I can't believe the beautiful and imaginative entries that came in answering the poinsettia challenge...you guys are incredible, thank you! Before I share your creations I want to show a few images that came in all the way from Italy, via Shawna Coronado...
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Shawna's been over in Rome, visiting her daughter, and doing some poinsettia spotting...
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Who knew Romans love their poinsettias so much? (and can have them outside...)
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Another friend of the challenge, Debra Prinzing (she of the slow flowers movement) put together a striking arrangement and blogged about it here. She didn't actually email me her entry, but I copied the photo below so you could be inspired by what she put together...
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Now on to our official entries! I'm listing them roughly by last name and including a link to that persons's blog/website (if I know it) and the bit of info they sent along with their photo, enjoy...
Linda (Each Little World): "I wanted to use my grandmother's Roseville jardiniere as the "vase" for my Poinsettia and I didn't really want to cut the plant apart as I was not sure what I would end up with after surgery. Thus I opted to keep the plant whole and try to tone down its color and its dominance by adding dried material in shades of brown and dusty pink. Some of this is material clipped from the garden like fern fronds but the statice is from the florist. I added these around the edges of the plant as well as sticking them down into the plant in a number of spots. I also made the pot part of a larger arrangement so the Poinsettia again would not dominate but would be one element of a whole tablescape"
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Alison (Bonney Lassie): "It's a Christmas "wreath" made out of a picture frame. The petals on the poinsettia are made from book pages, rubbed with gold stamping ink." (see more of Alison's creative paper poinsettias here)
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Linda (Whatsitgarden): Since it was too grey, damp and cold today instead of bloom day posting I stayed in to meet your challenge. I wish the wreath showed up better: juniper beaches with a few snowberries and perscaria blooms. Now the Poinsettia, under planted with two Fatshederas that I rooted up in a jar of water, they needed potting up so, why not? The branches poking outward are from the filbert on my road side, I like the creamy catkins. and the monkey puzzle cone…nicked form a neighbors yard"
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Shirley (Rock Oak Deer): "Kokedama Poinsettia, or is that Poinsettia Kokedama? I hadn't planned to enter until my friend Melody gifted me with a tiny Poinsettia plant. After several tries to surround it with unruly reindeer moss I grabbed some red glitter cord to tame the moss and then it hit me that this was perfect for Kokedama, the artful Japanese method of displaying a small plant simply. I couldn't find a plain background suitable for hanging so it's been set in an antique silver candy dish against the red entry wall."
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Peter (The Outlaw Gardener): "'Taking refuge from the cold' is a combination of plants more suited to warmer climates and a few hardy plants and cut stems from my garden. All are huddled together enjoying the warmer temperatures in the house and lending their own visual heat to our entryway to warm our hearts as we come and go."
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Anna (Flutter & Hum): "Had a little more time today than for the other challenge. Had fun with this one, and made several. Thanks again for the fun challenge, and Merry Christmas! Now, we're going to watch (and probably sing along with) A Year without Santa Claus - a definite fave!"
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Kris (Late to the Garden Party): "This pot and a similar one sit next to our front door to greet guests. It's contents change with the seasons making it the perfect choice for my entry into the poinsettia challenge. The coral poinsettia featuring rose-like bracts is accented by Acorus gramineus 'Ogon', Coprosma repens 'Evening Glow' and a few Aeonium 'Kiwi' cuttings from my garden. The coral and lime plant colors pick up the colors of the bench cushions and pillows next to them. Another maligned holiday symbol, the gnome, stands alongside as sentry, holding a cutting of Aeonium arboreum (pandering to his audience)."
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Nancy, this one showed up without explanation but not without inspiration...
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Sheila (Denver Dirty Girls): "'Holiday Party' is composed of some of my favorite things... Santa and his reindeer, the kid that's not happy with the prospect of a lump of coal because she bit her brother one time too many, Tillandsia snowballs and of course The Christmas Shoe! (The shoe was a gift from a stranger that liked my succulent-filled heels that adorned our fence for an Open Days Garden Conservancy tour a few years back. He didn't tell me why he had them and I didn't ask!)"
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Susan (Flower Garage): "Ode to the Pacific Northwest" aka "The Behemoth" checks in at over 6’ long and includes a carnivorous garden, ferns, mahonia flowers, orchids, schefflera berries, and amazing shelf mushrooms"
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Jane (Close to Home): "So the idea behind this arrangement centered upon a poinsettia is that the poinsettia symbolizes the returning sun even to the new buds in its center and its warm red color. The leaves, apple and persimmon, and the dark, barren sand-cherry twigs represent the old year dying. There is transformation from the dead to the living. The title of this centerpiece is “Here Come the Sun”. It represents the winter solstice, dark changing to light, dead changing to living...Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right."
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Annmarie: "My name is Annmarie and I live in Colrain, MA, but worked in Brighton MA at Mahoney's Garden Center until recently. I am a gardener by trade and temperament. I have a one and a half year old son named Bo who likes to help me in the garden, mostly by collecting rocks and getting really dirty! We are having weirdly unseasonable weather here on Massachusetts, so I was able to take my design outside!"
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So...while you're all winners in my heart there does have to be an actual "winner"...right? I mean that was the promised outcome...
.
.
.
But...instead of a winner...there are two! (as determined by our crack team of judges - introduced in this post)...Susan and Annmarie!!! Detail shots of their creations...
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And in an exciting turn of events the very generous Sean Hogan, owner of Cistus Nursery, has offered up a $25 gift certificate for each of you (lucky!). Congratulations to you both!
(but wait, there's more)
We also have a pair of "runners up" whom I want to acknowledge: Peter and Anna...
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Thanks again to everyone who sent in an entry for the Poinsettia Challenge, I had a blast and hope you did too. I'm going to take a couple months off from this "challenge" business but be back again with a new one in March or so...it's just too much fun not to keep going, hope you agree.
All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
Shawna's been over in Rome, visiting her daughter, and doing some poinsettia spotting...
Who knew Romans love their poinsettias so much? (and can have them outside...)
Another friend of the challenge, Debra Prinzing (she of the slow flowers movement) put together a striking arrangement and blogged about it here. She didn't actually email me her entry, but I copied the photo below so you could be inspired by what she put together...
Now on to our official entries! I'm listing them roughly by last name and including a link to that persons's blog/website (if I know it) and the bit of info they sent along with their photo, enjoy...
Linda (Each Little World): "I wanted to use my grandmother's Roseville jardiniere as the "vase" for my Poinsettia and I didn't really want to cut the plant apart as I was not sure what I would end up with after surgery. Thus I opted to keep the plant whole and try to tone down its color and its dominance by adding dried material in shades of brown and dusty pink. Some of this is material clipped from the garden like fern fronds but the statice is from the florist. I added these around the edges of the plant as well as sticking them down into the plant in a number of spots. I also made the pot part of a larger arrangement so the Poinsettia again would not dominate but would be one element of a whole tablescape"
Alison (Bonney Lassie): "It's a Christmas "wreath" made out of a picture frame. The petals on the poinsettia are made from book pages, rubbed with gold stamping ink." (see more of Alison's creative paper poinsettias here)
Linda (Whatsitgarden): Since it was too grey, damp and cold today instead of bloom day posting I stayed in to meet your challenge. I wish the wreath showed up better: juniper beaches with a few snowberries and perscaria blooms. Now the Poinsettia, under planted with two Fatshederas that I rooted up in a jar of water, they needed potting up so, why not? The branches poking outward are from the filbert on my road side, I like the creamy catkins. and the monkey puzzle cone…nicked form a neighbors yard"
Shirley (Rock Oak Deer): "Kokedama Poinsettia, or is that Poinsettia Kokedama? I hadn't planned to enter until my friend Melody gifted me with a tiny Poinsettia plant. After several tries to surround it with unruly reindeer moss I grabbed some red glitter cord to tame the moss and then it hit me that this was perfect for Kokedama, the artful Japanese method of displaying a small plant simply. I couldn't find a plain background suitable for hanging so it's been set in an antique silver candy dish against the red entry wall."
Peter (The Outlaw Gardener): "'Taking refuge from the cold' is a combination of plants more suited to warmer climates and a few hardy plants and cut stems from my garden. All are huddled together enjoying the warmer temperatures in the house and lending their own visual heat to our entryway to warm our hearts as we come and go."
Anna (Flutter & Hum): "Had a little more time today than for the other challenge. Had fun with this one, and made several. Thanks again for the fun challenge, and Merry Christmas! Now, we're going to watch (and probably sing along with) A Year without Santa Claus - a definite fave!"
Kris (Late to the Garden Party): "This pot and a similar one sit next to our front door to greet guests. It's contents change with the seasons making it the perfect choice for my entry into the poinsettia challenge. The coral poinsettia featuring rose-like bracts is accented by Acorus gramineus 'Ogon', Coprosma repens 'Evening Glow' and a few Aeonium 'Kiwi' cuttings from my garden. The coral and lime plant colors pick up the colors of the bench cushions and pillows next to them. Another maligned holiday symbol, the gnome, stands alongside as sentry, holding a cutting of Aeonium arboreum (pandering to his audience)."
Nancy, this one showed up without explanation but not without inspiration...
Sheila (Denver Dirty Girls): "'Holiday Party' is composed of some of my favorite things... Santa and his reindeer, the kid that's not happy with the prospect of a lump of coal because she bit her brother one time too many, Tillandsia snowballs and of course The Christmas Shoe! (The shoe was a gift from a stranger that liked my succulent-filled heels that adorned our fence for an Open Days Garden Conservancy tour a few years back. He didn't tell me why he had them and I didn't ask!)"
Susan (Flower Garage): "Ode to the Pacific Northwest" aka "The Behemoth" checks in at over 6’ long and includes a carnivorous garden, ferns, mahonia flowers, orchids, schefflera berries, and amazing shelf mushrooms"
Jane (Close to Home): "So the idea behind this arrangement centered upon a poinsettia is that the poinsettia symbolizes the returning sun even to the new buds in its center and its warm red color. The leaves, apple and persimmon, and the dark, barren sand-cherry twigs represent the old year dying. There is transformation from the dead to the living. The title of this centerpiece is “Here Come the Sun”. It represents the winter solstice, dark changing to light, dead changing to living...Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right."
Annmarie: "My name is Annmarie and I live in Colrain, MA, but worked in Brighton MA at Mahoney's Garden Center until recently. I am a gardener by trade and temperament. I have a one and a half year old son named Bo who likes to help me in the garden, mostly by collecting rocks and getting really dirty! We are having weirdly unseasonable weather here on Massachusetts, so I was able to take my design outside!"
So...while you're all winners in my heart there does have to be an actual "winner"...right? I mean that was the promised outcome...
.
.
.
But...instead of a winner...there are two! (as determined by our crack team of judges - introduced in this post)...Susan and Annmarie!!! Detail shots of their creations...
And in an exciting turn of events the very generous Sean Hogan, owner of Cistus Nursery, has offered up a $25 gift certificate for each of you (lucky!). Congratulations to you both!
(but wait, there's more)
We also have a pair of "runners up" whom I want to acknowledge: Peter and Anna...
Thanks again to everyone who sent in an entry for the Poinsettia Challenge, I had a blast and hope you did too. I'm going to take a couple months off from this "challenge" business but be back again with a new one in March or so...it's just too much fun not to keep going, hope you agree.
All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.