Why I Oughta...

With the season hitting Thanksgiving this week, it is time to start making some indoor winter arrangements.  I mean...at least it is in our house.  I've done these the past few years with foraged evergreens and some Trader Joe's foliage plants.  Last year, I went *BIG* with branches and such.  I've learned that smaller can be just as impactful.  Also...mason jars fit into cup holders, so they're super easy to transport.   Here, below is the first one.  This has some faux Winterberries along with a variety of evergreens like Thuja, boxwood, Yew and some sort of short-needled tree like fir.  I also stuck a pinecone in there that I picked up on the sidewalk a few houses up the block. Here, below is a Google search preview widget.  

The season REALLY *is* winding down now.  And the colors of the Melina Fleur dahlias are changing color to be much more middle-pink with little yellow appearing aside from the center seed head.  These three went out the door to folks all at the same time.  They each have some Dusty Miller, Arkansas Bluestar and some fern fronds in them.  Each of them are in thrifted or recycled jars (mason or jelly).  My rough count shows that these are (around) the 40th arrangement of the season.  A few with roses, but mostly these ball, pompon and decorative dahlias.

Below are two photos of the same (recent) Dahlia arrangement featuring some large(r) Melina Fleur Decorative Dahlia blooms and some dark purple Ivanetti Ball Dahlia blooms.  In one photo, you can see the Melina Fleur blooms have taken on a salmon, pink color.  Spinning the (vintage, thrifed, blue-glass) Ball Jar around, you can spy the Ivanetti that have some white creating contrast on the petals.   The season is coming to an end, it seems.  But that also means the flowers are changing colors.  Gone are the yellows of earlier this year with Melina Fleur and here are rosy pinks.  Enjoy these while we can, because frost is a'coming.  Might be next week.  Might be the week after.  Either way...we can't stop it from arriving and killing off the dahlias for the season. 

Four dahlia arrangements.  Put together in a quick morning recently.  The dahlia plants in our garden are really popping off right now. 

I let the various Zinnias that are in the vertical garden (Greenstalk) go for a bit longer than I likely should have in terms of cutting and ended up with dozens of them all at the same time.  The mass of stems is as thick as a Big Gulp from 7-11, so I ended up using a large, wide-base ceramic vase to hold them all and keep it from tipping over.  Besides bringing in some hydrangeas, I'd say that this is the largest arrangement of the 2025 growing season. 

Two days ago, I posted a photo of a number of Pooh Collarette Dahlias in a bud vase that I had cut and brought in from the garden.  Today...there's another small vase that is full of even more Pooh Dahlias.  They are below in the photo.  About a week ago, I posted another photo of even more Pooh Dahlias in an arrangement and talked about how I'm cutting seven-to-ten(ish) blooms at a time (off of the two plants).   Some of the stems in this set are longer and some shorter: In that same post from a week ago , I showed a few other Collarette Dahlia varieties that I might try to buy (the tubers) this off season.  I'd like to have some that *work better* with the colors of the decorative and ball dahlias that I grow (purples, pinks, salmons, peaches).  

Because I've only included these red and yellow Collarette Dahlias (Variety is named Pooh, of course), in monoculture arrangements, I've mostly put them in other glasses, vases, jars that have one-inch-or-larger necks.   Because I had it out, I decided to stuff a bunch of Pooh Dahlia stems into a Bud vase.  It was very tight, but I like the way they are pulled together.   Pooh Collarette Dahlia

Below are a pair of photos showing one over-stuffed dahlia arrangement that is full of decorative (Melina Fleur), Ball (Mystery Fox,  Ivanetti) and Pompon (Wizard of Oz) blooms that range from (almost) white to very pale pink to bubble-gum pink to Salmon with yellow centers contrasting with some shades close to dark velvet.   I crammed all the stems into a narrow-mouth vase because I wanted it to fit into a car cup holder for ease of transport as this one was headed to Elmhurst for my sister. 

Another day, another mixed dahlia arrangement .  This one (below) includes some larger blooms from the Melina Fleur plants, a bunch of Ivanetti dark purple blooms and some smaller Wizard of Oz ball dahlias along with a little bit of eucalyptus, some rosemary, Dusty Miller and the Lucky Charm Anemones that are thriving right now in the back garden. The tags that show off the full catalog of dahlia arrangements include [ countertop flowers ], [ dahlia arrangement ] and [ arrangement ].  

With two Pooh Collarette Dahlia plants growing in our garden, I was able to clip-off seven-or-eight blooms and put them in a vase this week.  The Pooh Dahlia in our backyard is more productive than the one in our sideyard garden, despite it growing in poor-er soil conditions.  The backyard tuber was planted in the new (this year) Pizza Oven bed that is full of clay.  The sideyard Pooh Dahlia is planted in a bed that is rich with loam and municipal biosolids.   But...the sideyard plant has been UNDER ASSAULT by Spider Mites the past month.  Since we came back from Ireland, the plant has struggled.  I think I've finally gotten on top of the pest problem and I'm seeing some fresh, new green growth.  So, I'm hoping it will keep producing over the next six-weeks-or-so. Below is a photo of the all (only) Pooh Collarette Dahlia arrangement.  In a vase.  No foliage or filler plants.  Just the red and yellow blooms.   The Pooh Coll...

The bulk of my flower arrangements have been focused on the flowers + some additional foliage plants.  Zinnias + ferns + artemeisa.  Dahlias + artemesia + polka dot plants.  For the most part, I was dealing with shorter-length stems on the 'stars' (Zinnias and Dahlias) and that meant that I was stripping just a few leaves from the stems and filling out the arrangement with those other foliage elements. But, thanks to my FYP, I've been getting served "here's how to get longer stem" videos and the secret isn't...well...it isn't a secret.  It is just doing something that is hard:  Cutting deep.   Why is cutting deep hard?  Because you're sacrificing some flower blooms.  To get the longer stems, you often take out up-to-three flowers.  Typically that means one full-formed and open that has shot up through the middle of the stem.  Then, two smaller, further-behind ones on either side.   I've always hesitated to sacrifice those ...

A few red and yellow Pooh Collarette dahlia blooms along with a clipping of some green and white Polka Dot Plant in an apt vase/glass (Pooh for President) make this an easy, but interesting arrangement.  More than ten (10) years ago, I posted about this glass that features a political candidate Winnie the Pooh from the fine folks at Sears.  The whole country is "Pooh Country".   This is my only Collarette dahlia, but won't be my last.  This Kelsey Annie Joy Collarette dahlia looks quite nice .  "Add to cart", right? 

Dahlia season is just about here.  And, the pace of blooms is picking up.  That is....as long as I can fight off pests.  Mites, earwigs, Japanese Beatles, Budworms.  They're all here and working HARD against me. Year of Cut Flowers continues with this dahlia-centric arrangement.  I tucked in a spray of Ghost Fern and Garden Ghost (Two "ghosts" in our garden), some Lucky Charm Anemone and even a couple of Cascade Hops.

Another summer arrangement.  But, this one features two new - recently blooming - things:  Lucky Charm Anemone and Pooh Dahlia.  You can look at the photo below and immediately know which one is named Pooh.  It is a collarette dahlia - my first one of those.  Also in here are a few Melina Fleur, Mystery Fox, Wizard of Oz and one Sweet Nathalie dahlias.   

A few days ago, I posted a couple of photos showing some of the latest cut flower arrangements from our garden .  They featured a variety of dahlias and some other perennials for foliage/accent flowers.  Right now, the Mystery Fox (dark red) and Wizard of Oz (pink) are in bloom.  Wizard of Oz is considered a Pompon Dahlia while Zundert Mystery Fox is a Ball Dahlia .   There's (of course) some Garden Ghost Artemisia and Butterscotch Amsonia/Arkansas Bluestar for foliage.   This arrangement is in a Smuckers jelly jar - not a thrifted vase.   Earlier this month, I also showed how I had stored Sarah Bernhardt peonies in the fridge for eight weeks and brought them back to life .  Here, below, are a couple of photos showing the arrangement of these pink peonies along with a couple other things like Limelight Hydrangeas, Blue Fortune Agastache and a spray of Japanese Ghost Fern. These peonies are in a thrifted vase. #18 on my personal to-do/tas...

The most-recent set of cut flower arrangements include a round-up of what is coming into bloom in late July.  This post is going up in early August, but these vases were built in late July.  The first one features some dark red (almost maroon) Mystery Fox dahlia blooms, Oklahoma Salmon Zinnias , Limelight Hydrangeas, Polka dot plant foligae and some upright stalks of Garden Ghost Artemesia.     The second one includes a couple of Wizard of Oz Ball dahlias , some Pablo Gallery Border Dahlias , a bunch of Disneyland Roses and some (of my current go-to accent pieces) like the white Polka Dot plant foliage and sprigs of the white Garden Ghost Artemesia .   Both are in thrifted vases.  My focus at the Goodwill is on small vases that will fit in a cupholder of the car and are priced at 99 cents.  Like shooting fish in a barrel.  

This is the first year that I'm growing dahlias that are taller than say...30".  That means that they all need to be staked or supported in some way.  I *thought* I had done a pretty good job of staking everything and supporting the various stems and stalks with padded garden wire, but...for the Mystery Fox dahlia in our backyard...I was...well...wrong.   On a recent morning, I came out back to discover that the dahlia had split open and part of it was laying on the ground.  Eeek!  I picked it up, realized it wasn't going to be 're-connected' and cut it off cleanly.   I brought it in, shortened the stem and stuck it in a jar of water.  The head is filled with five-or-six un-opened blooms and one good-sized one.   Lesson learned.  And, not a total plant-killer.  At least we get to enjoy this branch/stem/stalk with blooms inside for a little while.  

Late July is the beginning of (at least around here) dahlia season.  We're seeing our first few blooms on the various dahlias around the garden.  We also are seeing our second flush of blooms from the Disneyland Roses on the side of our house.  But, this year it is also something else.  Something that is surprising:  peony season.   Yep.  This is what the flowers on our countertop look like right now:  Sarah Berhardt peonies are opening up in a vase . How is this happening?  Peony season around here in late May to Early June.  We cut peonies as fast as we can and they put on a great show for about ten days.  But, this year, I tried something new:  Storing cut peony stems in the fridge when they were at the 'marshmallow stage' before they opened .  Here's a post showing the full process .   Here, below, is a look at the unwrapping process.   We started with a big collection of wrapped stems in Saran...

On Monday, I posted my latest cut flower arrangement featuring dahlias and zinnias and some perennials from around the garden .  Today, I'm showing another arrangement - featuring dahlias.  This time, though, it includes a couple of large Pablo Gallery Border Dahlias as the big statement pieces.  I used a few small Disneyland Roses, some snips of Limelight Hydrangea (before they opened up), a couple tall legs of Garden Ghost Artemeisa, and greenery and texture via Butterscotch Amsonia.   This is in a green Goodwill thrifted vase that has the look of Uranium Glass (but it isn't).  I tried to get that look of one side arching up with the other side arching down (via the Euphorbia).   The stand-outs are the Pablo Gallery dahlias - see below for a close-up.   Including the various peony-filled vases , this is the fifth (or so) arrangement that I've put together for the year.  

The Oklahoma Salmon Zinnias are popping off right now.  And, the earliest dahlia - Wizard of Oz - has a few open flowers.  And, the Limelight Hydrangeas are still not-quite-ready to open up their panicles.   Along with a couple of wisps of Garden Ghost Artemesia from the front yard Island Bed, we have another cut flower arrangement.   Below are a couple of photos showing this arrangement off from the front and side.  The Oklahoma Salmon Zinnias are showing up more as 'orange' right now, so do they work with the pink of the Wizard of Oz Dahlia ?  Technically...I'm unsure.  But, for me?  They work together just fine.   Around the edges are a couple of tips from the Limelight Hydrangeas in our garden: Feels like the first of many more to come this Summer.