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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

 I haven’t used floral foam for years, and was surprised to find, given everything we know about its contribution to microplastic pollution, that it is still available, and still frequently used by florists. Although so far no one has come up with anything quite so effective, I still wouldn't ever use it again, and there […]

Review of Kenton Seth and Paul Spriggs,The Crevice Garden: How to make the perfect home for plants from rocky places. Filbert Press, 2022. Although I’ve gardened for well over thirty years, I’d never encountered a crevice garden until I went on the Victoria Conservatory of Music’s gardening tour this past summer. One of the standout […]

'Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad' Although I’m really just a flower person, I do venture outside my comfort zone sometimes. And while I’m not much good at growing vegetables or fruit, I do enjoy growing tomatoes because it gives me the ability to […]

I've been having fun experimenting with mason jar bouquets over the last week or so. They're wonderfully easy things to make: there’s no need for complicated wiring, frogs, or florist’s tape, and it’s a great way to gift flowers. These bouquets are very cottagecore, I've been told, a term new to me, but I rather […]

The weather has not been very cooperative so far in Victoria this year, but I’m still anticipating late summer evening drinks on our new deck. When the weather decides to oblige, try decorating your outdoor space with one of these floating tea light centrepieces. They look pretty in the daytime too and provide a natural […]