USE GREENS, FLOWERS, AND GRASSES
TO ACCESSORIZE YOUR HOME
One inexpensive way to add character to a space is
to transform the area with seasonal accents. Add
fragrant scents, color, and texture to a room with
the changing greens, flowers, and grasses offered
by nature's bounty. Autumn offers rich harvest
colors. Winter provides bold, dark colors. Spring
and summer feature bright, colorful blossoms. All
seasons can be identified with varying scents that
provide a home with a wonderful and welcoming first
impression for guests.
Do not feel confined to selecting fresh picks from
nature. Craft stores offer an abundance of silk and
dried floral selections that can be stored and
reused year after year.
Growing things for Crafts
Here are some suggestions from the folks of the
Gardens List on what to plant with crafts
specificially in mind:
- This year, we'll be growing birdhouse gourds for
birdhouses, but last year (& in the future, too)
we grew sunflowers, cut down the stalks at the end
of the season & let them dry, cut them to length
and bundled them with jute to make 'decorative'
kindling for friends with fireplaces. - Dennis
- I'm growing more statice for dried arrangements
they seem to hold their colors so well. - Mary E.
Shaffer
- I'm growing a few things this year to use in/for
crafts.Some might work and some might not, but I'm
trying. I would have to check my list but some
things are: gourds, broomcorn, Job'sTears, Sorgum,
Black Bearded Wheat, Small ornamental corn, Millet,
Ethopian Love Grass (Teff), Strawberry Fields
Gomphrena,Strawflowers - Lillian
- For wreaths & dried flower arrangements -
artemisia (silver king, silver bouquet &
silverado), mini & hybrid tea roses, *lots*
of sweet annie, statice (all varieties, incl
sea lavender) & baby's breath, goldenrod, joe
pye weed, yarrows, sedums, ornamental grasses
(incl. feather reed) calamagrostis, miscanthus
sinensis - many varieties), tansy, lavender,
hydrangea esp. 'pee gee', snapdragon,
delphinium - minis, varieties of globe amaranth
(gomphrenas), celosia (yuck) and others. - Also
herbs (causeI did herbal & kitchen wreaths) like
bay, lemon verbena, rosemary, mints,etc. - For
pressed flowers - pretty much all annuals press
nicely, yarrow leaves are really nice 'cause
they're so ferny, also delphinium, saliva &
lavender. Some discolor unpleasantly, so you have
to experiment. - For potpourris - nearly all herbs
for herbal-y ones, all fragrant flowers and some
of the above dried stuff for fill and color. -
Jaime
- This year, I'm planting lots of indian corn of
every color and shape. I plan to braid them into
a wreath, possibly with small sunflowers and a
small gord or two. They should make great bird
feeders through the winter! - Ray
- I'm growing lavender, roses and aromatic herbs
for nature crafts. This year I'll have wild
oregano, sacred basil and zinnias for drying.-
Catherine Fenner
- Fragrant roses, lavender, mints, other herbs
for wreaths,dried flower arrangements, potpourri,
flower jewelry, rosewater, lavender water, herbal
skin and bath mixtures, teas, natural pest
repellants. I'm in the experimental stage and plan
to grow other everlasting and wildflowers for
drying and vines for wreaths,baskets, etc. in the
future when time and land permits. - Donna,
Ramlin' Rose Ranch