The Gardening Gangster

“Helping You Find Plants That Work”

by Ana Morlier

Display the Season With an Autumn Bouquet

The season of pumpkin spice, REASONABLE temperatures, corn mazes, and hot drinks is upon us. It’s finally September, folks! Aside from all of the fun activities and tasty food available in the fall season, the Catoctin Mountains have one of the best views of the color-changing trees. Even with the plants slowly transitioning away from the vibrant emerald colors of summer, we can still look forward to the warm saturation of leaves and flowers.

While taking in the beauty of fall is delightful, sharing the charm of autumn fauna will give you more warmth than any pumpkin spice latte can. Give from your heart—and your harvest! Gift someone a bouquet made out of the flora and fauna listed below. Plants like hellebores, hostas, mums, asters, hydrangeas, daisies, and chrysanthemums grow back again and again. If you do not have any of the plants suggested below, just stick to the basics and use whatever you have available. Your bouquet will still look fabulous!

Bouquet Basics

Choose flowers that are either complementary colors (ex: yellow/purple, red/green) to each other or are generally the same hue.

Extend the life of your bouquet with water and treatment. You can find floral food packets in most grocery stores near the plant and bouquet section. Jill Brooke of Flower Power Daily even recommends Sprite or Clorox! Her secret recipe is: “1 quart water, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of bleach.”

Recut the stems at a slant every other day so that the flowers can absorb adequate amounts of water.

Finally, place your bouquet out of the sunlight in a cool, dry place.

Making Your Bouquet

Start your bouquet with twigs and other sturdy, woody materials as a frame, placing them around the circumference of the vase. These do not have to be a uniform length, just as long they are one to two times the height of the vase.

Integrate greenery, such as leaves (myrtle, eucalyptus, etc.), ferns (shield, leatherleaf, cinnamon), ivy, twigs, and grass, into the bouquet, filling in the empty space exposed in the frame.

Add “foundation flowers” or flowers with hefty blooms that are cut short enough to cover the negative space and lip of the vase. Some examples include hyacinths, small clippings of azaleas, Autumn Joy stonecrop, yarrow, phlox, etc.).

Now insert the flowers that are the stars of your bouquet. These may include dahlias, lilies, chrysanthemums, black-eyed susans, coneflowers, helenium, and/or whatever you want to show off!

Finally, add flowers that have weaker stems to fill in any leftover gaps.

And, there you have it! A beautiful, meaningful bouquet. Who knows, maybe you’ll get a bouquet as well!

Have an amazing autumn, everyone!

From: FTD by Design, Clever, BON APPÉTIT, Maryland Grown Flowers, Meredith Swinehart (Gardenista), Veranda, We Love Florists, Caroline Bologna (HuffPost),Jill Brooke (Flower Power Daily), and The Gardening Dad.

My own novice bouquet is made out of ferns, pampas grass, marigolds, azaleas and a dahlia.