Monday, October 22, 2012

The Last of the Flowers




On Saturday I spent a few hours dodging rain and cleaning out some of the garden beds. All of the green tomatoes are ripening indoors and the plants are in the compost bin. The carrots and beets are tucked away in the fridge, the annuals have been uprooted and the garden beds look a little bare. But I picked a hodge podge of blossoms for an arrangement in the entry hall. It's a little wild, different than my usual. I used sage and rosemary as greenery, along with a few vinca vines.


For a container, my soup tureen worked well. It's a wide opening and the flowers need some support. I've found that a criss cross of masking tape works well and is easy to discard once the arrangement is finished. 
 

Dahlias, like this one, continue to bloom, and I'll enjoy them until the first frost. I have better luck leaving the tubers in the ground than pulling them out for the winter. They are in a well-drained area. Putting the garden to bed is bitter sweet, but I'm looking forward to a bit of a rest once it's done. Time to focus on indoor activities.

Are the flowers still blooming out your way? Do you garden year round or do you enjoy a break for winter?

14 comments:

  1. Ohh here it is summer now and we having lots of rain and the garden is full if lovely flowers ..
    Happy Tuesday xxx

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  2. Lovely and so nice to be able to still enjoy flowers from the garden. Truthfully, to me it's much more enjoyable to see flowers on blogs I visit than orange pumpkins. I'm worn out with the pumpkins already!

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  3. Your bouquet is lovely. You may be surprised when you take it apart, as I have been, to find that the rosemary has all rooted. Now I'm in the market for more potting soil.

    The flowers in the garden are done. The mums and one potted plant carry on. Of course, I've been hauling them in and out of the house on frosty nights. The last of the roses seem to be holding up and perhaps I will see them bloom.

    Is the weather still very soggy?

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  4. Your arrangement is so pretty and thank you for the tip on using the masking tape. I love your blue and white teapot in your earlier post, Steady Love.
    ~Clara

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  5. How pretty! OUr flowers are sputtering toward the end of their days. I'll be pulling up the marigolds later on this week. No gardening activities here during the wintertime!

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  6. What lovely colours your Dahlias have. Our garden looks very 'end of the season', with a few bright Fuschia bushes still flowering.

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  7. Hi sweet Lorrie!!! It's so, so good to hear from you!! And thank you very much for your sweet words on my health ~ good grief, I should be beaten for waiting so long to see about my problems. Your flowers are absolutely GORGEOUS! I hope you and your family are doing wonderful... Sending you hugs and love, Dawn

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  8. A beautiful 'end of season' array of blooms! I'm looking at mine and wondering whether to snip and bring them in...or leave them to live out their days in the garden.

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  9. Beautiful flowers! I like wild arrangements.

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  10. Lovely. I like rosemary used as greenery.

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  11. Your garden must still have been lovely with all of these beautiful blooms to pick. It has snowed twice and though there's just a skiff on the north side of our house, more is expected tomorrow - no flowers here and none are expected before May. On a positive note our tomatoes are ripening gradually!

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  12. I'm also enjoying flowers from our fading garden. But the knock out roses certainly aren't fading, they are blooming with all the energy you could want. This is the latest we've had flowers and tomatoes. Maybe it's due to our early spring, not sure! Something is different. Anyway, your bouquet of flowers is lovely!

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  13. I've never had dahlias in my garden, but always examine that decision again at this time of year, when others display their wonderful bouquets. Yours are just splendid!

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  14. Your end of the year bouquet is so pretty! And, I love the idea of masking tape instead of floral tape because one will probably have it on hand. Our outside work is way behind and will probably end up being spring clean up instead. Oh well!

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