Arrangements from the Garden

Spring is here! After having almost an entire week of beautiful sun, we had one of the first big thunderstorms of spring last night.

When we first moved to Tennessee, I never thought I would get used to the crashing thunder and giant bolts of lightning. Now, I love hearing the sound of heavy raindrops falling on the roof or slamming up against our glass door as the wind whips them every which way. It is soothing to listen to the rain and humbling to think about its mighty power.

In honor of what the beautiful sun and mighty rains bring to us each year (FLOWERS!), I thought I would post some simple arrangements thrown together at the farm in hopes of igniting creativity with your flowers at home.
These arrangements are so simple. Grab one main flower and throw in leaves, grasses, ferns, anything you can find popping up in your backyard or even along the side of the road.

I love color so picking one or two main flowers that are bright and contrasting is my go-to plan. Hosta leaves, honeysuckle vines, grasses, and ferns are great fillers that you can find just about anywhere.
When in doubt, go simple. If you have lots of one beautiful flower, like this next picture, simply throw them all in a plain vase or pitcher to make the flowers stand out. Don't worry about making your arrangements perfect and static like FTD. Fun, loose, and wild is the way to go... at least with flowers.
Peonies are a beautiful and full flower. They are abundant around Mother's Day and make arranging easy and quick. Below is a simple arrangement with only peonies and dianthus.
And of course, daffodils are the perfect spring flower. These bright beauties are perfect by themselves. If you decide to combine them with another plant like forsythia (which is blooming everywhere here in T-town), be sure to wash the stems to get rid of their sap. It is not friendly to other plants.
I hope these pictures have sparked some ideas. Now, go take a walk and explore the wide variety of spring plants and shrubs that will add the perfect flair to your arrangements. Be creative. Good luck and happy spring!

DIY Planter Box

While Jack and I absolutely love our little Tennessee home, living in an apartment has certain disadvantages. Aside from the constant din of teenage neighbor girls bickering over a borrowed sweater, we have no land to garden!

Some might consider this a blessing, never having to mow the lawn or weed the garden, but me, I crave the dirt. There are few things that compare to being outside with the sun on your shoulders and your hands in the ground.
Last summer, Jack and I were surprised to find a ridiculous amount of planting pots available in stores but a severe lack of planting boxes, at least ones that didn't jump into the hundreds of dollars range. All I wanted was to plant some veggies on our porch and pretend we had our own secret garden.

My dear husband, always willing to help with my ill-planned schemes, devised this simple box to show off my veggies. Did we research how to best go about this task? No, of course not, that would be silly right? Well, the plan worked, mostly. (I'll get to the "what we learned" section at the end.)

We went to our local Home Depot and figured out the cheapest way to build the planter box, ended up being about $25. We bought two pine boards and had them cut into the following measurements:

Measurements

1-10ft 1x12
1-3ft 2x2

Cutting Directions

Cut 1x12 into 2-1ft sections and 2-4ft sections
Cut 2x2 into 3-1ft sections

Other Materials

Screen door mesh (or some other screening with tiny holes)
Screws

Build a Planter Box

Hopefully, the cutting makes sense. Next is simply a matter of piecing all the boards together. Obviously, your shorter boards are your ends and the longer, your sides. Assemble the pieces using screws (We used nails, but don't do it. More on this later.)
After the four main boards are nailed together, attach the netting to the bottom of the box. This will help drain water, without draining dirt as well.
Next, attach the 2x2 blocks over the top of the netting, one toward each end and one in the middle. We did this mostly to keep it up off of the porch so there would be no rotting underneath from the drainage.

Flip it over and you have a box for planting in!
Now, a couple things to think about and adjust.Our box worked wonderfully for the summer but had a few issues as we neared the end of growing season.

We used nails to piece our boards together, but with dirt and the expanding roots, eventually the pressure inside the box started to push out the nails and the boards began to separate.

Suggestion #1: use screws, not nails

Also, in Tennessee we have quite a few thunderstorms throughout the summer and the wood took a bit of a beating.

Suggestion #2: try using a different type of wood, one that is more hardy, or try treating it with some sort of outdoor weather sealer

I think that about covers it all. I think this year we are going to try to make smaller individuals boxes instead of the long one and maybe paint them to add more color to the porch! Best of luck and happy growing!

Spring on the Farm

Today was the first workshop of spring out at Aunt Willie's Wildflowers. Twelve women from a local gardening club donned their boots and made the trek out to the farm for a bird's nest workshop (pictures on website).

I went out to the farm yesterday to help Linda clean up the homeplace and make a few arrangements. We were so excited to be back outside working with the flowers. Yes, you heard right, flowers already! East Tennessee has had quite a few warm days making many of the flowers at Aunt Willies bloom early. This morning was sunny and with all the colorful flowers, I just had to take a few pictures to share with you all.

I couldn't believe how many arrangements we were able to make from the early bloomers. Small, white pitchers made the spring colors pop. Don't worry about not having much green filler to add to your arrangements, simple and loose combinations work well with these vibrant spring flowers.

These three pitchers in the window are my favorite arrangement location at the farm. We always have one stem of whatever is blooming in each pitcher. The simplicity of this arrangement against the beautiful landscape outside the window always makes a statement.

So, for those of you with a few bulbs popping out of the ground, grab your favorite jars or pitchers, cut a few stems, and bring some glorious spring into your home.

Chicken Feeder Centerpiece

Many of the projects you will find on my blog come from the Doan farm or are at least inspired out there. The Doans run a specialty cut-flower farm called "Aunt Willie's Wildflowers." Linda spends most of the spring and summer growing cut flowers for farmer's markets but she also teaches workshops on arranging flowers. From teapots to stumps, you name it and she can arrange in it. Check out Linda's website here.


Linda used this centerpiece for one of the workshops last spring and I, of course, fell in love with the idea. All she did was take an old chicken feeder, fill it with soil, then plant a variety of lettuces. The centerpiece at the workshop lunch was this feeder and the ladies were able to pick pieces of lettuce to add to their salads.

For any of you looking to bring a bit of country to your next get together, I highly recommend giving this a try.