Tuesday, January 15, 2013

2012 Flower Bouquets

I try to collect a bouquet for each month during the growing season.  A reminder of what was in bloom, something pretty to brighten up the house and make use of all the vases that collect like dust bunnies on my shelves.

The last time I posted about a bouquet though was back in July.  I kept gathering them, and photographing, but somehow in the hustle of summer they failed to make it onto the blog.

Here's where we left off in July.


The bright orange of daylilies in mid-summer.

Orange gave way to yellow in August.  Yellow always seems to be the predominant colour in the late summer garden.


Dahlias, feverfew, variegated euonymus and plume poppy were featured in this August bouquet.  A bit of bright sunshine brought indoors.


By September things had begun to cool off.  Purple asters took centre stage, combined with agastache and peacock orchids.


Set against the deep green leaves of meadowsweet and a matching green vase.

November brought with it dried flowers to keep indoors over the winter.

A new birdhouse is temporarily living indoors until spring.
Each year hydrangea blooms, dried to perfection in the late fall wind, grace these bouquets.


This year I also added the seedheads of rudbeckia, nigella, astilbe and miscanthus.  The colours are subtle but the texture is eye catching.  These will keep all winter long.

Finally in December I placed a container of winter greens at the front door.


Spruce and pine boughs were complimented by red dogwood stems and sparkly dollar store sticks.  A bright red bow to top it off.

Now deep under a blanket of snow, another season of bouquets has ended, and I'll wait for spring and more blooms to come.

25 comments:

HELENE said...

Really lovely flower bouquets! And what a great idea to photograph them too, so if you run out of an idea you can always go back and see what you did previously.
I must admit I don't tend to bring flowers from my garden into the house, I am too scared of draging aphids and other bugs onto my house plants. But I do bring daffodils into the house, lots of them! they flower is so early the bugs haven't woken up yet!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

This is a fabulous idea. I might try to do this too. Right now would be a terrible time to find much in the garden. Some years I could but with this heavy snowfall we have had and now the cold, not much is going on out there. Only the strong survive.

Casa Mariposa said...

I love these! I really love the peacock orchids. I wonder if they'd grow in my heat/humidity. Gotta love sparkly dollar store sticks to pull together an arrangement! :o)

Marguerite said...

I wish I could say my house was a bit cleaner and bug free but we're pretty country around here :) If I can keep the mice out I'm content. (by the way, love bouquets of daffodils. I've just recently started planting bulbs so hopefully in the next few years I'll be able to get daff bouquets as well)

Marguerite said...

Right now most of the plant material is too wet in my garden to bring in. My last opportunity is usually in October/November. I won't see a bouquet again until May at the absolute earliest.

Marguerite said...

The peacock orchids are wonderful, I just fell in love with them (they were a gift from Jennifer @ Three Dogs). I'm pretty sure they would do well for you. I have to dig them up over winter but you could allow them to live in the garden year round. and you're right, dollar store sticks are highly underrated :)

Laurrie said...

All are lovely, but I particularly like the yellow dahlia and feverfew with a wild stalk of plume poppy. That says summer!!

And I love that rustic double seat bench and table combo. Is that outside on your porch? A long shot of the whole bench and where you have it, please : )

jane .. said...

hi, marguerite .. your photo of the double seats is wonderfull .. ! .. with the vase between there is a bit of surrealism to it .. well done .. your garden has so many lovely flowers .. nice to see them in these days of hibernating, although i notice i'm already getting into spring mode .. enjoy ..

RURAL said...

You are going to have to supplement it a bit...I love the idea of the photos every month..must do that myself.

Jen

The Witch said...

Nice Post. I just love all the different flowers and colours. The peacock orchids look beautiful, I have never heard of them before. What a nice give to receive from a blogger friend.

Jennifer said...

Hi Marguerite, It is such a nice treat to have flowers in the house isn't it? All your bouquets are pretty, with the one with the peacock orchids being my favourite. I guess I just like the cool colors and the green vase in combination.
The book on permaculture finally showed up back here in Toronto just after Christmas. I will see if I can resend it this week.

Marguerite said...

LOL, okay I'll try and find a photo of that bench for you. It's in pretty rough shape so I don't normally photograph it. Sits on the front porch just under our kitchen window, mostly used by the cats, but a great spot to catch the sunset from in summer.

Marguerite said...

seems a few people like that seat! I guess I forget that outside of the maritimes not everyone has adirondack chairs multiplying on their front lawns.

Marguerite said...

I wish I had the flowers to do bouquets more often but that will come. It's nice at once a month to be able to look back at the different combinations I was able to come up with.

Marguerite said...

It's neat to see how the colour variation changes over the summer. Trying to find a blue flower in August is near impossible. The peacock orchids were a wonderful surprise and great gift.

Marguerite said...

Wonderful news Jennifer! I was worried that book was lost forever. I too was pretty fond of the cool purples with the green glass.

HolleyGarden said...

What a fun way to see the changes of the garden in the changing of your bouquets every month. I liked being able to see several months' bouquets all in one post. They are each lovely, but I have to admit to loving September's bouquet with the peacock orchids best.

Jason said...

Judy likes to pick bouquets. We like anise hyssop, various goldenrods, coneflowers, and Rudbeckias. We'll have to wait until at April when we can force the Forsythia to start again.

Cindy said...

Hi Marguerite,
I so love bouquets, smaller than large but Winter ones are amazing as well. I try in the garden, to arrange a bunch and pock into the snow so the birds have somewhere to land, then place it just outside the window. This winter we are away, watching from a distance, you can read http://besidethetrail.ca/hatsnhospitalitea/recipes/grandmas-oreo-truffles/ Hope all is well, Cindy

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

What a great idea to bring in at least one a month (will admit some months I would want to bring in a new bouquet every couple days) to have a monthly presentation of what is going on in the garden. I like it!!

Marguerite said...

Thanks Holley, it is neat seeing the bouquets side by side. I found it fascinating how the colours change from month to month.

Marguerite said...

I'm thinking about planting a forsythia this year Jason, partly because I always see people forcing the blooms in early winter. There's nothing nicer than those first flowers of the season.

Marguerite said...

Hi Cindy, I hear via the grapevine you're visiting a mutual friend down south. Hope you're having a wonderful time!

Marguerite said...

Janet, if I had a more mature flower garden I would definitely be picking flowers on a more regular basis. I'll have to wait a few years for that though while my plants grow up a bit.

Anonymous said...

I love your seasonal bouquets. One year, I went to a local holiday house tour in mid-December, and many of the houses had arrangements of white pine boughs and branches of winterberry (Ilex verticillata) by the front door -- simple, but beautiful. I'm about to start a new round seasonal bouquets for the house by going out and cutting some forsythia branches for forcing. Last year, I had forsythia blooming in the house by mid-February. -Jean