Cutting flowers

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WAY BEHIND!

Judging by my last post I am way behind. It is almost Christmas! To celebrate I just bought a camellia  sasanqua ‘Yuletide’. I can’t believe I waited so long before adding  this one to the garden. Actually it will be planted at the house  so I can see it from the living room window.

                                                                       Yuletide camellia

The glossy dark green foliage and  bright red single flowers with their golden centers will look fabulous against the white house and are perfect for the season. I plan to cut some and combine them with some holly & berries for the mantle and add Paperwhites for both colour and fragrance.

I’ll post photos of my decorations when they are finally done.  Meanwhile I hope you are all doing well and ready for the Holidays.

What are your favorite flowers for the Holidays?

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SIGNS OF SPRING

Finally there are signs of spring. The weather has been chilly in Georgia for an unusually long spell and bloom times are off.
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Looking out the window, the Snowball Viburnum (Viburnum macrocephalum) is in its beautiful lime green phase and I can see the Yoshino Cherry tree (Prunus subhirtella ‘Yoshino’) blooming in the background.

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These tulips ,below, were planted in the cutting garden about 5 years ago and although I cut them with their foliage every year, they still reappear. I must look up my orders and identify them.

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Next week promises to be warmer and I expect an explosion of blooms. Meanwhile spring pruning is underway (late of course).

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ALMOST MISSED IT!

                                                                                       I was away for the peak bloom of the lilies, in fact I almost missed it. They do bloom  over an extended period of time so I was able to cut a few that are still looking good today.

                                                                                                 My bouquet was pretty sparse this year so I had to fill in with Hydrangeas; three types, Hydrangea paniculata, Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ and Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Penny Mac’

                                                                                                       

Not my usual Beverley Nichols moment but still lovely…..

                                                                                                

I discovered last year, they give off a delightful fragrance….at night.

A HUGE thank you to  ‘Little Augury’ a blog that stimulates and inspires. THANK YOU for that wonderful mention!

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ANOTHER BOUQUET

                                                                                                                     From the cutting garden. Only three stems…

                                                                                                                The fragrance…. intoxicating!

                                                                                                            

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BOOKS AND BOUQUETS

                                                                                 

While  cleaning  the library, I came across the book that was instrumental in changing my life.

                                                                                                

 This book was  on the sale rack at Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Boston 30 years ago.

What an inspiration. I wanted to fill every room with wonderful bouquets…. how difficult could that be? After all, the arrangements in this book were done in a small bathroom in NYC… (with access to the wholesale flower market.)

                                                                                     

Without a nearby flower market but with a perennial catalogue firmly in hand I bravely placed an order. My future son-in law (although we didn’t know it then) cleared a border alongside the house for the plants.

                                                                                            

While I awaited the delivery I read a Gertrude Jekyll book; exactly which one I do not remember, as one of her books inevitably led to the next. The one thing I  did know , was that the plants had to be arranged beautifully out-of-doors as well as supply material for bouquets.

                                                                                                      

I soon discovered that plants take a few years to develop, and flower arranging is way harder than it looks. Still I am glad for the experience, it makes me so appreciate the talent of my friends who can ‘throw’ an incredible arrangement together in a heartbeat!

                                                                                          

 30 years later my bouquets are  simple and mostly easy one of a kind blossoms from shrubs not perennials, they require way too much maintenance.

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

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FROM GARDEN TO VERANDA

 

                                                             

Bringing bouquets from the garden onto the veranda is a nice way to connect the garden to the house.

                                                                               

None of the big pots of hydrangeas  are here yet. I wait till the 15th of April before taking them out of the Bothy. That is our last frost date.

                                                                                     

As mentioned in earlier posts; If they make good companions in the garden they will combine well in the vase.

Going to post a Spring Garden Tour…stay tuned.