I went to a garden party…
The same is true within the garden. Flowering plants can look lovely on their own, but if they are framed with a green groundcover or small bushes — they can look splendidly spectacular. These same plants can be snipped to provide greens for your bouquets.
If you’re considering adding some greenery to your garden, here are 3 hearty, handsome choices. They will provide a wonderful background for flowers in your garden, and in your cut flower arrangements.
Lady’s Mantle, or alchemilla, has a silvery tinge to it’s round leaves and grows into a shapely round bush, up to about 3 feet wide. The spikes of small yellow flowers add a bright verdant layer that’s such a nice contrast in cut arrangements. There are many varieties of this annual, and they can be grown in most regions. This is the most commonly grown variety, Alchemilla mollis. It grows well in shade or part sun.
As an added bonus, large drops of dew love to linger on these leaves long after dawn. While gardening, it’s refreshing to dip a finger into these dew drops and dab a little on your temple. Fairy’s tears, we used to call them. Surely, they must be tears of joy!
Another favorite in my beds is Sage (salvia), these herbs grow into big shrubs of furry, silvery green leaves. They look so pretty around the perimeter of a bouquet and provide a nice background for any blossom. In the summer, blue spikes of flowers protrude, which make great accents in bouquets.
Our silver sage thrives in a sunny location, even when it is dry and hot and we forget to water! If allowed, the sage would happily take over all of the space in the beds. A general rule of thumb with hearty Mediterranean herbs (Sage, Thyme, rosemary) is that you can safely cut away one third of the plant each year to keep them shaped and under control.
The Sage leaves usually make it through the winter, and they make a beatiful garnish displayed on platters of roatsed meats and birds through the holiday season, along with wedges of citrus.
Another verdant staple for bouquets is Hebe. Our variety of Hebe has grown into a 3-foot evergreen bush, and offers stems of small, pointy deep green leaves, which are topped with lovely white, spiky flowers in the summer. The leaves were stripped off the stems in the photo below before putting them into water.
It grows well in a sunny location and doesn’t need a great deal of water. The bees love it!
Growing your own greens makes the practice of arranging flowers so much easier. Flowers are readily available at many stores, but fresh, interesting greens are not always for sale. Greens create a natural look and also create a support structure for the flowers.
A garden party – now that sounds like a lovely way to spend the evening – a gorgeous space of flowers and landscaping, friends, good conversation and food and drink. So much fun.
I commented on my blog to your question, but I wanted to make sure you received it. I used to work at the SB on 23rd and Hoyt in Portland and I would love to meet up with you some time – that would be a thrill. We'll have to make something work. =)
Enjoy your week.