Make floral arrangements from garden’s bounty
Planting beautiful blooms in your home garden enhances the outside of your home, but the flowers can also add beauty on the interior. All you need to do is cut some of your outside blooms and bring them inside for your enjoyment. One or two flowers brighten up a small space, but several cut stems create a centerpiece for your dinner table.
Among the earliest blooming plants of the year are bulbs. There are many options for bringing these outdoor blooms inside. Tulips, daffodils and the fragrant hyacinths all make beautiful cut flowers. These blossoms will add a little touch of spring to the inside your home. Please note that daffodils are best used independently as their sap may shorten the life of other flowers.
As spring continues, other growing plants provide blooms that may be cut for your enjoyment inside. If your garden contains Spiraea Prunifolia, commonly known as bridal wreath spirea, the white flower clusters may be cut and mixed with other blooms.
Peonies are always a favorite and, if you are lucky enough to grow them, great cut flowers for arrangements. The foliage on the peony is great to use in any arrangement. So, if you are like me and your peonies came up this spring but no blooms appeared, use the foliage in an arrangement.
Larkspur are also early blooming flowers that are just as lovely inside.
Gladiola make great cut flowers. Just be sure the vase is tall enough to accommodate the height.
Roses are great summertime blooms that also make great cut flowers for indoors. Whether it is one bloom or several, cut from your bush and brighten up an indoor space. Even a bathroom can be spruced up by the placement of a small vase of flowers.
Other summertime blooms that make great flowers for indoor arrangements include but are not limited to celosia, daisies, and gerbera daisies, dahlias, zinnias and sunflowers.
If greenery is needed for your arrangement, it may be cut from trees and shrubs growing outside. Eleagnus makes a great silvery foliage. The foliage from ligustrum, nandina, pittosporum, boxwood, and privet works well in floral arrangements. A simple green arrangement, but one that makes a statement, is to use one to three stems of sabal palm and place in a large glass container. A large wine jug is great for this type of arrangement. As you create beautiful arrangements with your cut garden blooms, here are a few guidelines to follow:
Choose a container that is right for the number of stems you have cut.
Make sure that you clean the stems so that no greenery from the flower or foliage falls below the water line of the container.
Recut the stems and refresh the water every two to three days.
With a few vases of various sizes and a small investment of time spent cutting the flowers in your garden, you can bring the beauty of the outdoors into your home throughout the growing season.