Daily Inspiration: DIY

November Garland DIY

 You may think there isn't much difference between October and November decor, but there is at my house! My black crows, spiders, creepy moss, and anything orange and black are put away in favor of golds, reds, oranges, browns, and natural decor brought in from the outdoors (branches, leaves, cones, etc.).

This is an easy (super inexpensive) project you can do to make a beautiful table centerpiece, or a beautiful piece to drape anywhere! The best part of the project is that you can put your own spin on it. You can make it as long as you like, with whatever kind of leaves you like, and with whatever ribbon you like!

SUPPLIES NEEDED: Ribbon, Glue Gun, Scissors, Metallic Spray Paint, and Leaves! 

For my garland, I chose magnolia leaves. 

They are a nice broad shape, and boast beautiful fall colors that stay true once they have dried. 

I used a gold metallic spray, but you can use whatever metallic you like: silver, copper, etc.

Here are my two boxes of leaves- ready to go!

Next, heat up your glue gun, and cut a length of ribbon to what size you want your garland to be. You can even use twine if that's what you have on hand. I like to use something pretty; it makes nice tails at either end, and it looks nice peaking through the garland here and there.

Next, it's time to start gluing! I start a few inches from the end of my ribbon (which you can't see in the picture because my ribbon was bent...I fixed that straight away). Having ribbon at the end makes it easy to pick up and move around when the garland is done, and it's pretty!

I like to stack my leaves up according to color in my work space before gluing, making it easy and quick to rotate through them, giving my garland a nice even appearance. (*Note: If you choose a ribbon that has holes- like mine- be sure to lift it up off the counter a bit when you need to glue leaves straight to it or else you will have a mess...speaking from experience! :) At some point, you will need to start gluing your leaves in the opposite direction you started, so you will have two ends that look the same. The first picture below shows the garland right before I began my transition, and if you look closely at the next picture below, you can see where I did my transition (about 10 inches from the right end). 

And here it is, all done! I made mine about 3' long, and I haven't decided whether or not it's going to go on the table, the piano, or any other number of places it would look pretty! Maybe I need to get busy making some more!

And here's a close up...so you can see the colors!

HAVE FUN! And Happy Halloween!!!

~Laura

Daily Inspiration

If you are anything like us, you love to be surrounded by beauty the entire year...nice weather or not. What objects do you have tucked away that would look pretty in you winter landscape? 

Old pots look beautiful with branches or seed heads tucked into them! 

Take a look around your landscape now and begin planning for a beautiful winter!

Daily Inspiration

Oh, how we love herbs and flowers that start their show early in summer and continue bravely through hard frost! Here you see the broad-leaved borage with it's delicate blue, cucumber-tasting flowers, and a pretty yellow calendula peaking from behind! 

Both of these plants are tough and come back reliably every year!

Do plant these in an area that you don't want too controlled...they are a free-spirited bunch! 

Daily Inspiration

This Witch Hazel stopped me right in my tracks this morning! Up against a blue spruce, the orange almost glows.  Witch Hazels are a favorite around here for a shade-loving shrub (I think it's safe to say that it's my mom's #1 favorite). The get rather large if left to their own devices, but they don't grow fast enough to get out of hand, making a nice shrub to train to a specific size. They come in all sorts of varieties, and boast a spectrum of fall color (reds, yellow, orange, and a mix)! 

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This Japanese Anemone ('Party Dress') is just blooming its head off! Anemones are such a great perennial! They bloom through the cold, blustery fall days!

Important Dates!

Here are the dates and times of our upcoming events!

Don't miss our annual open house! 

And our November Seminar! This one is great fun!

Daily Inspiration

Weeping Willow Leaf Pear

Pyrus salicifolia 'Pendula'

This is one of my favorite ornamental trees. My parents have two of them that are trained into an arbor right before a descending stone staircase. They look almost ethereal, with their dusty silver, wispy foliage, and their quirky branching habit. When I got a place of my own, I just HAD to have a few. So, I planted three of them, staggering the length of a winding grass path,  that will be trained to grow over the path (a sort of tunnel in the end). 

Weeping Willow Leaf Pears are an outstanding ornamental. They do great in infertile, poor soil, and don't seem to be bothered by any problems of note. They get to be approximately 20' x 20', but grow slowly enough that they are easy to train and shape to look the way you want them too! 

Their white blooms come out in early spring in large clusters- we always bring an armful of branches into the house for forcing. The blooms are then followed in the late summer-fall by beautiful, chartreuse green pear shaped fruit that are also great for arranging indoors. 

More and more, I find myself leaning more toward the unusual, rare varieties...not just the typical red-in-fall maple (which I love, too), but plants with a wider spectrum of color. But, if you are in the market for a tree that has brilliant red, fall color, the Redpoint Maple (Acer rubrum 'Frank Jr.') is one of our favorites right now!

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Juniper berries!

We have the most beautiful juniper shrubs in the nursery! They are chock full of berries! Won't they look pretty tucked into some garland or a wreath (or planted in a flower bed) this winter!

Daily Inspiration

Campanula 

Bellflower (Campanulaceae)

'Birch Hybrid'

We love these! We both have them in several places in our gardens- mostly lining the edge of flower beds. They only grow about 6-9" tall, so you can tuck them into almost any space! They like sun to partial shade, but the best part is that they bloom all season long! 

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This is just the beginning of my parent's harvest!

Do you see their 'helper' gaurding the produce??? (That is Tessa, my other sister :)

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This morning was wonderful. The kind of morning you dream about in July, when it is already 85 degrees before 8am. I would imagine that most would prefer to stay inside until the sun at least begins to peak its way through the fog, but we would rather be outside, relishing every ounce of fog, dew, and cool temperature that we can! Fall color is at its peak right now. The sumacs, maples, witch hazels, dogwoods, oaks, parrotias, crabapples, and hundreds of others are to. die. for. We try to soak as much of it in as we can! 

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For the love of lanterns...

These are a few of the BEAUTIFUL lanterns that just arrived!

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Add a bit of Halloween spookiness to your pots! I love these great big spiders! Spanish moss is a great thing to add trailing out of the side of pots or under your table centerpiece for a spider-web 'creepy'  look!

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Sadly, there is no info I can tell you about this rose, but I thought it too beautiful not to share an image of it! It was a tester sent from J&P a year ago, so I planted it to 'test' it. Well, so far so good!

Daily Inspiration

Smooth Sumac

You can't beat the color of sumac trees in the fall! This one is just starting to put on its brilliant color! There are male and female sumacs- you know it's a female if it produces fruit clusters which ripen into a beautiful red! The smooth sumac is a zone 3 and grows 9-15' tall and wide!

A few of its fall-colored branches would be beautiful in a vase!

Daily Inspiration

Hemerocallis

'Stella de Oro'

YYou gotta love this happy looking bloom! These are a great repeat blooming daylily (that now have a 'sister' plant, the 'Purple de Oro' which reblooms as well)! They only get about 18" x 18" (although I have seen them just a tad bigger if they really like their spot) and have beautiful grassy foliage, which  makes them great for a color and texture accent anywhere! 

We love Stella! :)

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Hybrid Tea Rose

'Sugar Moon'

This exquisite pure white hybrid tea glows like moonlight and smells like heaven. The full, classically formed blooms are saturated with intensely sweet citrus and rose fragrance that nearly bowls you over. Big, pointed buds spiral open to show off broad petals. Very dark green, glossy leaves make the white flowers pop all the more. Good re-bloom, natural vigor, superior disease resistance and long stems make this a perfect rose for garden display, the show-bench, floral arrangements, and, above all, for smelling! Flower size: 4-5". Fragrance: Intense sweet citrus and rose.

(description borrowed from edmundsroses.com... I couldn't have said it any better myself!)

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Home Run Rose

Home Run roses are a favorite around here! They boast non-stop flowering, the ability to thrive in any soil, and do not need to be sprayed! I know of no complaints about this rose!

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We've got to start thinking about winter interest in our pots and gardens! This Cotoneaster (kuh-tony-aster NOT cotton-easter...but don't worry, we've all said it like that at one point!) has great berries throughout the winter! Winter interest comes in a variety of forms: evergreen foliage, interesting bark or branching, and berries! 

P.S. Don't you just LOVE the rain? It officially feels like fall-like a time of rest is coming for all!

Daily Inspiration

Salvia 

officinalis

'Purpurascens'

Better known as Purple Sage.

Purple sage is such a great plant. It is a great pick if you are wanting to mix up the colors in your herb bed. Sage prefer well-drained soil in a sunny spot, and this variety  is hardy to -20F. 24" tall and 18" wide.

Daily Inspiration

Don't you just love Coleus? 

They not only make great color accents in shadier areas during the warm seasons, but they will also do the same thing in your home during the cooler months! They are a low-maintenance, bright houseplant!

If you have some Coleus in pots or in your beds, think about digging them and potting them up to tuck somewhere inside your house! The weather is supposed to get cooler very soon! 

Daily Inspiration

I couldn't help it...I just had to share this picture (we got in some of the most fun decor)! I don't know about you, but I am decorating it up for Halloween today!

P.S. We made a trip out to Purdum's Produce Stand this morning! They have a great selection of squash (small and large), Indian corn, and the beginnings of a great pumpkin harvest ready to go! We loaded up!