I don't know about the rest of you, but I HATE to cut my flowers to take inside. I'd rather watch them bloom & bloom in my garden. One exception is for Mama.
I pick a fresh bouquet for her each week from the crocus first bloom to the mum's last sigh. I was just helping her put photos in her album (she takes a roll or two each week), and found that she had "immortalized" a few bouquets I brought her in 2004.
Here is another summer bouquet that she arranged from my garden.
Mom will be 87 years old next week and she loves her camera.
Lovely! Wanda. I don't mind cutting flowers at all, in fact as soon as the peonies start blooming, I start snipping! The way I look at it, I'd rather have them inside to enjoy for a longer period of time, than just going out in the yard. This may be for the hours I work... 10am-8pm... cuts into the biggest part of the day.
Your arrangements are just goreous, thanks for sharing those pictures.
Very sweet of you to do that for mom too. Pictures really make me want the weather to warm up so we can start digging in the dirt again. Tell your mom we appreciate her sharing the pictures with us.
For some funny reason, I seldom cut flowers to bring inside. Maybe, it's because I am outside whenever possible.
But I think that it's wonderful that you keep your mother supplied with beautiful flowers on a regular basis. Your flowers are lovely and I'm sure that your mom treasures them.
Something I found a few weeks ago. Add these to your vase and the flowers will last for weeks! I've tried it, honestly it works
1 drop of bleach (I have mine in a sprayer, I just spritz inside the vase lightly.)
1 tablet of asprin (lowers ph)
1 Tbl of sugar (feeds the flowers)
Fill vase with water and 'voila. Fill water level as needed. Change the solution every week.
Osteole, do you know if the mixture needs to be the same for well water? I have well water but Im thinking why change a good thing just in case.
Wanda,
I never cut my flowers either because I love to see them in my garden. But if my mom did not garden herself, I would take a hint from you and make a gift of my garden every week. Her bouquets are lovely!
Dravencat
I would think that the flowers would need the sugar as a source of food and the bleach to reduce change of algae/bacterial growth. The asprin however may/may not be needed. I suppose it would depend on the level of minerals in your well water. Soluble minerals can affect the ph of your well water. Wouldn't hurt to try it and see
You said just what I was thinking, Ill try it both ways just to see what difference i might make.
The only flowers I ever seem to cut and bring in routinely are roses and dahlias....all the others look better in the yard. To me at least :-)
Kathy-I pick the Daffodils many times just to protect them from the returning snowstorms & to bring a bit of spring into the house. I agree with you, the lilacs & peonies bring a scent that is too wonderful to leave outside.
I'm out wandering in my garden in early morning & taking notes in the afternoon as soon as I come home from work. Cutting daylilies is the most painful since I lose all the other blooms on the stalk. But Mom loves to see new ones open each day. I was sorting her pics (3 huge bags!) from the past year and found that she would take 3 -4 pictures of each bouquet from different angles EACH DAY! Newly blooming ones apparently give her new delight.
The apartment people are allowing me to add a few perennials & annulas to their narrow beds by the building each summer. I keep it weeded & mulched. Mom likes to deadhead each day in the summer. She prefers a lower level apartment (always has been afraid of storms), so the flowers are right out her windows!
Okay--anyone else have bouquets to show us? Mine are just a hodgepodge of whatever is blooming that day.
I have planted a number of flowers intentionally to be able to pick them and take bouquets to older ladies in our church who would be blessed by something natural and beautiful. It's a wonderful way to spread the joy of flowers. They seem to brighten any day.
bill, I bet they really appreciate the flowers you bring! I've always grown snapdragons & zinnias for the kids to pick. Bright colors & more always blooming.
When my daughters were little, they would spend an afternoon each week cutting flower bouquets to sell to the neighbors. It took them all afternoon to cut the flowers, arrange them in jars in the wagon & pull it around. Bouquet prices ranged from 25 cents to a dollar. A wagonload usually brought them $ 8-10 to share. Kept them busy & the neighbors enjoyed the fresh flowers each week.
Wanda here is one I did for my sister in-laws birthday. Sorry not a very good photo!
Hooked--what a wonderful bouquet! You must have had great fun picking & arranging it.
Thanks Wanda,
June is early for much to be in bloom here!
I bet your Mother looks forward to summer and your pretty bouquets!!
You are a good daughter .
Hey, Mom has put up with me & my 7 siblings for too long. She took care of us when clothes went thru a wringer washer & hung outside in the winter to freeze dry! She got up & milked our cow each day, fed pigs & chickens and kept a huge garden for canning. She made 3 meals from scratch each day for us & kept us all clean. And she worked outside the home when my little brother turned 9 to help with the family finances.
I find it hard to keep up with 2 kids & my job sometimes. Mom took us to the library each week, got us thru school and attended all our games, plays & concerts. And she still goes thru life with a smile on her face. Mom is incredible!
I have some beautiful pictures of arrangements that my daughter made. She use to live in California and all the flowers are from her yard. She use to make up arrangements and send me pictures always saying if I were closer she would bring these arrangements to me. Now she is, she moved to Texas! She is working on planting just as many flowers as she had. I know I will get a bouquet every month once spring starts. :-)
Sonnia
Here are some that she made up and took to the retirement center
This was always one of my favorites. She sent the picture, saying she wish she could of sent the flowers, with a card that that had a picture of butterflies, flowers and bears saying the flowers were to cheer me up, the butterlies to lighten my load, and the bears were full of hugs. Made me cry, when I received it.
One she did for a couple, had a bottle of champagne and bottle of beer in it
another one
and another
one more
ok the last one--can't help it, you know how Moms are, so proud of what their kids do.
This is one she made for me when she first moved here to Texas and came to visit. My favorite color-purple. She had to buy the flowers (from Costco, I think). Isn't it a beauty?
You have a right to be proud! They are all so beautiful! Does she work at a flower shop?
No she does accounting work, and just does flowers as a hobby. She use to have a bookkeeping business and gave free flowers to her clients. She thought it was great cause she would buy ribbon and floral supplies and write it off.
I keep telling her she should do something along those lines, she has a lot of creative ideas. Mostly she likes growing them, and sharing them.
She did hate to leave all her flowers when they moved here. She made her husband promise she could get just as many, if not more than she had. He agreed. So she has jumped in and is planting up a storm. I keep telling her Calif and Texas are not the same and she needs to slow down and wait and see what does well. But you know kids, they don't always listen. LOL
But heck, I know I will enjoy her flowers, so I don't mention it too much anymore.
This message was edited Feb 23, 2005 5:19 PM
LOL,
I don't blame you! She is very talented! Bet her clients will miss her as well as her pretty bouquets.
Nice for you that she'll be near and you'll get to see her! Enjoy both!!
Sunshine--what a talented daughter you have! She should enter her flower arrangements in a competition. Great design lines...
Wanda, what is that big red flower in your 3rd picture?
Thanks Wanda, I'll let her know I am not the only one that thinks she has talent.
:-)
The big red ones are red beebalm. I like the wierd shape & the blooms last a long time.
Wow! I thought that's what they looked like, but didn't realize they got that big. I thought surely it must be something else. I've got red beebalm planted, they grew all last year and I hope to see flowers on them this year. Maybe they'll be as huge as yours. I'm used to the wild variety.
Mine have very dark foliage & big blooms. as the blooms fade, I pinch them off to encourage new growth. Here is a July peek at them in one of my beds.
Those are beautiful, Wanda. Thank you for the pic. They're as big as your lillies. I would never have dreamed they could be that large. Have a great weekend.
Sherri
Red & pink beebalm like me. The white, pale lavender & maroon just shrunk & died off in the controlled chaos of my beds. I control them with the bottom half of a wire tomatoe basket. Keeps them from getting crushed by rain or wind and keeps them from leaning over the daylilies nearby.
Wanda, wonderful bouquets and so great that you give your Mom flower models to photograph as well as the beauty in her room.
My red beebalm never looked that happy and also dwindled away. funny how plants do that?
Sunshine, sounds like you have a flower relationship too. those bouquets are definitely professional looking, so pretty. ~Blooms
