Tulips

(Miss Adele' took this picture!)

I don't know why it took this Dutch girl THIS long to plant some tulip bulbs- but my procrastination has stolen so much potential beauty and joy from my life these many years!

There are two types of flower people:  The kind who would never dare to cut flowers- enjoying them only in their natural, living habitat.  And the kind that is perfectly happy to massacre them for the sake of indoor joy.

I am the latter.

It took me growing tulips myself to realize that homegrown tulips are NOTHING compared to store bought ones.  I always kinda thought they were a modest flower but in fact, they are incredibly ostentatious!  

If you cut tulips in the morning and bring them in when they are tightly budded, by evening they have stretched out and draped their petals in the most showy, flamboyant way.  

"Look at ME!" they cry.

And I do.  I DO!  I can't HELP myself!

Are you a hand-off flower admirer or a vase-filling flower butcher?  

Also: an important something to think on today...

Operation DIY Wedding Flowers

Adele' looks pretty shady and suspicious here- but I promise, I asked permission beforehand!

 Operation Wedding Flowers is under way.

I would have preferred making large and lavish bouquets of things blooming right outside the door for a DIY wedding... but as far as I am aware, a whole lot of NOTHING blooms in the end of December.  

Corynn loves dried flowers so the plan is:   use LOTS of scavenged greenery (a-hem, Christmas tree scraps), supplement with all the free (or dirt cheap) dried flowers we can find and add a small selection of fresh flowers for accent/statement flowers.

I spend more time than I should these days wondering how this flower would look dried- or maybe that roadside weed?  How would marigolds fare? I even cut a bunch of echinacea cones and beebalm seed heads to see if they might mimic blue thistle flowers if I painted them with a tinge of blue...) I have no idea what I am doing or it if will work.  If it doesn't work, it doesn't work... but what am I out?  Nothing.  But if it does... well, aren't I clever?!

Someone-who-shall-remain-nameless-because-we-found-out-too-late-that-it-is-illegal-to-do-so, cut some pretty fronds of dune grass when they were at the beach, thinking they would be a nice addition to our stash of dried florals.  (They are.  And SUPER thoughtful of said person.  But they are also illegal to cut so... I would hate for a police raid to interrupt the wedding ceremony because someone caught wind of the dune grass. Hmmm.  It's a pickle.)

The girls and I have been pruning all the hydrangea plants of the neighborhood (okay- maybe just Aunt Holly's.)  Now they sit in the Granary awaiting their time to shine.  (I knew I worked on cleaning that upstairs out for a reason.)

And then one day last week we made a trip out to Corynn's work, which is all about the pretty dried florals and picked up two bouquets of dried flowers for $8.00/piece with her store discount.  We will probably get 4 more when there is a nicer selection but it made for a fun afternoon trip together.

Now pardon me... I have to find someone who will let me prune their pampas grass.  ;-)

I'll leave you with a picture of Ineke behind the sign Andrew built and Corynn painted as a commission for the store...

Ostentatious

 The flower circle and Corynn's flowerbed are getting to be a bit ostentatious these days... and I love it.