Just the Garden Variety

Garden blooms- everything from hydrangea to hypericum!

Mason jars as containers keeps the "homey" theme

An unlikely color combination, but I think they work nicely together and exhibit the changing nature of summer and her blooms.

I love the color combinations: White lace cap hydrangea, coral hypericum berry, violet geranium, coral succulent bloom, magenta and lilac melaleuca puffs with the aqua mason jar cinch. 

Sunflower & Thistle

Sunflowers, thistle, bells of Ireland, cymbidium orchid: Garden arrangement for the kitchen

Blue thistle

Perfect sunflowers

Sunflower & Thistle Arrangement

Gerberas Bring the Sunlight!

Very easy to make and super colorful - they would look stunning down the center of a long bridal/banquet table

I just love the colors that inspired me! I have all sorts of pops of color and basically the same palette of flowers in each mason jar. But what I really think brings it all together is the same burlap and ribbon cinch on the waists of the mason jars.

It's like the gerberas bring the sunlight to them!

Fuchsia mums, lime green kermit mums, and poppies

Gerberas, mums, poppies & dianthus in mason jars!

Speed Floral Design

I only had an hour before guests were going to start arriving to our little shindig. My roommate took care of the food and all was on schedule. But I had just gotten home from work and needed to decorate the house for our little "goodbye to our house" party! 

Solution: flowers. I unloaded the cupboard with my vases and just picked a variety of shapes and sizes, and then went outside to my garden and started cutting away at all my hydrangea, succulents, gerberas, and stock. Here are all the arrangements I could make to decorate our house in a little less than one hour:

Matilija poppy (I can't resist using these slightly fragrant blooms since my plant is putting out several of these a week--and it just happens to be my favorite flower too!).

Lamb's ear, lisianthus, poppy, daisy

Purples and whites

Gerbera jar: poppy, gerbera, nutsedge, hypericum

Alstroemeria and bouganvillea cup

Gerbera and dusty miller jar

Pinks and whites

Gerberas and succulent with lily grass

Pinks and succulent

Thistle in apothecary jar

Thistle and chive vase with knotted bear grass

Wildflowers and succulents

I just love the colors and textures in the combination of these plant materials: aeonium, lisianthus, aloe and sage

Color and Texture

I tried to capture all the different hues in the lilies: the dark plum of the swedish ivy, pinkish coral of the heuchera foliage, soft silver white of the lamb's ear...

Color and texture

Top view of vase arrangement

Lily, stock, hydrangea, and stock vase arrangement

Cup of begonias

Angel wing Begonia

Peruvian lily (alstroemeria) and lisianthus

Pastels: Pinks and lavenders

I really suggest trying this! Especially if you are tired of designing or feel like you are lacking inspiration. Sometimes the best way to overcome that is to keep powering through and designing. Doing it this way by being in a time crunch, you really don't have to think about a cohesive design; you just let your hands and creativity go. Then put the arrangements around where you work, hang out, relax, and you will get more ideas and really understand the designs that you came up with while timed. It's a fun exercise! 

Have a great weekend!

Mason Jars & Poppy Whites

Matilija Poppy arrangement in mason jar

Poppy, hosta, with rope around mason jar

Romneya coulteri

Shasta Daisies, hosta, poppies

I get in trouble for calling this plant, one of my absolute favorites, not just for its hardiness, whimsy nature, blue-grey foliage or slight vanilla fragrance, the "tissue plant". I guess the more popular of the common names for this flower would be "Fried Egg Plant". At least that's what I've been told and corrected. I like to think of common names (because we all have to learn the scientific and though you can be creative with how you say it so you can spell it phonetically or just remember the name with the plant features), because we get to be truly creative with what kind of common name we give them. Ever since I was a child I called these huge stands of Matilija poppies floating tissues because in the wind, it looked like were crying and waving tissues in the air. Romneya coulteri. My native plants professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Dave Fross, owner of Native Sons nursery, said that some of his absolute favorite plants are only so because his daughter gave them such sweet naive common names when they played and planted in the garden before she could say the scientific names. For him, he will always associate to a certain plant through her name for it.  But of course, if you are ordering plants, writing about them or speaking about them, the scientific name is the only way to go- i'd even argue not to learn the common name and come up with your own that helps you relate to the plant in your own way. It will always have its scientific classification. 

Visit Native Sons Nursery at: Native Sons Nursery 
Learn more about Dave Fross here: David Fross 
Learn more about California Native at: Romneya coulteri