I love hellebores. There are few other plants that are as happy in shade, bloom profusely for months and are completely avoided by deer. It’s always such a joy to see them popping out of the ground in late winter just at that moment when the garden looks dreary and there's nothing to pick for […]
I’m not a big fan of most of the flowers that get trotted out over the holiday season. I usually buy a white poinsettia and then forget to water it, and I’ve bought and killed more Christmas cactus than I care to remember. I'm in complete awe of those who manage to keep one going […]
My latest toy - an early Christmas present to myself - is a pansy ring bowl. These flower holders have a round tubular shape and are specifically designed to display small flowers that have short stems, but more particularly to display the heads of flowers that tend to droop on their stems to their greatest […]
It’s the end of November and there’s next to nothing to pick except the increasingly straggly bright red schizostylis seen in nearly every Victoria garden around this time. To feed my flower arranging addiction, it’s time to make posies. I did this last winter, using such things as supermarket potted roses, house plants and violas […]
Main image: Some of the flowers available from Special Effects Flower Farm. Images reproduced from the respective websites with permission and remain copyright of the owner. Carrying on from my previous post about Canadian flower farmers who also supply bulbs, tubers, seeds and plants to the home gardener, here are three more I would encourage […]
Try these unusual vases to make small Christmas arrangements for your mantelpiece. You'll need to find mid-sized Christmas baubles that have removable caps and a decent sized opening. The first step is to remove the cap, discard the wire hanger and then slightly flatten the cap itself, so that it still curves up a little. […]
Anemones are made of this I imagine nearly everyone has a trigger plant, the sight or smell of which can suddenly transport you to another time and place. For me, as I've mentioned before, it is primarily the anemone, because I associate it with my great-aunt Olive who, when I was at boarding school in […]
This past September, I posted on alternatives to floral foam and demonstrated how to make a simple flower grid. Those grids are still holding up: a bit of a faff to make, but I think they are worth the effort, and I'm going to make some more interesting ones to support Christmas decorations soon. Floraguppy […]
Main image: Dahlia May flower farm in Ontario All images from the respective websites in this post are reproduced with permission and remain copyright of the owner. If you're a gardener who likes cutting flowers for the house or for sharing with friends, you may have little interest in flower farms: after all, you grow […]
I dropped into the local GardenWorks the other day looking for cell seed trays. The place was full of pumpkins and Christmas decorations, but not a seed tray in sight. Now I love Christmas, and my heart admittedly beats a little faster when confronted by a bauble, but this is a garden centre, right, and […]