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From the Santa Cruz Sentinel
July 21, 2005

Home & Garden: Backyard Bouquet
Filoli Gardens can help you create seasonal arrangements from your garden

In early 1900s California, floral arrangements came from the home garden or from florists who grew their own plants. With advancements in plant breeding and more efficient transportation, flowers are now available from many parts of the globe year round, blurring the seasonal changes that used to dominate home arrangments. Recapture the uniqueness of the seasonal bouquet by trying your hand at creating one from your own garden.

From a single camellia floating in a bowl to an intricate centerpiece, a homegrown floral arrangement uses the scents and sense of the season to connect indoor life with the garden.

Selecting
If you are having trouble imagining a bouquet amassed from your garden, take a stroll and be prepared to be impressed, taking suggestions from the whole landscape.

Landscapes are designed to blend shapes, textures, colors and contrasts that work well together. If you find an area in your garden that you particularly like, "take that information and apply it into a bouquet," says Molly Barker, director of education at the Filoli Estate. "It’s like taking the macro landscape and making it into a micro." Once you start looking for the relationships in the landscape "it is surprising how easy it is to see others," laughs Barker.

If a floral scheme does not pop out to you from the landscape design, cut a few stems that appeal to you and "make a little arrangement in your hand," suggests Linda Hayes, longtime Gilroy resident who has worked extensively with garden floral material at her home and professionally.

"This allows you to see the plant material that you have been looking at from a distance up close," she says.

The difference in perspective can be surprising.

Hayes likes to take her creative cues from the seasons. If you are the adventuresome type try approaching the garden like a supermarket and go shopping. "I don’t have a preconceived notion as to what is available," says Hayes. "I see what is available and what I have to work with and arrange in accordance with the season."

Being flexible and featuring the natural season means you will always be designing with the seasonal stars of the moment.

Look for the beauty in the unexpected.

The look and feel of the garden bouquet is enhanced due to its diversity of plant material and its assortment of sizes and shapes of flowers. In the commercial floral world uniformity is the watch word.

"We accept some imperfections," adds Barker. Depending upon when the flowers are cut in the bloom cycle, they may be large or small. "Using different sizes makes the arrangements more diverse and interesting," says Barker.

Making the cut
Prepare your stems from the garden with care.

Start early: Plan to cut your stems before the heat of the day sets in. The leaves of the plant should be cool to the touch.

How Open: Some flowers do open well cut in bud, but for home use "look for flower stems that are one third to three quarters open," says Barker.

Where to cut: If you are harvesting out of the landscape, select stems that, once removed, will still leave the landscape intact. Consider the amount of stem length that will be needed for the arrangement, remembering that at least one more cut will be necessary. Lastly, the cut has the effect on the plant the same as a cut for pruning. Enough stem needs to be left for regrowth to fill the landscape back in.

Cleanliness: Use a clean sharp pair of shears that will leave a clean cut on the plant. Take a clean bucket of water with you. Take off any leaves from the portion of stem that will be submerged in the water. Place the freshly cut clean stem directly into the bucket while you collect the rest of your harvest.

Conditioning: If stems are cut improperly, a bubble of air can form in the conductive tissue, blocking the uptake of water. Apparently fresh flowers can wilt even when supplied with sufficient water. Conditioning stems properly will help prevent an air lock in the stem. For most plants once inside, "use dishwashing temperature hot water to submerge the cut end of the stem under the water and make another cut under water," says Barker. Then they are ready for the vase.

A snack
In general, cut stems need a source of carbohydrate for nutrition, acid to keep bacteria from clogging the vascular tissue that takes up water and a clean container to minimize the source of bacteria. Commercial products are available or use some common household products.

One part lemon-lime soda to three parts water works well. Or make a mild solution of table sugar, along with either vinegar or lemon juice. Any of the above solutions will help with water uptake.

Putting it together
Containers: People often forget that "the container is part of the arrangement," says Hayes. Complement your unique garden bouquets with equally unique containers.

Support: Household items like rocks, limes, lemons or metal floral frogs all can be used for support. Use scotch tape to form a lattice over the opening of the vase for support. Insert greens and stems, like curly willow, for delicate flower stems to lean on.

Design Elements: To achieve that wonderful feeling that comes from a garden bouquet Barker suggests, "take certain design elements from the pros. But, have it reflect that it came from the garden, which adds a bit of whimsy to it."

Cutting gardens
Unlike plants grown for the landscape, cutting garden flowers are grown to be cropped. Reserve this space for plants that you want to cut in abundance. Keep it out of the view of the landscape.

After harvest, the plants will look more like they just had a buzz cut rather than a quaint cottage garden. Also, choose varieties like delphiniums, snapdragons and alstromeria that benefit from mechanical support. For long, straight stems, plan on "staking early and often," says Barker. "Whether you tie them, or use netting or a trellis, don’t wait until they need it because it’s too late then."

The landscape: Growing plants for both landscape and cutting value is the best of both worlds. Here are a few of Hayes’ favorites: