3. Using a small hole punch or a sharp skewer, make a hole in the top of the tag and two holes (side by side horizontally) in the center a half inch apart. 4. Thread both ends of a piece of jute twine through to the back of the tag from the two holes in the middle. Thread one end of the twine through the top hole from back to front. 5. Insert the evergreen leaf into the loop created by the jute twine and the two center holes.
Tools and Materials Evergreen clippings Card stock Craft punch or scissors Jute twine Small hole punch or sharp skewer 1. Collect evergreen leaves from the garden or woods. Leaves that work well come from cedar, boxwood, pine, euonymus, holly and hemlock. Some evergreens shed their leaves as soon as they dry out, so test a few kinds of leaves for their longevity indoors. 2. Use a craft punch to cut out the tag shape from the card stock. If you don’t have a tag punch, then simply cut out a tag shape with scissors.
Evergreen Gift Tags By adding evergreens to the garden, you are sure to have more than just a patch of dirt in the winter months. The evergreens in my garden provide yearlong supplies for crafts and garden projects, like these gift tags. Snipping a leaf from right outside your door makes an easy decoration and it adds a little life to your holiday gifts.
Prechilling Bulbs To force most bulbs indoors, they need to be prechilled, with the exceptions of amaryllis and paperwhite bulbs. The best bet is to buy prechilled bulbs at the garden center. One way to chill bulbs is in the fridge inside a paper bag. Just be sure to keep the bag in a crisper drawer away from any other food. The idea is to trick the bulbs into starting their spring growth by faking winter. Note that each type of bulb will have a different number of weeks required for chilling. Hyacinth bulbs need one to 12 weeks of chilling. Crocus and Muscari species (grape hyacinth) need 14 to 15 weeks.
2. Use the bulb to measure how deep the hammock should be, then secure it by folding the edges over the mouth of the jar and tying a length of garden twine around the mesh. 3. Fill with water to one-quarter of an inch from the bulb bottom. The roots will quickly find and reach the water. Forced-Bulb Care Once the bulbs are planted, set them in a room where there is ample indirect light and a temperature of around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Add clean water as needed. Weeks to Bloom Hyacinth, crocus and Muscari species (grape hyacinth), pictured below, take two to three weeks to bloom. Paperwhites take three to five weeks to bloom; amaryllis bulbs vary by species.
Forcing Bulbs in Water Materials Wide, pint-sized Mason jar with a regular-sized mouth Plastic mesh Garden twine Prechilled hyacinth bulbs (Hyacinth ‘L’Innocence’ shown) 1. To force bulbs in water, create a hammock out of plastic mesh to allow the bulb to sit above the water line. Shown in the photos here is the packaging from the decorative stones I used in the pebble-forcing method, but you could also use purchased mesh or the packaging often used with onions and avocados.
Unlike plant pots, Mason jars don’t have drainage holes. They do have front-row viewing to the root system, though, so monitoring watering is quite simple. Water to moisten the soil but not so much that there is standing water at the bottom of the jar. If you add too much water, you can always pour it back out. 3. After blooming, keep the greens watered until the soil warms up enough to plant them in the spring garden. They are not likely to bloom again during the current season, but if they naturalize you will get to enjoy them in many a spring to come.
1. Planting bulbs in soil is the most obvious choice and makes for a stable base for tall flowers like paperwhites. Start with a clean Mason jar and line the bottom with an inch of half-inch-diameter stones. Top the stones with a few inches of soil and set a bulb in so that the neck is above the soil line. Pack soil around the bulb and press firmly in place. 2. Keep an eye on the roots: They should be white and long, winding through the soil in the jar. Being able to see below the surface adds to the charm of the container, and it makes a great learning project for kids.
These DIY projects are excerpted from Stephanie Rose’s Garden Made by arrangement with Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications. More Holiday DIY: Handmade Ring Holder and Pompom-Embellished Stocking DIY Project: How to Make a ‘Kokedama’ String Garden
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