Flowers from yard to vase - fall and winter series

Continuation of http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/847523/
which was getting too long

To recap - One of my main goals is to have cut flowers from my garden on a year-round basis. The bonus comes in when the flowers provide beauty to the garden and can be brought indoors to provide joy there. It is often hard to tell from catalogs what plants may look like in the yard, and how they would behave as cut flowers. So, I would love to see what works in your garden. Fall and winter are especially hard to find flowers for arrangements. But I have seen many creative ways of making arrangements with non-traditional materials and am looking forward to seeing all of your ideas.

This message was edited Nov 3, 2008 11:34 AM

This message was edited Nov 3, 2008 11:36 AM

One of the mainstays in my fall garden is the white Japanese anenome above which was posted in the original thread. Amongst the fall flowering bulbs, I like the Nerine bowdenii. I have two different varieties - a lighter pink one shown here.

and a darker pink one.

They make great cut flowers and last a long time. They can bloom anywhere from mid-October to the beginning of December in my zone, depending on where you plant them and how much sun they get. I let them overwinter in the ground.

Hi Dianne, Thanks for the new thread. What lovely Nerines! They are such a pretty flower. You still have lots of flowers
Which is great. I have a few of the dark pink ones but for some sluggy reason only 1 flower appeared this year!
I like the way you have grouped both colours together in your stylish container, lovely shape!
I will try to find something in the garden to join in your thread! Thanks, great job.

Hi Terri - I like that comment "sluggy" reason LoL... One of the perks of working in a lab is the variety of glassware that you come across.
Looking forward to seeing what you find in your garden this time of the year.

My ginger bloom time was weird this year - normally the Hedycium coronarium (white ginger) blooms first (Sept/Oct) and then the H. gardneranum (yellow ginger) blooms a little later (Oct to as late as Nov). This year, I got the reverse. the yellow ginger started blooming in August, peaked in September for the ones shaded areas, with one or two scraggly blooms now. Here is a pic of one of my yellow ginger clusters. They are in the same spot, but one stalk is dried up, one is opening, and the third is about two weeks from opening. So, in order to get enough stalks to make an arrangement, I planted these gingers in three different places in my yard.

This message was edited Nov 4, 2008 3:45 PM

But, the blooms are so spectacular, that even if you only have one, you can still use it. The smell is not as powerful as the white ginger, but is still a very delightful fragrance.

The white butterfly ginger, Hedycium coronarium, is the flowering ginger that most people are familiar with. It is the classic scent for perfumes. In the hot Sacramento Valley, however, the plant itself suffers from the heat and the leaves are often scorched. I have this in my backyard, partially hidden behind a brick planter. In the tropics and cooler areas, it would be a much prettier landscape plant. If you look closely at the flowers, the spent flowers tend to cling onto the flowering head.

But, if you pick off the dead flowers, and leave the fresher ones, it pretties up nicely. Each individual flower lasts about a day or two, but each head can have up to 10 or more flowers.

And finally, if you group a bunch of them together, it gives off a wonderful scent. Somebody, way back, had asked about using white butterfly ginger as cut flowers. So, I would say yes, it is possible, but it takes some babying to pick off the spent blooms on a regular basis.

Lovely! Wish I could smell them from here!
All those huge leaves are perfect for a bit of manipulation.......... get your stapler out. Lol!

Asters are good flowers for the fall season. I got some seedlings of this blue aster from a fellow gardener in Sacramento about 4 years ago, and it blooms mid Oct to late November - don't know the variety. It does get leggy and needs some support.

Here it is in a vase. I added some lantana to the mix. The lantana blooms long into the fall season here in zone 9a. We have had a very mild fall so far. Temps in the mid 70's for the last two weeks.

And a little closer view.

I don't have a chance to get to Dave's Garden during spring/summer/early fall months, but enjoy reading and posting in the winter. I notice that most of the folks posting here seem to be from warmer climates. So I wanted to post a few bouquets that some of the northern folks could enjoy growing and bringing in. I'm not the best floral arranger, but still enjoy it.

May bouquet: [Weigelia, clematis, lychnis viscaria, and pyrethrum (painted daisy)]

close up of May bouquet

Another May bouquet:
Hesperis (dame's rocket), baptisia, aquilegia (columbine), allium, and a siberian Iris which was too tall to get in the photo

Summer pink bouquet: [Tall garden Phlox, Malva and Agastache] (sorry not clear photo)

Hi Dianne, Your Aster's are a lovely splash of colour in the garden!
The arrangement with the lantana added is gorgeous, such a lovely subtle blend of colours.
Love the way you 'arranged' them in the vase, immitating how they look growing in the garden, great technique!

Hello Ts Flowers and welcome. Thanks for sharing your beautiful bouquets! It's great to see all your pretty flowers and even better to hear you enjoy arranging!!

Hi Ts - welcome to this forum. It is nice to see such a different variety of plants - most are different from what I normally have in my yard except for the columbine and siberian iris.. And your arrangements look great.....The malva and phlox that I grew several years ago only lasted one season. Plants need to be able to take a fair amount of neglect to survive in my yard LoL. What variety of clematis is that in the first photo? That is one plant that I would like to try growing too. When spring rolls around again, it would be great to see some photos of your yard.

Hi Terri - Thanks! I do have to make one qualification about the lantana - we share a strip of side yard with the neighbors, and it is their lantana that "strayed" close to my side. The excess water from their backyard sprinkler drains into that side strip, and I channel that water to the rest of my side yard. Instant watering - I have not had to water that patch of garden for the last four years. They tend to flood their yard periodically, so my plants in that area have to tolerate having their feet wet too. That is going to be a big savings for me if they ever finish installing water meters in the rest of Sacramento and we have to pay for the amount of water used....

lurking, but spring and into summer here!

Diane = soilsand up ?? If yes, thank you Diane and Terri for the welcome.

The clematis I believe is Mrs. N. Thompson..

And although I'd love to post photos in the spring, there would just be no time. I seldom get to Dave's Garden or other websites until mid-November through March. And then my business starts up and I'm way too busy.

But every year I try to accumulate some photos and always hope to take more photos of my bouquets but don't always get it done.

Here's a quick-to-make fall bouquet: (New England Asters and Physostegia)

Beautiful, lovely shape. Thank you TsFlowers.

I dont have many flowers left! I had to try harder to find something interesting to use lol!
The Cornus stems are nice and red ..... snip snip!!

I like the lime green colour of the Choisya leaves... snip snip!

This message was edited Nov 21, 2008 12:12 AM

From Yard to vase....

The red fabric collar placed inside the vase made the water red, which added a surprise bonus!

This message was edited Nov 21, 2008 12:07 AM

Hi Sue! you still lurkin' then?? lol

Terri you stuff is wonderful. Just makes me wonder how much time you put into each arrangement.

Hi Terri -

What a neat arrangement using no flowers, but other interesting aspects of your garden!! Those are the kinds of ideas that I was hoping will pop up on this thread.

Thank you TsFlowers, I don't know about wonderful but I'm very pleased you liked it!
I always find coming up with an idea takes the longest, once I know what I'm doing the 'making' part is quite quick.

Thanks Dianne, It is quite a challenge really. Watch out for my birds nest coming soon LoL!
What have you got up your sleeve for the next one?

Still lurking Tez, nice job with the red fabric! I too like the use of materials other than flowers, as I get quite alot of interesting foliage here, as you know. I have trouble coming up with ideas though, and usually cut way more than I need, and make a huge mess, by which time I'm sick of it all and throw it together, and wah-laa, an arrangement is born!
Hi Ts flowers, nice to see some new arrangements. what is your business that takes up so much of your time? (If you don't mind me asking)
Ah well, forums to go to and threads to reply to.
I'm off
Sue

Thanks Sue. Candee is the ideas person around here!!
Anyway looking forward to the birth of your next arrangement!! (hope it's a multiple birth)
All the best, good luck!


Edited to get rid of my rantings. lol!


This message was edited Nov 23, 2008 12:42 AM

LOL

Yay, Dianne's back with the yard to vase saga. As always, your arrangements are beautiful. TsFlowers, your may bouquet is to die for. Lovely variety and colors. Terri, as always, yours is so creative, esp with no flowers. Hey Sue! Started lurking myself, but after all this, I'm totally inspired. Here's my series.

My fall/winter garden. Not really neat and tidy.

More.

Scratches from cutting the roses!

From yard to VASE. Blue girl roses with coleus, margarite potato vines, and ornamental grass.

Very lovely bouquet! The roses are just beautiful. Fragrant? That's one thing I like about my own roses as compared to commercial purchase is that they smell sooooo good. The commercial ones just have no fragrance it seems. The potatoe vine looks so nice. Perhaps I'll have to grow one and the blackie one too.

Hi Karma, How neat that you still have roses - and that is one cheerful bouquet. I have one thornless rose, but it has absolutely no fragrance. So, I guess we'll just have to put up with those thorns...LoL hope your scratches are healing.