The First Bloom of the New Year - Pink and White Amaryllis

Fall Colors: an Arrangement of Mophead Hydrangeas

The Cutting Garden: The Joy of Spring Tulips

One of my early posts on Heirloom Gardener was "Creating Space for a Garden: the Cutting Garden" in which I wrote about transforming the small 15x30 foot side yard from an unused space into a delightful little Cutting Garden.

These past few weeks have been a joy in the Cutting Garden, as the tulips (pictured) have begun to bloom.

Fresh cut tulips bring such great joy throughout my home, as well as to the homes of my friends, and the variety that you are able to grow at home is so much more amazing than what you can purchase.

And, as I mentioned in my Ten Tips for Planning a Children's Garden, I plant enough in the Cutting Garden that my children can cut as many tulips as they wish without me worrying that they've cut too many.

Lastly, growing them in the fenced-in Cutting Garden protects them from the deer (though not the squirrels and chipmunks), that I wrote about in What I've Learned About Growing Tulips in New Jersey.

Freshly Cut Crocuses from the Garden

In my post on Ten Tips for Planning a Children's Garden, tip #6 was "Allow [the children] to cut flowers...They love making vases for our home and to give to friends." The children have been making vases of the snowdrops and winter aconite for a few weeks now, but just this week, enough of the crocuses that I posted for March's Bloom Day are starting to blossom that they have begun to cut them too. For these small, early spring bulbs, I like using bud vases like the ones pictured that you can place all around the house.

Beautiful Display of Forced Ceris Branches

Of all of my forced branches this season, this display of ceris Forest Pansy branches is the highlight. About three weeks ago, I cut about eight branches three to four feet in length. The first week, little appeared to be happening. The second week, the buds really began to swell. And this week, I was rewarded with this beautiful display. For a close-up of the flowers, click here.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day February 2009: Picture of Forced Magnolia Branches

Well, aside from a few more of the snow drops that I photographed for last month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, there is nothing that is blooming outside in the garden. Inside, I have moved on to forcing branches, which I wrote about in this post last week. Above, is a picture of a one of the magnolia blooms currently in my family room. I can't wait until next month for the garden to start showing more signs of spring. Check out all of the bloom day posts from around the world over at May Dreams Garden.

Calendar For Forcing Branches: When to Cut Various Flowering Branches for Forcing

By February, my home is devoid of lingering Christmas decorations and most of my forced bulbs are done. At this point, I turn to the outside once again to bring a little bit of spring into the house: I begin forcing various branches from the garden.
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I try to cut branches at least the diameter of a dime in mid afternoon when it's warmest. I immediately place the branches in warm water with a floral additive. You can also make the floral additive with a little bleach, sugar, and lemon juice. For a half gallon of water, I would add 4 tablespoons of lemon, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon bleach. The closer to the natural bloom time the more quickly branches will force.
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During February and early March, I go out about every seven to ten days for branches. My order of forcing is generally as follows:
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Forsythia (can be started from early January)
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Pussywillow (pictured)
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Red twig dogwood

Ceris 'Forest Pansy' (pictured)

Flowering Pear

Flowering Cherry (pictured)

Quince (pictured)

Amelanchier (last year started 28 February)

Crabapple (last year started 6 February and it began to bloom 25 February, pictured)

Bridal Wreath Spirea

Flowering Dogwood
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Related posts:
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Forced Branches: Quince, Crabapple, Willow, Ceris, Dogwood, and Forsythia
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Cut Flowers, Branches and Foliage: Bringing Early Spring into the Home
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Forced Branches and Bulbs: Forsythia, Hyacinth, Tulips, Muscari and Crocus

Second Amaryllis in Bloom (White)

For a picture of my first amaryllis in bloom, click here.

First Amaryllis in Bloom (Red)

Remember those amaryllis I planted after Thanksgiving?

How to Make a Wreath with Materials from Your Garden

This Christmas season, I'm trying to decorate the house with as many things from the garden as possible. When you make your own decorations, you benefit from (i) fresher materials than what you can buy, (ii) the joy of bringing your garden indoors, and (iii) saving a lot of money.

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Today, I worked on the wreath for the front door. It was an easy project that took a few hours. It is extremely fulfilling to see the wreath form before your eyes.

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1. Gather together your supplies. You will need: (a) a wire base--I used a wire frame I purchased from Michael's, but you can also purchase them online at the Maine Wreath Co.; (b) floral wire; (c) pruners; and (d) wire cutters.
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2. Cut a variety of evergreen materials from your garden. You can cut branches or just tips. Ultimately, you will use pieces that are six to eight inches long, so keep this in mind when cutting. I think of this as doing my spring pruning a few months early. After several years of doing so I see no adverse effects on the plants. If anything, they grow more robustly the following season.

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This year, I used white pine, leyland cypress, ilex and rose hips from my garden and incense cedar, which I purchased. You could also use boxwood, southern magnolia, fir, juniper, holly, spruce, yew, arborvitea, winterberry, nandina, euonyonomous, and many others--the possibilities are only limited by availability.

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3. Make your posies. Once you have gathered your supplies and have chosen which greens look good together, use them to make posies. In your hand, gather together a small arrangement of greens and berries. Wire the greens together by wrapping the floral wire around them, fanning out the arrangement as you wrap. Continue making the posies and positioning them around the wreath base. When all the posies cover your base, proceed to the next step.

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4. Attach your posies to the wire base. Attach the first posy by wrapping the floral wire around both it and the wreath frame several times. Once the first posy is in place, continue to add in the others each time making sure each additional one covers up the base of the last one.

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5. Add the finishing touches. After the wreath base is covered you can add additional embellishments of pine cones or dried flowers with hot glue. Using the floral wire, make a hanging loop and attach this to the wreath base. You are now ready to hang your wreath.

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6. Extend the life of your wreath (optional). If you would like to extend the life of your wreath, you can spray it with an antidessicant or mist it with water once a day.

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Related posts:

Container Gardening: Winter Containers
Christmas Decorations from the Garden

Christams Decorations: Spray Painted Alliums

Happy Thanksgiving: A Gardener's Thanksgiving Day Centerpiece

Today's centerpiece was harvested from my garden: broom corn; hickory and clethra leaves, previously soaked in glycerin and water; and Molina grass, for the binding.
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I give thee thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing thy praise; I bow down toward thy holy temple and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness; for thou hast exalted above everything thy name and thy word. On the day I called, thou didst answer me, my strength of soul thou didst increase. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, for they have heard the words of thy mouth; and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD. -Psalm 138:1-5

The Frost is Coming: It's Time to Cut All the Flowers

Well, it's supposed to get down to twenty-four degrees tonight, so I cut down all those beautiful flowers from Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, only a few days ago. It's sad to see another gardening season end, but at least I had a couple more weeks this year than I had last year.

A Late Season Bouquet in Tyra's Garden

I always take note of particularly inspiring arrangements and Tyra's of papavar seed heads, fig, ivy and more is a beautiful example of a bouquet without blooms. Check it out here:

http://waxholm.blogspot.com/2008/11/gardeners-wrap.html

Garden Hopping: A Posy From My Garden

Click on the this post from Zoe at Garden Hopping for a picture of a truly inspiring autumn flower arrangement--roses, dahlias, berries, etc. I'm going to have to try something like this myself.

You Can Never Have Too Many Dahlias

As a follow-up to my September Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post, here are some additional pictures of those beautiful dahlias.

Great Cutting Flowers: Annual Zinnias

These annual zinnias are some of my children's favorite flowers in the garden. As you can see, they come in a wide array of bright, happy colors and are great for cutting. They produce flowers for months. At this time of year, they are great for mixed bouquets with dahlias and sunflowers. In my garden, I grow them primarily in the Cutting Garden to keep them away from the groundhog.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: Dahlias in New Jersey - September 2008

For the September 2008 Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I'm sharing with all of you one of my favorite late summer/autumn flowers--dahlias (another favorite are the sunflowers that I recently posted about).

I plant the dahlia tubers in the spring and watch them grow, grow, grow. The tallest grow to be over six feet tall. They are the perfect cutting flower: the more flowers you cut, the more they bloom. I plant them throughout my garden--throughout the mixed borders, in the Rose Garden, in the Cutting Garden, in the Children's Garden, really everywhere. At the end of the season, I dig up the tubers and over-winter them in my basement.

The varieties you see here are from Brent and Becky's Bulbs, Old House Gardens, and Plant Delights. I am particularly fond of the dark-colored ones.

Check out all of the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts at May Dreams Gardens.

Arab Queen.
Arabian Knight.
David Howard.
I forget.
Betty Anne.
Giraffe.
Old Gold.
I forget.
Prince Noir.