Cut Flowers

[Nyboy]

I love cut flowers inside they make me happy. Funny because I hate house plants. They can be messy with dropped petals and pollen but I don't mind. I usually bring flowers when visiting friends, I have a collection of cheap yard sale vases I use so dont have to worry about getting back. Do you have cut flowers in your home, all time or only on holidays ?

 

[digitS']

This time of year.

I know that it is a little silly. Lots of flowers in the garden. But, DW likes flowers.

Me. I don't like to take them out from under the white clouds and blue skies!

Steve

 

[canesisters]

I ADORE having flowers on my desk - but RARELY make it happen.

 

[Nyboy]

Cane why dont you buy some bulbs this fall on clearance with sole purpose of cutting for your desk.

 

[flowerbug]

we have to leave most of them outside.

 

[canesisters]

That's a great idea, but I've not had great luck with bulbs. Right now I have 2 beds that desperately need to be rehabbed. One is iris' and easter lilies and is completely choked with poison this & that, blackberries and dog fennel. The other is early spring bulbs and gladiolas and is overrun with clover, chickweed and grass.
If I could figure out how to BTE a bulb garden without smothering the bulbs I'd be all over that.

 

[flowerbug]

daffodils up here usually do well. we have some clumps that are 10-15yrs old and would like to be divided but i never get around to it.

tulips and crocuses do ok, but the animals go after them so much they need to be fenced or otherwise protected.

you can use cardboard and mulch them once they're done flowering and have gone
dormant. they'll need moisture to grow for the coming spring, but that often can soak through cardboard or get through the gaps. it's not easy to put holes or gaps in cardboard once it is down so you may just want to put down a few layers to start and put holes in those layers where the flowers are at, then put a few more layers over those, then the next early spring you can remove the top layers and mulch it so the flowers will come up through the holes but the mulch will keep new weeds/seeds from having an easy start. but you will still have to remove any weeds that manage to come back up through the holes/gaps for a while. then keep repeating this process each summer once the plants have died back to go dormant. if you use the garden for other things this gets tougher.

we used to keep the tulip gardens cleared for the rest of the season, which is much easier to do than now where i'm growing beans, but we've also removed/moved a lot of the tulips out of there and eventually there are plans to move the rest. there's no way i ever have enough cardboard or mulch materials to keep them covered, but it would be a great way to go (if i were devoted to having just one large spring bulb garden and no other plants in there to complicate things).

in comparison, i have a neighboring lily garden that is much much easier to care for. the few tulips left growing in there just fade out and i top it off with wood chips once in a while and otherwise the grecian wind flowers spread around and do their thing and the rest of the flowers do theirs and then die back. the lilies are taller varieties which make a nice wall to block the view of the tulip gardens when they're dying back and before the beans are filled in, but i do still have to weed it here or there... i don't use cardboard on it at all.

 

[digitS']

And, plants that could be lifted for winter storage, allowing smothering of weeds through the months when frost may occur.

I know very little about Canna lilies and next to nothing about Calla lilies. Gardeners do grow these (& others) well beyond their zones of hardiness.

Then, there are Dahlias ...

You may likely leave the Gladiolas in the ground over winter but taking the extra bother to move them into storage would leave ground plant-free for months. And, with some of these other species ... wow! What a nice flower bed.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

And, plants that could be lifted for winter storage, allowing smothering of weeds through the months when frost may occur.

I know very little about Canna lilies and next to nothing about Calla lilies. Gardeners do grow these (& others) well beyond their zones of hardiness.

Then, there are Dahlias ...

You may likely leave the Gladiolas in the ground over winter but taking the extra bother to move them into storage would leave ground plant-free for months. And, with some of these other species ... wow! What a nice flower bed.

Steve

right now it is very bland in comparison with just the lilies and chopped died back stuff sitting there, but the lilies are doing their job right now blooming and blocking the view of the garden that Mom doesn't want to see.

when i go back out in a bit i'll snap some pictures because it is in full bloom and otherwise looks ok from a distance, which is the main consideration since hardly anyone goes in there this time of the year other than us. i'll snap some other pictures when i'm out there.

p.s. you can tell the daffodils love it in there as they were planted 8yrs ago from just a few bulbs (the rest of the garden was planted at that time too), it's not been changed since then other than the addition of wood chips to mulch it.

 

[Nyboy]

Gladiolas I do nothing for winter. They come back every year. I guess because I don't really like them. They reminded me of funeral arrangements.