March

The year round cutting garden....

Hopefully the third times the charm; I've tried typing this up and posting it and it keeps disappearing (???)so, here we go, again (at least for me)

I am often asked what I would plant if I wanted to ALWAYS have something lovely to cut. Mind you, I am not a gardener but, I am eternally grateful to those who are; whether it's professionally or as a pastime. Without them I would have so much less available to me as plants and flowers are both my medium and my muse. I'm blessed to live in the Pacific Northwest where we have small flower farms popping up all over and some lovely friends that let me forage their yards. No matter what time of year it is there's always beauty to be had outside. Take advantage of the brief but increasing breaks of sunshine and get out there and bring some of natures beautiful bounty inside to enjoy. 

Every month I'm adding to my list of things I'd want to see in my dream cutting garden. These suggestions are based solely on aesthetics, look elsewhere for tips on the HOW of growing these things but I'm your girl if you want to know what plants make good cuts and how and when to cut them. While I'm still cutting and using dogwood, magnolia and pussywillow in my arrangements; new things are popping up all the time and as a designer with ADHD I always want the next new thing to play with. Right now some of my favorites are:    

Licorice Fern

Hellebore

Snowdrops

Dog Hobble (leucothoe fontanesiana)

Fortune's Spindle (Euronymous japonicus) 

A couple of these are evergreen textures that are always nice to have around and licorice fern always look so bright and happy while everything else looks dead and dreary. Snowdrops are one of the earliest blooms and they are a bulb so once they are planted they will come back every year. Hellebores are also a very early bloomer but you want to wait until the seed pods appear in the center of the blooms. If they are cut too early they wilt very quickly. Hellebores are a perennial as well so they will come back year after year. They come in some amazing colors from green to almost black and are SO STUNNING in arrangements once they are ripe enough to cut. 

I hope this encourages you to bring some floral therapy in from outside, get your nature fix indoors; you'll be surprised how much bringing in just a few flowers can brighten these gray, dreary days. Get outside and play, flowers are magic and so are you!