Growing Autumn Bouquets.

Once upon a time, when I nervously signed the mortgage for my first house, I didn't rush to Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel. Drapes that puddled perfectly on the floor or bird cages filled with plastic plants or funky plates with funky linens weren't on my wish list to make my new house homey.

Instead, I spent every bit of disposable income supporting local nurseries.

For me, the happiness of becoming a homeowner meant that I'd finally, finally have a garden. Of course, I wanted a lovely, lushly landscaped garden--but its primary purpose was to fill my new home with fresh flowers. Never again would I wait for someone to bring me a sad, tired vase of ugly red roses. (Please note: this was pre-Peter. He possesses great taste in flowers.)

Honestly, is there anything nicer than a just-picked, fresh-from-the-garden, cheerful bouquet of flowers to make a home feel warm and vibrant? 

No. No, there's not. Well, OK, kids and significant others and furry babies are also high up on the list, too. The smell of apple pie baking also helps. Still, flowers will always be right up there in their ability to make a blah Wednesday feel like a celebration. Plus, as much as I love fresh flowers in our home, I love sharing them even more. It's pure happiness to watch a friend receive a bouquet, because flowers make every day a little brighter.  

Lately, though, I've spent more time obsessing about growing edibles to feed my family than remembering why I originally loved gardening. Plus, it's November. The garden looks...uninspiring. It's easy to snip some tulips in spring or arrange tea roses in summer. In fact, I planned a cutting garden for spring and fall blooms, which you can read about here. In fall, though, my attention turns to seed catalogs and bulb orders. I know it's trendy to proclaim fall as everyone's favorite season, but for me? Nope. No, thank you. Bring back my sunshine and pretty spring blooms, pronto.

So, when the fearless leader of You Can Grow That!, C.L. Fornari, challenged our group of garden bloggers to write about giveaway bouquets, I pushed aside my seasonal affective disorder and took a stroll around the garden to see if I could find anything--anything remotely attractive or alive--that would contribute to a bouquet.

Surprisingly, I returned with arms full of material. 

Our camellias, hidden on the south side of the house, are heavy with blooms right now. Sadly, I tend to forget about them, because they aren't along the path I normally take to the kitchen garden. I plan to propagate some of these beauties and plant them in a more visible section of the garden, because they are the perfect fall flower.

The viburnum, however, continues to produce a spectacular, eye-catching show all fall. During spring, these two bushes brighten the back garden with their enormous blooms. While fall blooms aren't nearly as prolific, I still found plenty of flowers, although they were beginning to look a bit tired.

Because blooms are scarce during November, foliage needed to play an important part of the bouquet design. Fortunately, we have lots of variegated vines, hostas, and ferns. Even 'Gold Dust' aucuba participated in the November bouquet project.

Herbs and berries also made an appearance in the bouquets. While I intended to use bronze fennel, some little creature had eaten most of it. Instead, the airy branches of Florence fennel added a frothy texture, as well as height, to an arrangement. Encore azaleas, a bloom that I never considered for bouquets prior to our assignment, was also added to the mix.

After I cleaned the foliage from the bottom portion of the stems and sorted the cuttings, I realized that I'd gathered enough materials to make not one but three bouquets.
 

Pale pink camellias, viburnum, autumn ferns and variegated ivy.

 

Seed heads from Japanese anemone, camellias, Hearts-A-Bustin' berries, 

and variegated potato vine.

 

Encore azalea blooms, 'Gold Dust' aucuba, and Florence fennel.

My bouquet making skills need more practice, but it inspired me to remember my first garden and the passion I had--for flowers. Of course, I'll continue obsessing about our edible gardens and native plants, but I'll also keep searching throughout all seasons to bring the garden inside and share it with friends.

What flowers do you enjoy receiving in your favorite bouquets?

XOXO ~

Julie

Meetings, Marketing, and Mosaiculture.

Garden blogging tends to be a solitary life. You start seeds, pull weeds, write about what's working and what's not. And, if you're like me, you fret, wondering if anyone reads what you're writing. 

Helloooo? Is anyone out there? 

A comment left on a post incites a happy dance. So, armed with this positive reinforcement, you go back and do it again.

But there are a few times each year when we garden bloggers abandon our gardens and lonely desks.

This year, more than 80 bloggers gathered for the Garden Bloggers' Fling--an annual garden tour extravaganza. I've been remiss in writing about this garden love-fest, last held in San Francisco, simply because it's taken me three months to sort and edit the 2,000 photos I took over the course of three days.

Yes. The Fling is that good.

This week, however, I spent two days at the Garden Bloggers' Conference in Atlanta, hosted by Digital Sherpa. It was the antithesis of the Fling but in a positive way. For two solid days, we lovers of the outdoors sat sequestered in a windowless conference room, learning. Social media, SEO, technology, photography...plus, a healthy dose of star power inspiration from garden bloggers who've made it big.

It was exactly what this non-techie girl needed.

Not only did my brain nearly explode from so much information, my social network expanded. I adored meeting and chatting with garden bloggers whom I've followed online for years. 

Of course, one of my most memorable moments involved one of my favorite garden writers. 

Amy Stewart.

Garden-writer guru, I've always adored Amy's books and her collaborative blog, Garden Rant. So, like a 12-year-old with a crush on One Direction, I approached Ms. Stewart after her presentation to gush over one of my favorite books she's written, From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden. 

I promptly spilled red wine all over my peach silk blouse and slunk away.

OK, so maybe it was too much socializing for those of us who spend days alone and afternoons chauffeuring 8- and 12-year-olds.

While the conference was fabulous (I now have so much work to do!), what would a garden conference be without a trip to a garden?

Before driving home to resume mom-duty, I headed to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Of course, mom-guilt kicked in after being away from the family, but it was worth the two-hour delayed return to reality.

 

You see, there was a special display I needed to visit.

Imaginary Worlds: Plants Larger than Life lived up to its name. 

A creative partnership between the Atlanta Botanical Garden and International Mosaiculture of Montreal, the living sculptures inspired awe, both in the enormity of the endeavor and the detailed care for each complex form. 

Incorporated throughout the garden, each sculpture showcases the art of "Mosaiculture"--a combination of art and gardening. First popular in 16th century Europe, where wealthy landowners commissioned three-dimensional "embroidery beds," mosaiculture became the term known in 19th century France for geometric, mosaic-like forms of planted sculptures.

International Mosaiculture of Montreal, a nonprofit organization created in 1998, launched the first international mosaiculture competition in 2000 to showcase gardening and horticulture as representative of "new millennium values." Many of the garden bloggers who attended the Garden Writers' Association's conference this fall visited Montreal's mosaiculture exhibition. However, Atlanta's exhibition is the first time Imaginary Worlds is on display in the U.S.

Personally, I think the Ogre would make an excellent statement in our front yard.

I'm rather enamored with these bunnies. I wonder if I can stretch my gardening expertise to make up for my lack of artistic ability and create these for our garden? A funny thing happened when Proven Winners ColorChoice Flowering Shrubs posted a photo of the mosaiculture bunnies on its Facebook page: they were inundated with queries from potential customers! I think, perhaps, they should add mosaiculture bunnies to their product line. (I know I would be first in line to purchase.)

Part of the fun involved discovering the mosaiculture sculptures throughout the gardens. Yes, you could cheat and look at the map, but it was more interesting to wander the paths, admiring anemones and art...

...then--BOOM! A bigger-than-life, rotating, dancing fish sculpture greets you.

Or, perhaps you're admiring camellia sinensis, reading a sign about its usefulness in making tea...

...and when you look up, you find a giant strawberry hovering over you.

In fact, while I was delighted with the mosaiculture, I also found myself impressed with the breadth and diversity of the edible garden. Most botanical gardens tuck a few tired tomatoes and perhaps some peppers into a tiny plot, just to join the edible trend.

(I will plant a living herb wall some day. I will.)

The Atlanta Botanical Garden appears to take edible gardening seriously. Bravo!

After wandering the woodland paths, I finally reached my goal: the Cascades Garden...

...and the Earth Goddess. Isn't she fabulous?

I headed home, filled with gardening inspiration.

Now, to put all of that knowledge and inspiration to use...

Happy Friday!

XOXO ~

Julie 

The (Almost) Spring Garden--Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Ah, South Carolina...how can you not love a place where the temperatures are 75 degrees one day, then 40 degrees the next? Our temperature fluctuations definitely keep us on our toes! 

March's longer days help combat my winter blues. The added hours of daylight into the evening foreshadow upcoming summer nights, when our family has no agenda besides playing in the pool past normal school bedtimes. The extra light promises that yes, spring is coming...only a few short days now, and my favorite--and busiest--season will arrive. 

Already, bulbs show their sweet, early blooms.

The first hyacinths appeared in a pastel rainbow, with more tardily planted hyacinth bulbs just beginning to emerge. (Of course, I planned it that way, so we'd have the sweet fragrance of hyacinths throughout the spring. My tardy planting had nothing to do with over-ordering bulbs and not finding time to plant them.)

Our sweet 'Icicle Follies' daffodils continue to charm, but many blooms look tired. I need to add more late-blooming daffodils to the garden. 

A few late-planted snow drops remain...

...as do equally late-planted paperwhites. What can I say? Procrastination paid off for March Bloom Day!

We left the leaves to serve as a protective mulch over the winter, and now we face the task of cleaning them out and ordering our hardwood mulch. Still, looking carefully through the layers of leaves, I spotted the first grape hyacinth peeking through its protective coat. Such adorable little blooms.

Also emerging through the leaves is the first sign of the peonies. I've only spotted one so far, and I can't wait for the others to emerge and fill the yard--and my vases--with their frilly beauty.

I've been eagerly anticipating the blooms of the fall-planted witchhazel. For such a young plant, it's putting on a nice show--and the scent is divine.

Hellebores continue to star in the garden. I'm amazed at the profusion of new plants and blooms I've found. From the original five plants purchased more than 10 years ago, we have hundreds of hellebores throughout the garden. They're practically invasive--and I love it! I just found dozens of new babies to transplant. Now, that's my kind of flower!

Oreo found something interesting in the patch of hellebores in our back garden.

Our camellias are bursting with buds and blooms. They deserve a better position in the garden, as the majority of our camellias reside on the side of the house where no one can enjoy their show.

The forsythia, on the other hand, greets visitors in the front yard with its showy splash of color. Forsythia bushes are scattered throughout the garden, and it's amazing how the different microclimates affect the appearance of blooms on forsythia. Some bushes are full of flowers, while others are just beginning to burst from their buds.

Buds are swelling everywhere in the garden, with a few early blossoms appearing on the cherry tree.
 

Next month, loropetalum blooms will be ready for Bloom Day.
 

Ah, the first blooms of fraise des bois! My mouth is watering for these tiny berries. Not much longer until we'll be harvesting fruits in the garden.



A sweet violet emerges from its leaf blanket. We find tiny violets throughout our forest. I can't wait for all of the forest wildflowers to emerge.

  

I think this is a turtlehead that I planted last fall, but with kids, cats, chickens, and our pups Chloe (left) and Sophie (right)...

...the marker disappeared. Ah well, such is the life of a busy garden!

To visit more gardens, please stop by May Dreams Gardens and say hello to Carol, who hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Happy Bloom Day to you!

XOXO ~

Julie