Use what you have

I've said it before, one of my favorite things is having beautiful flowers around, and making arrangements.  So one of my goals has been to create a perennial garden with enough flowers for cutting and enjoying.  (It makes the yard look great AND saves money!)

It was a really great bonus when we bought The House of Goodwill to discover how many perennials had been planted over the years, that now I can enjoy.

We are headed back there tonight for the weekend, and I'm looking forward to checking on the irises and azaleas.

Meanwhile, I'll share some pics of one of my favorite perennials I have here at the home/house.  It's a tree peony (so it's slightly larger than the usual peonies, and it has a woody base like a shrub).  Over the years, it has slowly gotten taller; I don't remember how tall it will get, but it will definitely get taller than my other peony bushes.

I bought this peony in New York, and I paid a lot for it (it was probably around $30, that's a lot for me...).  It came from a fancy garden center that offers more than the usual landscaping suspects.

So here it is, I just can't get over how huge and gorgeous these peony flowers are!

They smell as great as they look!

There are 9 flowers on the plant - since I'm leaving for a few days, I'll be clipping some and taking them with me.

And when I was visiting my neighbors Jim and Jeanne last week, who enjoy gardening as much as I do, they wanted me to see their viburnum shrub, which was at its peak and smelled amazing.

They clipped a few branches so I could take them home; just a few of these branches made the entire first floor of my house smell so good!

Cuttings from Jim & Jeanne's viburnum shrub

Cut viburnums don't last a long time; they're not really meant to be cutting flowers.  They lasted about three days in this vase.  But the three days were worth the 30 seconds it took to "arrange them."

But the point is - you don't have to grow roses to enjoy flowers indoors.  Use whatever you have!  I clip forsythia and crabapple blossoms in the spring; I fill vases with fall leaves from the yard, I cut shrubs and vines and anything pretty, really.

One of my favorite flowers (that I don't think people think of as a cutting flower?) is from my clematis vine.  (I posted a pic last year.)  It was perfect for a bud vase and lasted a long time as a cut flower.

Planting enough to have enough for cutting without decimating your shrub or garden is key.

I'm looking forward to reuniting with The House of Goodwill's azaleas this evening!