip a handful of greenery or flowers or both and create a lovely arrangement for my home or special occasion. Every time I look at new plants or circle the plants at the garden store,  I am looking for plants that provide beautiful foliage or flowers for my seasonal arrangements. In the next few weeks, I will be writing more about what is in my head when I go plant shopping.  We can make a list of plants to start with or you may have them in your yard and don’t even realize it! We will have plenty to do this fall to get started! And there is plenty to choose from for fall flower arranging!

GROW

I cannot tell you how much I love being able to actually see what is growing all around me! Visualizing is one thing, but thinking of a plant as an actual  ROI –“return on investment” is another. Not just a pretty face, but a real worker. Looks good in the garden, looks good in a vase! Like these lovely mophead hydrangeas–these beautiful ladies look even better to me as they age. I appreciate their crinkles and spots! The blooms are very easy to dry, too, and keep indoors. Hydrangeas add character to your fall flower arrangements.

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GATHER

This is the part that keeps me going! Gathering or harvesting what you have worked so hard to get out of the ground then flourish! Kind of like raising children! Once they are able to be snipped it is so gratifying. This pic shows Zinnias which do well even in to October, sometimes November depending on the weather–heat, cold, rain, etc. I think of Zinnias as accessories to the mopheads above adding just a bit of fire to your fall flower arrangements. The hydrangeas are the “little black dress” and the Zinnias are the earrings! I gather from my garden almost every day.

Easy to Grow Zinnias

Easy to Grow Zinnias

STYLE

Definitely the part where I am consumed by a higher power and able to focus on creating something beautiful–at least to me! If you gather good stuff, you can style good stuff too! We talk about this at FlowerCamp. Robert says that I can make weeds look good. Well, weeds are in the eye of the beholder! This was confirmed for me when Nancy Ross Hugo was my overnight guest and as we walked through my garden she pointed out the many “weeds” and I was horrified! She doesn’t consider them weeds in the sense you and I do. She considers them tiny plants to enjoy in her windowsill artwork. HERE is the link to her Windowsill Arranging.  

Styling has many considerations—the plant material, the container, the location of where you’d like to place your arrangement. Your mood has a lot to do with styling too. I am becoming a slight minimalist in my design work, spilling over into my home. I am sure it will change over time, but for now I am enjoying this mood!

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Flower arranging at FlowerCamp!

 

Fall floral arrangement

 

I look forward to speaking to English Ivy Garden Club, Greenbrier Garden Club and Spade and Trowel Garden Club this fall, and The Garden Club of Aiken in January. We will be conjuring up plant ideas that will pay you back many, many times in flowers, foliage, and pure happiness! I am working toward a yard filled with many “purposeful plants” and I am happy to share the process!

See you soon.

Mary Louise

 

 

 

ML Top 5 Flower Faves.

My TOP 5 Flower Faves.

When someone asks me what flowers would be best for the garden, and limit me to 5 of my favorites–it’s not easy to nail just five down!  I think about weddings when I think about flowers and gardens. What flowers, shrubs and trees are going to give me the most bang for my buck? The most snip time?

Here are 5 plants that flower that I adore. I depend on them a LOT as individual flowers, as filler and for visual appeal. I could add many, many more to the list and as soon as my swanky new website is complete perhaps we will do an early spring run through of this years fashionable garden must haves!

For now, here is an easy list.

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1. Hydrangea gives you tons of bang for your buck. Looks fabulous in the garden, people ooohhh and ahhhh over them no matter where they show up! They are just enough by themselves in a vase or when added with roses, snapdragons, and other beauties they make everyone else look good. There are many, many varieties of hydrangea–that gives me another blog post idea!!

2.  Camellia/sasanqua  have drop dead gorgeous blooms that you can either “float” in water or use as a star in flower arrangements. The leaves make excellent backdrops for boutonnieres and the buds can be added to arrangements too. Camellias are green all year long adding structure to the garden.

3.   Snapdragons are an old fashioned flower full of goodness. Buy only the tallest of the tall. If it doesn’t grow on a long stem, it’s usually not allowed into the club of cut flowers…

4. Hosta, you ask?  Flower?  I wanted to toss this shade loving beauty not only because it grows in the shade and several varieties have variegation which will add light to the darker parts of your yard BUT this flower will pay you back twice.  We all love the hosta leaf for sinking in that clear vase, but use it in arrangements to add a little freshness. I was amazed this summer after clipping the tall hosta bloom growing at Sam’s school. OMG—the beautiful flowers can stand alone, but the SMELL was so surprising. I had no idea.

5.  I shovel pruned about 12 hybrid tea roses after 3 years of spending my Saturdays spraying and fertilizing and babying those buggers. They went out and Knock Out roses moved in. Given some good soil, water and attention a couple of times a year, they will show off for you and you will thank me.

 

So there you go. Top 5. I am surprised by the list, but I wanted to give you some variety. And within each group there is a LOT of variety.

Next up, my favorite summer herbs, summer annuals , perennials, shrubs and trees. In my opinion they should all pay you back with food or flower.

See you.

ML