Category Archives: Fall

Fall…Arrangement Inspiration

imageWe look forward to fall with its autumn hues glowing on gorgeous pumpkins and gourds, bright stems of bittersweet and dark colors of pods and stems. Nature gives us all the inspiration we need for interesting and arresting arrangements.

Here are a few we’ve created recently…

A simple wreath made of cotton bolls is embellished just enough with touches of ribbon and bittersweet…these wreaths also add charm to winter and holiday decor. Simply remove the bittersweet and change the ribbons if desired.

Bittersweet in Putti UrnBittersweet, arranged in a classic urn, gives us the quintessential look of fall. This piece is quite large, but the same effect can be achieved in a simple vase just as easily. I used dry foam with moss and added gourds to complete the arrangement.

Pumpkin/gourd/bittersweet in basketSwan gourds here are grouped in a basket lined with moss and angel vine. If you let your imagination go, you might see an aviary family under the branch of a tree. Or, you might just see a natural composition encircled and overhung by bittersweet. There’s no wrong way to interpret this!

Pumpkin/gourd/bittersweet centerpiece in bowl

 

A beautiful bowl is the starting point Jamie used for this grouping of gourds and pumpkins. Interesting shapes, varying colors, and the play of bittersweet wind throughout this balanced design.

Pumpkin/succulent arrangement

 

 

This rough textured oval container lends itself well to a casual grouping of miniature gourds and pumpkins interspersed with succulents, touches of bittersweet, and moss. Mixing live plants adds yet another element of color and form to many compositions.Gourd Arrangement

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Pumpkins, Gourds and More, Oh My!

Summer's harvest...

Summer’s harvest…

Just when you think summer’s heat won’t ever let up, along come a few days of cooler temperatures and clear blue skies to lift spirits and give all of us a second wind.

So many different pumpkins!

So many different pumpkins!

Summer’s final gift to us is the bounty of the late season garden – pumpkins! Oh, but not just any old pumpkins (Though we wouldn’t ever put down the good old fashioned jack-o-lantern!). The last few years the ubiquitous orange pumpkin has made some fancy friends, with names like Blue Hubbard, Cinderella, Long Island Cheese, Jharadale, Lumina, Lunch Ladies (Yes, really!) and Warty – just to name a few.
But, really the names don’t matter, because what’s in a name when they’re all so wonderfully different?

The entrance is looking so pretty!

The entrance is looking so pretty!

The entrance to the shop will be filled with the pick of the crop – picked just prior to delivery from a 20 acre farm in Tennessee. We’re excited about the fall harvest this year and hope you’re making plans for pretty fall displays at your homes too!

 

Making an appearance this year, among the pumpkins, fall flowers and cool season vegetables, are our original handmade Halloween friends from many years past. They include gremlins, ghosts, a big orange pumpkin, a black cat and a scary old witch with her cauldron. It’s fun having them back!  A big thank you to Jamie, Molly and Pinkie for their fantastic makeover work on all of them – they look better than ever!

Molly, Jamie and Pinkie with our witch!

Molly, Jamie and Pinkie with our witch!

Pinkie made our black cat pretty scary...

Pinkie made our black cat pretty scary…

Pumpkins and Halloween decorations are ready made backdrops for pictures, too. So make yourself at home, and take as many photos as you’d like of your little “pumpkins” with ours!

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Late Summer Plants Jump Start The Fall Garden

Marigolds & Coleus - FallI’m not quite sure I’ve been  living in the Southeast this summer…plentiful rain and decent temperatures – (Though it looks like the heat is finally returning.) this has been Alabama in August?!

But, even with a manageable summer, annuals planted back in April can still be looking worse for wear, no matter how well you tend your garden and containers. Potted plantings especially can get just plain root bound, and may need rejuvenating by late summer when school starts back up.

Pumpkin season is right around the corner...

Pumpkin season is right around the corner…

 

 

And, before you know it, pumpkins and gourds will be on display all over town – and they look beautiful with all the late summer plants you can begin putting in now and in the coming weeks!

But what to do? If you’ve been cutting back your annuals they may be just fine. If they are, that’s great. Keep tending them until pansy season, which generally begins when temperatures really begin to cool down and fall is definitely in the air – usually sometime in October.

photo (33)But, if your garden and beds are struggling…think about where you’d like to see marigolds, ornamental peppers, late season salvias, and, further down the road, lettuce, asters and cool season herbs – we’ll have transplants of parsley, thyme (Look for the lemon variegated thyme which looks beautiful with green or red lettuce and marigolds.) dill and cilantro too.
Just a few marigolds go a long way in planters or beds – each plant gets quite large – and they only need periodic dead heading to keep blooms coming.

What about mums, you ask? Well, we’ll have mums as well, and they are beautiful too. You do need to know though, as soon as all their buds open, there won’t be more flowers. You can enjoy them until they’re done blooming, but, no matter how many flowers you pinch off, they won’t make more! But for a weekend football party or get together, they can’t be beat as a traditional fall flower on a table or by your front door.

Soon everything will be available to create this planting arrangement...

Soon everything will be available to create this planting arrangement…

September is right around the corner, and that is the month all of these plants become more readily available. If you begin planning now, you can have a glorious fall planters and garden beds that are the envy of your neighborhood!

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Muhly Grass…Plant Now For Clouds Of Pink Blooms This Fall…

Muhly grass, muhlenbergia capillaris, is a native grass that is quiet for much of the year until mid-October-November, when 4′ panicles of pink blooms float in the air – if you can site it where it is backlit by the sun, it is a sight to see!

back lit in the sun, muhly grass shines come late summer/fall
back lit in the sun, muhly grass shines in October-November…

One of the best places to see this fantastic grass is at Railroad Park downtown. There they’ve utilized it in masses, and when the light is right, it’s a haze of pink everywhere you look – it’s absolutely stunning.

If you’d like to try some of this in your own landscape or containers, we have some in stock now – we warn you though, you might walk right by it in the nursery and think nothing of it. This is one grass you have to plant for its future beauty!

Requirements: Full sun to part shade, with moist, well drained soil – though it will tolerate drought and heat once established.

 

Perennial To-Dos For A Great Garden…

Perennial chrysanthemums benefit from being cut back once or twice or they tend to get lanky with fewer blooms.

Perennial chrysanthemums benefit from being cut back once or twice or they tend to get lanky with fewer blooms.

May and June are key months to keep an eye on your perennials as they’re coming up and (hopefully) growing like gangbusters.  A few tasks to do now involve some summer perennials and many of your late blooming fall plants. Of course, the  following tips are not something you have to do, but are only suggestions gleaned from my gardening experiences through the years. Remember, gardening is not one-size-fits-all!

Do you have summer phlox in your garden? Now is the perfect time to selectively thin your clumps, especially if they’re large. (If they are outgrowing their space or haven’t been blooming well, divide them this fall.)

To thin your summer phlox, simply reach into the clump and pull out the smallest stems. This effectively allows better air circulation – which in turn leads to a healthier clump less prone to mildew problems. At the same time, cut back by half some of the remaining stems. A longer bloom period will be the result…

Perennial sunflower - just about to be cut back in late May.

Perennial sunflower – just about to be cut back in late May.

Asters in front of Texas sage in late May after their first cut-back. Hedge shears do a great job quickly!

Asters in front of Texas sage in late May after their first cut-back. Hedge shears do a great job quickly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more blooms on your late blooming perennial sunflowers, salvias, asters, Joe pye weed and chrysanthemums,  now is the perfect time to get in the garden and cut them back – if you have large areas, use a hedge clipper and cut them back by half. (Hedge clippers – the old fashioned manual ones –  work best on asters and perennial mums.) When you cut a stem, it will respond by creating two stems, so you’ll have a fuller, shorter plant with more flowers later.

Perennial sunflower getting cut back. It will create two stems here - more blooms!

Perennial sunflower getting cut back. It will create two stems here – more blooms!

Now you don’t have to do this, (I’m not the garden police!) and, if you don’t, they’ll just be taller and bloom earlier in the fall, growing to their full height in your garden.
I do like cutting mine back now though. I also make a second cut-back on half the clumps about a month later. This effectively “staggers” the bloom time – those not cut back this second time will bloom first, and be a bit taller, and the plants that are cut back the second time will bloom a bit later.  More blooms, longer! It’s a win win!

Late blooming Salvia madrensis - forsythia sage...cut back at least 3 times during the growing season.

Late blooming Salvia madrensis – forsythia sage…cut back at least 3 times during the growing season. Shown here just beginning to bloom – this will turn into a mass of yellow salvia blooms…

Many southern gardeners say “Don’t cut late blooming perennials back after July 4th”.

Rule breaker that I am, I have cut perennial mums, asters and sunflowers back as late as mid-July and had no ill-effect. But I like extending my blooms well into fall – it’s one of my favorite times of the year!

Perennial sunflower - 'Marc's Apollo' beginning to bloom in mid-September...

Perennial sunflower – ‘Marc’s Apollo’ beginning to bloom in mid-September…

 

 

 

Above all, enjoy your garden – after all, that’s what you planted it for, right? Hopefully by following these tips you’ll be able to enjoy it even longer!

***One of my absolute favorite reference books on perennial gardening is The Well-Tended Perennial Garden by my friend, Tracy DiSabato-Aust. If you enjoy perennials and gardening, this is a must have!!!

 

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