Oh how I hated the idea of cutting off all those fragrant Clematis armandii blooms before they had a chance to open. But ya’ll convinced me they needed to go (cut back the vine!) so before I dug out the plants I cut and saved any bits with buds and put them in vases.
Lots of vases.
And my reward? A lovely subtle perfume throughout the house and sweet little white flowers.
Did you notice the post cards in front of the vase above? These were Christmas gifts (along with the cool stands). I love the vintage desert scenes...
As you might have guessed I have a hard time throwing away any branches I trim from the garden. Why let them go to waste? So naturally the bits I trimmed from the Arctostaphylos denisflora ‘Harmony’ made it into a vase as well.
They play very nicely with the rest of my green/grey/white mantle-scape.
Callistemon branches work too…
As well as prunings from Rubus lineatus (in the orange vase).
Bringing bits of the garden into the house helps me feel connected even when I can’t be out in the garden.
Looking at the things around the vase…this old metal toy and tillandsia were part of a Happy Anniversary diorama from Andrew, the wheelbarrow wheel really turns!
My plant lust partner Megan brought back this fluorescent reindeer-moss covered stick from a trip to Central Oregon, Andrew added the legs.
A close up of the big spikes on Euphorbia milii.
Not all garden cuttings do well though, I’ve found that euphorbia flowers inevitably bring aphids into the house (yuck!) and I can’t for the life of me get a colocasia leaf to survive in a vase, they wilt in about 30 seconds flat. So what's your favorite thing to bring in from the garden?
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