October 23, 2012 by Born To Organize

Drooping Flowers and the Hat-Pin Trick

Hat-Pin Trick

Hat-Pin Trick

I’m not sure where I picked up this handy piece of advice, but it works…most of the time. Cut flowers, especially those with hollowed stems will often droop after a short time in water. The reason: the stem is no longer siphoning water.

Simply insert a pin or needle all the way through the stem of the drooping flowers, about one-inch below the bloom, then carefully remove it. Within an hour or two, your flowers will be standing tall. I’ve used this trick successfully over the years with Gerbera daisies, roses and tulips.

Gerbera Daisies Revived: The yellow flowers perked up; but the orange ones did not.

Rubber-band Recovery

In the event the hat-pin trick fails, move on to plan B. Gather the flowers into a loose bunch and slide a rubber-band over the stems and up to the neck of the flowers. Wrap a second band around the bottom of the stems. Return to the vase, and enjoy your perky arrangement.

Rubber-band Recovery in Action

Lift and Separate

I don’t know about you, but I like to get as much “life” from my cut flowers as possible. Most mixed bouquet flowers have varying shelf-lives. Some of the blossoms are spent within a few days while others can last up to a week or more. Rather than dump the entire bouquet, I change the water and return the flowers that still have life. As those fade, I’ll cut the healthy flowers down to a few inches, and display them in a smaller vase. If I have nice greens, I’ll see what’s blooming in the garden and I’ll mix the two together. I make a game out of it to see how long the flowers will last.

Do you have any tips or tricks you’ve used to preserve the life of your cut flowers? Please share in the comments, below.

Halloween Countdown

Nautical Pumpkin

Eye Candy

Look who else has cut flowers this week:

Boomdeeada: Make Lemonade
Mini Manor Blog: Fall Dinner Party
Tea on the Terrace: Autumn Garden Bouquet

September 22, 2012 by Born To Organize

Autumunal Equinox: Love for all Seasons

Fall leaves, summer flowers, happy bride and groom

Summer officially turned to fall today (September 22nd). The autumnal equinox marks the time of year when day and night are of equal length. It’s also a personal milestone. I married the love of my life on the first day of autumn 17 years ago. Autumn landed on September 23rd that year, but no matter. Symbolically, the days feel like one and the same.

We both share a love of the outdoors, so exchanging vows on the grounds of the elegant Wente Brothers Winery was perfect. When I walked down the “aisle,” it was actually a grassy courtyard. We held hands and declared our love beneath a flower-laden arch. I still have a small pressed flower from my tossed bouquet.

After one night in San Francisco we honeymooned along the Mendocino coast. We hiked local beaches, rode the Skunk Train amid redwoods and toured a botanical garden hugging the coast.

Nature is a great equalizer. Seasons change, life ebbs and flows. The majesty of the earth brings a uniting force to bear. As the autumnal equinox ushers in shorter days and longer nights, I’m grateful for the love in my life; grateful for my love in all seasons.

Home along the Mendocino Coast

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

Mr. Wonderful in Magnificent Mendocino

Visit beautiful Mendocino Garden by the Sea.
Wente Brothers Vineyards in Livermore, California.
Autumnal Equinox

September 13, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Party in the Anemones

Prolific Anemones bloomed about six weeks ago, monopolizing the back garden fence. I’ve been gathering them into bouquets every few days, then bringing them indoors. Little did I know that atop those crisp white blooms and their buttercup yellow centers there was a party going on.

Anemones line the fence

It wasn’t your typical, garden-variety party. In fact, I wasn’t even invited. Apparently you needed four to six legs to attend, and the invites are on the QT. I don’t think my neighbors even knew!

The party host wasn’t available for comment, so instead I snapped a few pics of the guests. Our host has an eclectic group of friends, including elegant grasshoppers, busy-body ants and even the low-brow house fly. I didn’t recognize all of the party goers. A few of their identities remain a mystery.

Mystery Guest

I don’t want to name names, but things may have gotten a bit out of hand. I saw a small spider chatting with a grasshopper, and in the next shot…the spider was gone! Do you think I should say something to the host? One of the spotted guests spent most of his time at the food table, while the ant kept darting in and out of the petals. I think he had too much pollen to drink.

A grasshopper and a spider chatting it up

Ant running laps. Too much pollen?

The house fly enjoyed making the rounds, but the others seemed to be avoiding her. It might have been her over-powering perfume.

Flowers and Flies

I’m no party crasher, so I finished taking my pictures and left. Back on the patio steps once again, you would never know there was a party going on.

July 7, 2012 by Born To Organize

Sunflower Success

Early in the season I envisioned a wall of sunflowers growing across the front of the deck. After several false starts, I configured a system of screens, designed to deter squirrels and birds from eating the seeds and seedlings. It worked! All three planters have several healthy plants. I can’t wait till they flower. I can see the plants from my kitchen window as well as on deck, and they can also been seen from the street.

The lower leaves are full of holes but no sign of the culprit…until this week when I saw a bird in the act of pecking away at the leaves. My friend Doug, also a nurseryman, thinks they are trying to get to the as-yet unavailable seeds. The leaves look tattered, but the plant remains healthy so all is well.

With warmer temperatures, the plants are shooting skyward. I can’t wait till they bloom.

Wall of Sunflowers

Broken Lantern Covers Keep the Screen Open at the Top

Lantern Cover in Place

Sunflowers: Looking Up

Bird Snack

June 14, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Flowers that Shouldn’t

Flowering Basil

I checked on the basil a day ago and all was well. Today it flowered! Maximum production requires more pruning then I realized. The flowers are pretty but the prize on the basil plant are those delicious leaves. They are at their best, before the flower.

One of my favorite uses for basil is caprese salad, made with basil, mozzarella and tomatoes. It’s also delicious in pesto.

So when the sun goes down, the pruning shears come out. Can’t you just smell it?

How to make Caprese Salad.

Easy Pesto: Step by step

How to dry Herbs: I’ll stick with it fresh, but all you cooking gurus can give this a go.

April 29, 2012 by Born To Organize

True Leaves: Seedlings Ready to Go

Pushing Up Seed Casings

I learned the expression “true leaves” on a gardening forum called I Dig My Garden. True leaves are the second pair of leaves on an emerging plant indicating all systems are go for transplanting outdoors. I like that expression, and find it far more interesting than my heretofore “second set of leaves” terminology.

Our Burpee Growing System delivered in spades. We have over 72 pumpkin seedlings ready to go. I prepped the garden beds a few weeks ago anticipating this day. The stars have aligned, which is to say dry, warm inviting conditions to launch our pumpkin crop. Here we go!

“The love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies.”
– Gertrude Jekyll
☼☼☼

April 11th: Planted seeds indoors in a Burpee Seed Starting System.

April 18th: Will you look at these adorable sprouts? What personality!

April 29th: True Leaves! So excited…

Kitchen Counter Pumpkin Crops

In the Garden: Give your Seedlings Room to Grow (mgnv.org)
Organictivity #4 Transplanting Seedlings (organictivity.com)
Progress and my other ‘kills’ (unpetitjardin.wordpress.com)

April 26, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Lemondrops and Sage

Today’s blossoms are lemony yellows and vibrant purples, with just a touch of white.

According to Sensational Color, “Yellow is psychologically the happiest color in the color spectrum.”

The color purple uplifts. “It calms the mind and the nerves and encourages creativity.”

Yellow and purple are complimentary on the color wheel. They always look beautiful together. No wonder these flowers make me happy.

Mexican Sage, a Hummingbird Favorite

Salvia Leucantha ‘Mexican Sage‘ thrives in our planting zone. Its drought-tolerant, requiring virtually no water once established. It’s also a magnet for beneficial bees and hummingbirds and neighborhood kids. Those beautiful flowers are as soft as they look. This one occupies a small space in our “sidewalk strip” next to the driveway.

Pittosporum Blossoms

Our well-established Pittosporum is probably as old as the house. We’ve lived here for 16 years and it was fully grown when we moved in. It produces beautiful yellow flowers in the spring, and variegated leaves year round. The squirrels use it as a stepping stool to the neighboring pine.

Orange Blossoms

Not only does our orange tree produce a bounty of fruit but it blooms these sweetly fragrant blossoms every spring. Our tree currently houses a squirrel’s nest! It provides great shade in the summer months, but we stay clear of it at dusk when the rats stop by for a treat.

Campanula: 'Serbian Bellflower'

These Serbian Bellflowers are new to our garden this year. This is the first of the plants to bloom. I’m looking forward to the day when they are all covered with these tiny, star-like flowers. Aren’t they sweet?

Abutilon: 'Moonchimes' Chinese Lantern

Hummingbirds love these gorgeous yellow flowers. This lovely graces our front side yard near the smaller Magnolia by our deck.

What’s blooming in your garden today?

Flowers and Color Trends (proflowers.com)
Blooming Thursday: The Color of the Day is Pink (gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com)
Santa Monica Mountains Wildflower Report (naturalhistorywanderings.com)

April 21, 2012 by Born To Organize

Next House: Voodoo and Tasmanian Tigers

Garden nurseries and animal shelters have the same effect on my psyche: I want to bring everything (and everyone!) I see home. I chant my “all things in moderation” mantra, and tell myself I can visit those plum trees and flowering succulents any time I want. When possible, I stay out of animal shelters all together, since a steady stream of stray cats and the occasional dog make it to my door on their own. I value the necessary work that our shelters provide, but find it disheartening to see so many animals in need of a good home. Nurseries, on the other hand are always great fun.

My husband and I have a saying between us when we pine for something we unattainable: next house, code for it’s not going to happen. So…in my next house, I’ll plant the following:

Ruby Clusters: Jewels for the Common Gardener

Tasmanian Tiger: Where the Wild Things Are

Voodoo: For my Tim Burton Inspired Fairy House

If you had the space and place, the time and the money, what would you grow?

Plants available at Almaden Valley Nursery in Silicon Valley.

Ready to Plant: Our Trip to Almaden Valley Nursery (gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com)
Blooming Thursday: Where Have all the Flowers Gone? (gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com)
Reading the Fine Print (gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com)

April 19, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Geranium Containerem

Geranium: Old Faithful

Geraniums are the garden work-horse. In our zone, they flower three seasons of the year and remain hardy down to at least 30 degrees Fahrenheit. They enjoy full sun and a good soak during the summer months, but the rest of the year they just hang out in the pot, content. Our pretty-in-pink geranium asks for very little, yet produces these beautiful blooms. I don’t see geraniums in local gardens like I used to, so perhaps they’ve fallen out of favor. When I envision geraniums, I imagine them tucked up along white picket fences or grazing the corners of a bucolic cottage porch. Time and again, geraniums appear in greeting cards and calendars, imparting a sense of nostalgia and harmony. I saw several varieties when I traveled through Europe in 1989, dreaming of recreating that essence when I returned home.

Do you have geraniums in your garden?

Geranium Pink

If I were a paint color:
Several shades of subtle pink

Geraniums: Cheerful Splendor at the Edge of our Deck

April 16, 2012 by Born To Organize

Chocolate is the New Black

Not all is what it seems,
Not all seams are sewn,
A dress made of chocolate,
With flowers, adorned.
Like most high-end fashion,
Too pricey for me,
With ruffles more like truffles
the hat a delicacy.