The patriotic theme of red, white, and blue is a theme visitors to Tiger Gardens will see on a recurring basis if they ever visit my gardens. I've posted many times about some of my projects and color combinations that display the color theme but bear with me one more time as I share another red, white and blue project.
One of my favorite projects is pictured above-a folksy American flag that started life as an old discarded glass window. Old glass windows can be used in so many ways in the garden and you can usually pick them up for nothing!
I have several windows and tend to paint these flags assembly line style. You must be careful though because you have to paint the flag opposite of how it would look if you were looking at it straight ahead. This is because you paint on the back of the window. Painting backwards is easy to forget! Once painted you turn the window around and mount it in the garden. If you'd like an extra bit of protection spray the painted side with a clear polyurethane coating. These flags are folksy and not for everyone but they sure do shine in my garden mounted along our long privacy fence.
I just had to share this updated picture of another red, white, and blue project--my door project. I am gradually moving my houseplants inside of the house and/or greenhouse. This has freed up some space on this door shelf for flowers of a different kind-the kind that are picked and need to be dried. I love keeping dried flowers around my house and garden but don't really like a lot of them in the house. It's something about feng shui; dried flowers in a house is a no no and I take feng shui principles seriously though I don't always follow the rules. Feng shui does not say you can't have dried flowers outside though. This shelf out front is perfect to hold dried flowers. It is under a roof so the area does stay dry. I am even able to use it to hang flowers that need to be dried....
in the garden....
Happy Columbus Day everyone! If, like me, you have it off then enjoy and get in the garden to prepare for winter! It's cold outside today...
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
Funny thing about those gardens. We enjoy the blooms in the garden so darned much and wish they would last longer but are not always sure how to make it so. Well, if you grow hydrangeas it is pretty simple to dry the blooms and bring them in the house. The above pictures show 'Annabelle' hydrangeas. They were dried in two different ways. I'll briefly discuss the two ways I used to preserve the blooms.
I know of two basic methods for drying big head hydrangeas (this will include mophead hydrangeas (macrophylla) and also the paniculata hydrangeas (Limelight, PeeGee, Pink Diamond, Tardiva, etc) as well as the Annabelle type hydrangeas (arborescens). I know there are more than two methods but these are the simplest ones in my opinion. In the first method I cut several blooms from the shrub when the blooms were mature. That is, they were just passing their prime and beginning to dry. I placed the bouquet in a vase with about 1-2" of water. Over a period of about one week the blooms dried on their own.
In the second method I left the blooms on the shrub to dry naturally. Just prior to the blooms turning brown is when I cut the blooms. These can be placed directly in a vase with no water. Nothing more needs to be done to have these hydrangeas preserved.
I sometimes paint my blooms. Michael's Hobby Store sells a mist aerosol paint specially made for blooms. It is a very fine paint and will not weigh down the flowers. This paint works great and comes in a wide variety of colors. You might also spray the flowers with hairspray if you don't want to color the blooms. The hairspray will help the petals hold up a bit longer.
Flowers dried in this way can last for many years but do tend to get covered with dust. It is difficult to dust dried flowers so I usually throw my old flowers out. One thing to note, if you are into feng shui you do not want dried flowers in your house at all. I tread a fine line because I do like feng shui and try to practice it, but I also love my hydrangeas in the house as well. My compromise is to not have as many dried flowers as I'd like and to toss them in the spring. Your choice for sure.
I know this is an easy question, but which hydrangea was dried in water and which one was dried on the shrub in the above picture? The green or the white? And can you see the oakleaf hydrangeas outside the window? They dried naturally on the shrub. I'll enjoy those blooms from inside the house when it is icy outside.
in the garden....
