Darcey Bussell and lilies

Another years version

Love Song and Chrysanthemums

Golden Buddah

I’m at my limit. More will come, either immediately, or later today. Lisa

Lisa !!!! - you make exquisite bouquets!!!! I love the last one the best! Incredible!!!

Carol

Princess Charlene de Monaco

Louise Odier

My Mom on Mother’s Day. Mostly Evelyn and PCDM

Close up

I’ve got plenty more, but I can only upload 4 at a whack! Lisa

You have quite the talent!! Your mom looks very happy and proud to get those roses! My Favorite are the ones your mom is holding and the one above it...the colors are amazing!!

Carol

Poseidon is looking a bit bedraggled here. I should have taken the photo on the first day.

Easter blooms

Easter 2018 · More Info

A tiny Mrs. William G Koning

Mrs. William G. Koning in the little vase Sarah gave me on 4/2018 · More Info

Mme Alfred Carriere and friends

Oh, sweet heavens!! You really know what you're doing! Yes, the first one would have been sublime if the picture were taken before they got old....but we can see what it would have looked like...This one and the last one are my favs. Lovely and beyond!! :)

Carol

My Aunt with her birthday bouquet. Mel’s Heritage and Evelyn, mostly.

Baronne Prevost with a new dianthus, ‘Green Ball’

A full countertop of cut flowers in April. Sarah and I cut everything I had in bloom, and made arrangements.

..absolutely glorious Lisa, and Mum looks so happy too.... so glad you were able to post these...

Lisa, these are exquisite and I especially enjoyed you sharing your beautiful family with us!

Thank you! I really love to cut my blooms for indoors. It’s at LEAST half the reason I grow roses/flowers. When I can’t be outdoors, I bring the outdoors in! It’s an instant mood lifter for me, and I really need that some days.

I know I sound like the fisherman talking about “the one that got away”, but I’m actually a little disappointed with my photos above. I thought I had more arrangements on par with the ‘Golden Buddha’ arrangement, stored in my phone. I think many of my best arrangement photos were uploaded directly into a post, and I’m not sure where they are. Other beauties were given away moments after completion, so were never preserved in photos. I’m actually not that pleased with most of ones that I posted above. That being said, this thread has inspired me to cut and arrange some more.

My uncle arrived from Holland at 3:30AM this morning, and I’ll be seeing him today. I’ve had my eye on the blue sea holly for the past week or so, waiting for it to be just blue enough for cutting. I also have some sort of wild sunflower that selfsows, and I’m not that fond of. I keep some because the birds love it, and it grew at our beloved family cabin in Utah. Over the years, in spite of my careful picking, one plant turned into two, and two into four, and so on. They are brighter than my usual fare, but only about 3 inch blooms on 8F tall, well branched plants. Good bouquet material, if you like the color, in other words. I think they might go well with the sea holly. I’m sitting on my patio looking over the garden for perspective rose blooms to use. I see my ever faithful Louise Odier has some to offer, and Mel’s Heritage always has blooms to spare. ‘Felicia’ out front, had plenty yesterday, so that’s a possibility as well. I’m sorely lacking in the yellow rose department. Actually, I’m sorely lacking in all rose colors except any variation of pink! I do love my pinks! I’m seeing that I need to add color variety to break things up, in the garden as well as in the vase. I’m trying to do this with the seeds I plant, but I definitely need to add some different colored roses, as well. I must admit, even knowing this, my eyes go straight to the pink versions of whatever I’m looking at, roses, seeds, annuals, you name it. I’m a hopeless pink lover!

The sea holly, turning nicely blue. The stems aren’t quite all blue, yet. You should have seen how many bees I disturbed when I turned this branch away from the sun for the photo!

Here’s the annual wild sunflower that keeps reseeding on my slope. Enormous plants with thick tree like trunks.

I’m just rambling around the yard and rambling on in general here, so here’s a yellow scabiosa that I’ve been growing for many years. I grew lots from seed this year and gave many babies away. They’re so drought tolerant and the gophers only eat them as a last resort.

Of course I have a pink version too! And some “black”.

Lisa, this is the first thing I saw when I opened my laptop just now, and nothing I could see all day (or maybe ever) could be more exquisite and joy-producing than this glorious array. You not only have beautiful flowers and roses but a real gift for arranging them to produce the maximum impact. So beautiful, thank you.

Your mom and aunt look like such sweet ladies. What I can see of your home is lovely. I really would love to see it in real life, when you're feeling better.

What a touching story and so much beauty, wow!

What can I say, Lisa is a wonderful, caring, understanding, loving and a beautiful person. I am so, so, SO GLAD she is my friend. Like my younger sister. She is one of a kind rose and unique :)

Jin

Here's a bowl bouquet of my Austin's: Golden Celebration, Desdemona, Lady of Shallot:

Jin, you’re too sweet, and have me blushing! Back atcha!

Those are lovely, easy squeezy! I don’t grow any of them. I know which one is Desdemona, but could you tell me which is which for LoS and Golden Celebration? Which one makes the best cut flower? That’s always one of my first questions:) I love your presentation! Gorgeous! Lisa

Lisa, those are wonderful bouquets! You have an eye for arrangement and must have been a florist in a former life. :-) What a difference a fluff of roses makes to one's day! Thank you so much for sharing yours. I enjoy enlarging your images and investigating all the cultivars you grow so beautifully. I, too, adore Poseidon/Novalis. It really is LAVENDER! Not pinkish with lilac tints or bluish shaded in the right light but lavender, real honest to goodness lavender.

Like you, I enjoy keeping a vase of something in the house at all times. I display a collection of my mother's and aunt's crystal vases in a silver tray on my dining table and fill one or more as the occasion arises. My mother loved cutting her Hybrid Tea roses for special occasions, and she was always collecting neighbors' mail or petsitting for them while they were out of town. In return, those who traveled brought my mother thank you gifts, and somehow Mom ended up with a number of Irish and German crystal vases. My aunt loved to visit garage sales and second hand stores searching for small treasures. She picked up the habit from my grandmother. A number of years ago, she gave me a small Waterford shot glass that she purchased for a couple of dollars. I keep it on the table for my daughter to fill with collected "wildflowers." (That is, lawn daisies, dandelions, clover, etc.)

I love the story of your prolific sunflowers. Family passalongs are treasures! It's fitting that they have settled into your garden as if it had always been their home. I find sunflowers to be both exhilarating and comforting. Their countenance is a happy one, their seeds feed the birds and my daughter is thrilled with the ones that tower above her. I associate them with baskets of apples, bountiful harvests and crow silhouettes flying in the setting sun. Carol

Here's a bouquet that I posted for Marlorena on another thread, but consider it yours as well. :-) Carol

An unknown red Hybrid Tea from a plant that my husband rescued and gave to me, Munstead Wood, Buff Beauty, Russelliana, Poseidon/Novalis, Maiden's Blush and feverfew.

Carol they are so beautiful. I love all of them. I just wish mine will hurry up and grow.

I can't wait either to have cuttings and bringing them in doors.

Carol , you are so sweet and I am sure Marlorena was very touch and loves it.

Lisa, next time if I still don't have flowers or roses blooming....I am sending you singing flowers ( musical card ) ...so, HA !

Jin

P. S. If I can ever find one...lol

Thank you all, so very much! You have no idea how much your words mean to me, and how much I needed to hear them today, in particular. Carol, your bouquet is lovely! Thanks!

I got so distracted today, that I’ve not yet put together any arrangements. I do have blooms cut and ready to go, however! I’ll just have to see if I have the energy to do it this evening, or in the morning. It’s such an enjoyable experience for me that I don’t want to do it when I’m too tired. I will probably go to bed early, and put something together in the morning when I’m “fresh”. I WILL take pictures. LISA

I'm looking forward to seeing them! Have a good night, Lisa. Carol

Lisa - more mesmerizing bouquets!!! You really have a gift! I love your sea hollys...I should grow those! And I also love scabosias...I have the blue and the purple ones...I didn't know there were pink ones. I'd love to find some.

Jin - yes! That's stunning! And Lisa did that too? How nice of you, Lisa!!! :)

Easysqueasy - what a lovely bowl of Austins!!

Carol - so those small daisies are called feverfew? I didn't know that! And I see those quite often. Love the look at your beautiful bouquets!!

Carol

Well, I feel like I made an empty promise about posting a photo of a new bouquet. I wanted to upload directly to this post this morning, but it wasn’t working:(. It’s been a very long bad day, and I’m not at home right now. I’m in need of distraction, so I’m going to post the pictures I did take today, and are still in my phone. They are just the cut blooms, unarranged. Still quite pretty, I think.

Felicia

Louise Odier with Scabiosas and Lavatera trimestris.(both the bright pink and the white varieties)

Abraham Darby, Princesse Charlene de Monaco, Mystic Beauty, Clematis.

Assorted blooms this morning.

Lisa

Lisa -

Thanks for the update. I was getting worried about you. Other than that, well worth waiting for! Always love your photos

MaryC

PS I have a few things from Annies that match yours but I think you have my entire current Annies Wish List sitting on your counter

Lisa, I'll have to write more when I'm at a computer and I can actually bouquet bouquet but suffice it to say these are so beautiful. However you put them together it's exquisite. Felicia! Cornelia! Everyone here is wonderful! And so thoughtful, I'm looking at you Jin! :-)! Easy squeezy, I adore that combination of color! Do you work all those varieties? PMR, I remember that bouquet and still admire it.

Thanks! I’ll take a few proper pictures tomorrow morning, if tomorrow turns out to be a more “normal” day for me.

Mary, isn’t Annies the best?!?! I know it’s silly, but for me, a “dream vacation”, would be to actually go there. I could spend all day, I’m sure. There’s so few mail order nurseries that cater to the CA climate, with our clay soil, drought, heat, and no winter chill. It’s the only place with really neat plants, and nearly everything is suitable for my garden. My kids know an Annies gift card, is always a perfect and exciting gift for any of my special occasions. I try to chose from the “easy reseeding” list, and purchase only one of any plant. I have “free” plants forever, that way.

Out the jumble of blooms in the pictures below, only ONE bloom variety is from a PLANT actually purchased from Annies, (the pink Scabiosa) The rest of them are from self sown plants. I just love that! It’s the only reason I have plenty of cutting blooms. I always show my kids the “volunteers” that come up, and thank them for “the gift that keeps on giving.

Lisa

I mean other than the roses, of course. I’d better try to sleep, I can hardly keep my eyes open:). Goodnight. Lisa

I am so with you on this. Unfortunately my ability to handle the freeway peters out at San Jose so I've never even tried. Which is probably very good for my pocketbook! I have yearly descendants of Orlaya, Chinese Forget Me Nots, what I think is Pink Heirloom Poppy, Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate, Desert Canterbury Bells,... I think that's it for right now. I've had some that reseeded for a year or two and then disappeared, never to return. The Kiss Me disappeared for 2-3 years then all of a sudden showed up again.

So sorry for hijacking your Bouquet thread - don't have anyone to discuss the wonders of Annies with!

Okay, Roses -- How do you manage to grow Louise Odier? She's not supposed to like the heat.

MaryC

Talk about your Annie’s plants all you like, Mary! I’m such a big fan. I even use their catalog to research plants and then purchase seeds elsewhere, because I then know they will succeed here. My Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate has done a lot of reseeding this year. It was a new plant spring of 17, and I wasn’t sure how easily it would reseed. I scattered it everywhere, and ended up getting loads of new plants. They even grew in the gravel, where I must have dropped some. Those plants are very short, but I use them for cutting. I can hardly make myself pull anything I know will provide blooms. The Orlaya is one of my favorites, and the annual salvia horminum ‘blue’ is a good reseeder, too. The Lavateras have been wonder plants, reseeding and blooming like mad. I know I’m forgetting many favorites, but I’m not 100% awake, yet. I’m moving very slowly in the morning times, too. I’m sure you remember that feeling.

Louise Odier, what can I say? I have an entire thread dedicated to her somewhere, entitled, “I’m so impressed with Louise Odier.” She’s the superstar of my garden. I ordered her before I knew she didn’t like warm climates, and I’m glad I didn’t know. Had I read HMF’s description page first, I wouldn’t have her now. I had always wanted her, and she was one of my first roses from Rogue Valley Roses. She lived in a small pot for over a year, and produced one or two blooms in that time. She finally went into the ground March? of 2017. She was blooming 2 months later, and had blooms until September! She took a break until November and then bloomed some more! This year, she’s been blooming since March? April? with no signs of stopping. She’s been amazing in the heat. I can’t believe it, and couldn’t be happier! The worms are into her right now, destroying many buds. I’m probably going to have to spray some BT. Those little buggers are eating everything! Many buds that I cut and put in a vase, were worm eaten overnight indoors. I guess some were hiding in there. Louise Odier has been SO good here, people even questioned her correct identity! She’s loving my hot climate. Go figure! Lisa

Annie's isn't just for CA! I love those plants, even if a number are outside my zone. The catalog is half the fun. :-) Carol

WOW Lisa those are superb bouquets! You have a special talent for sure!

Great pics everyone!

These bouquets are so amazingly beautiful, Lisa. I used to grow Scabiosa, it's good to see it indoors in a vase.

Princess Charlene de Monaco is new to me, lovely pastel blooms with Evelyn...

Lisa - !!! - I'm speechless over your bouquets!!! Do you leave any flowers in the garden? Or do you just have sooo many that it doesn't matter? :) Gorgeous!!!

CCarol

Thanks, everyone! I’m a seed sower, so I have plenty. I have a wild looking garden, mostly. Seeds fall wherever they may fall, and I usually leave them for bouquets. After that, I MIGHT yank them, or not:) That’s why I always have plenty of cut material. Neat and orderly, it’s not, but I love the bouquet fodder! Lisa

Cornelia and Feverfew, picked this morning.

Roses used are ‘Louise Odier,’, ‘Baronne Prevost’ and ‘Lovely Fairy’

Do you have problems with the feverfew being invasive? I had some in my yard one summer, and I am still seeing it pop up all over the neighborhood.

Lisa - lovely roses and flowers!! I love how your vase matches your clock!! Beautiful!

Lisa, they are beautiful . Wow, I am actually blown away with so many cuts and blooms.

All your bouquets are top notch Beautiful. Haha, I see your matching vase and clock. Finally, you used your Christmas gifts. Wahoo !!

Yeah, I remember one of your pics in older thread hat seeds started growing everywhere including concrete . Now, that was amazing to me .

Thank you for sharing your pics. You actually encourage me so much.

Jin

Lisa, your bouquets are all gorgeous!

Thanks everyone. I do love my pinks! The one above makes me want to eat a berry filled dessert. Glad you like my vase and clock. They were eBay finds. Yes Jin, good memory! They were my Christmas gift to myself. I use this one lots! It’s one of my favorites. Lisa

K S, I can see how the Feverfew might become invasive, but mine hasn’t been terribly so, YET. I say yet, because it’s only been around here a few years. It definitely self sows, but I have about 6 plants today, after starting with one. Each year I have about double the amount of plants, so this year, I’ll need to control them. The one shown above had started itself in a spot in front of some other shorter plants, so I yanked the entire plant when I cut those blooms. It’s very dry here, so they mostly grow where they get irrigation. In a wetter climate like yours, I bet they spread much faster. Lisa