NOTE: I don’t recommend that you get your cuttings from your evergreen trees, they don’t recover as well from this process.  Shrubs are a better alternative!

I learned the simple technique for creating these wreaths from Lou Chant of the Garden Club of Sandy & Draper way back in 1996 and I’ve made them nearly every year since.  Don’t limit yourself to just wreaths– the same techniques can create garlands and other Christmas decor!  Thanks to Lou, I can share the project with you and we can ALL enjoy a brighter (and cheaper) Holiday season!

Materials:

Wreath Form- this can be a used one you have laying around (which is what we used) or an inexpensive straw wreath which can be purchased at any craft store.

Floral Wire- Any gauge you have lying around but green wire is best.

Floral Pins- These are optional, you’ll only need them if you want to “pin” on some berries or other items.  They can be purchased at any craft store for a dollar.

Clippings- You’ll need 30–40 cuttings (maybe a few more or less depending on the size of your wreath)  that are between 4– 6 inches in length.  We recommend using 6–9 different kinds of clippings if you can find that many.

Accents- This could be ribbon, pine cones, berries or whatever suits your fancy!

Clippings:

Most of the clippings we used were filched out of my own home garden (and that of an unsuspecting next door neighbor– shhh)!  We did gather some pine cones and sprigs of Hawthorne berries from the botanical garden (Conservation Garden Park) but we weren’t going to cut the plants there and hope no one else will either!  Make sure you have permission to clip on someone else’s property if you plan to do that and take your clippings from inconspicuous locations on the plant no matter WHERE you get the materials from.  If you are adverse to clipping anything, you can purchase fresh greenery to use for the project.

Suggested Broadleaf Evergreen Shrubs

• Euonymus
• Privet
• Laurel
• Oregon Grape
• Boxwood
• Holly
• Pyracantha

Suggested Needled Evergreen Shrubs

• Yew (This plant is poisonous if ingested).
• Juniper (comes in several different colors, we used this as one of the main components)
• Arborvitae (we used clippings from a golden form of this shrub)
• Mugo Pine (a shrub version of a pine that always grows a little bigger than you’d like)
• Spruce (if necessary– take small clippings from inconspicuous locations)

Suggested Accents:

We also used some clippings from herbs (Culinary Sage) and from the evergreen perennial Euphorbia “Ascot Rainbow”

Preparation:

1. Set up your work space and place each clipping type into piles.

2. My free wreath forms are a bit of a visual mess as they are recycled from a previous project.  If your wreath is going on a front door, it won’t matter if the back looks messy as no one will see it.  Two of our wreaths will be placed on glass windows so the unsightly backside is an issue.  To improve that appearance, we covered the wreath forms in strips of burlap.  You could also use green ribbon. This is optional and is only needed if you feel the appearance of the back needs improving.

3. You can pre-group your sections if you wish by putting 3 different clipping types together then forming several different kinds of groups.  I did not do this.

Construction:

1. Wrap your florist wire around the wreath and tie off the ends. Don’t cut the wire! You’ll continue to wrap it around the greens and wreath until you have filled the entire surface– it’s easiest if you simply wind the wire around without having to tie on and off frequently.

2. Splay 3 types of clippings across the wreath surface then wrap around them 3 times with the floral wire.

3. Move down 2″ or so then do step #2 again with a different grouping of clippings.

4. Repeat all the way around the wreath.

5. Tuck the edges of the last set of clippings under the first set.

6. Tie off the wire on the back side of the wreath then cut the wire free from the roll of florist wire.

7. Add accents using either florist wire or floral pins to secure on top of the leaf base, be sure to tuck the stem ends behind the underlying foliage. It’s best to put the accent or bow or whatever you’re using at the location you started/ended placing the foliage on the wreath to help it appear more seamless.

Tips:

• If you’re making a set, be sure that the accent area is OPPOSITE.  You may even want to lay the foliage on the opposite direction (we did not do that).
• The wreaths will last the whole Christmas season outdoors.
• If using the wreaths indoors, mist with water weekly.

Kathryn and I had such a great time making the wreaths that we got together later and used up the leftover clippings from my yard to make us each a wreath.  This would make a fun “girlfriends” activity because, as you can see, wreaths made by different people will always look a little different even if you are working with the same choice of clippings.  Alternatively,  make a couple extras to take with you as a “hostess gift” at Christmas parties this season and we’ll all smile and nod while pretending you paid top dollar for it!

Hanging Daybed Swing Tutorial, Part 1

Dark plants show up well against the sunshine yellow paint.

Recycled Vintage Door Arbor Tutorial

 

Succulent Living Wreath Tutorial

Oh– and did I mention that we won “Best Design” and a bunch of other awards? They no longer have a category for landscape design on its own (such a shame) but we were told that the innovative features of the landscape as well as it’s waterwise design helped the team win the overall award so I’ll have to be happy with that!  What a fun experience!  If you came to my blog looking for information and tutorials about the Blogger House, you can find that here (for now):

Jordan Valley Home & Garden Club

This has been a crazy summer for me filled with achieving some long-time goals.  It has NOT been a great gardening season in my OWN space which I’ll blog about in the future when I get over the shame of it!  Suffice it to say, I’ll start off with how to “reclaim” a yard that hasn’t been weeded in 2 months! (See? I said there was shame involved!)

Utah-history based playground designed, in part, by elementary school kids from 17 schools and built by 6,000 volunteers over a 10 day period in May, 2005.

In 2007 I started volunteering at the fledgling “Conservation Garden Park” down the street from my house.  I had heard they wanted to build an Education Center and I thought it could be the perfect ‘home’ for a Garden Club.  Armed with the community organizing and fundraising skills I gained via the playground project, I decided to help get the Education Center built by serving on their Advisory Council and assisting with fundraising.  Can you see how much I wanted to make this group happen?

Conservation Garden Park Education Center, opened January 2012

I discovered blogging in 2008 and started my own little Mom Blog (Creative Chaos) which I still try and update from time to time.  Blogging opened up a whole new world to me and I became particularly fascinated by the DIY projects that so many interesting home bloggers were accomplishing– though there were many fewer garden blogs to be found on that subject.  I knew I wanted my “Garden Club” to have that element to it.  Afterall, what good is education if people don’t have the skills to implement what they’ve learned?

I was lucky to be hired to work for the Conservation Garden Park in Fall of 2010 and one of my first goals was to implement the Club. As I researched ‘Garden Clubs’ I discovered that the standard format for them hadn’t changed since they began in the 1900s!  Most people don’t live the way they did back then and I couldn’t imagine a monthly Club based primarily on competitive flower arranging!  It didn’t take long to realize we were going to need to do something radically different that would totally break the mold– and nothing gets my creative juices flowing more than attempting something out-of-the-box crazy (see playground project above)! 

Design Path Exhibits at Conservation Garden Park

The mission of Conservation Garden Park is to educate EVERYONE with a landscape to care for– not just those who self-identify as gardeners.  We decided that people who care about the INSIDE of their homes, likely want the outside to look nice too– whether or not they wish to spend a lot of time there.  Our Garden is about practical LANDSCAPING ideas that homeowners can implement and our “Club” should be the same. The idea for a “Home & Garden Club” was the natural conclusion to the above considerations. 

Most “Garden Clubs” are exclusive organizations for those invited to join.  We wanted to be the polar opposite of THAT paradigm too!  Anyone who wants to learn is welcome.  Live outside of our area? No problem– we’re having a significant online component to ensure anyone who wants to participate on some level is able to do so.  A big part of the Club is helping people build their confidence and abilities to tackle home and/or yard projects.  If you can do one successfully, you can do the other.  DIY skills are DIY skills– whether they are applied inside or outside.

A view of part of the Garden surrounding the Education Center

In the last few months I’ve been honored to have some wonderful women join the effort to launch the Club.  I am so thankful for their ideas, energy, help and support.  Since the format and goal of this Club is so different than anything people are familiar with, it can be hard to explain what it is and how it will function.  The women currently helping with the group immediately grasped the concept and have been an integral part of visioning and creating this Club! And hey– if you want to help us move the Club forward, we’re happy to have YOU serve alongside us and make a difference in our communities! We’re open to consider all ideas! E-mail me and we’d love to include you.

There is a charge for special events ($10 for the Super Awesome kick-off party on June 9th) but membership in the Club is free.  We will host real-world classes once per month in the Education Center at Conservation Garden Park.  The monthly classes are free.  We will post a short video of the highlights from classes on our Facebook Page and/or Blog.

I’ll be honest– it’s a little scary to have nutured the seed for this Club for 10 years then fling it out to the world and hope that others see the value in it.  I have a bit of a fear of failure here. What if people don’t LIKE this idea?  What if it they think it’s great– just not for them?  What if all the hours of planning and loss of sleep don’t really amount to anything?  I guess one way or another, it’s time to find out!

I will post later about our “Summer Soiree” event in more detail.  It’s going to be one heck of a kickoff party thanks to the vision of:

Emily, Jeni, Leanne, Jessica, Judi, Joy, Jamie, Sausha, Cassity, Mindy, and Wendy. 

Thanks for giving your time and leveraging your reputations to make this thing happen– it could NEVER have happened without you!  Now go check out the Club website then get your ticket for the Summer Soiree!  Great classes, awesome company, delicious food and incredible music all happening in a gorgeous 5 acre garden.  It’s a rare opportunity to enjoy an event like this unless you’re on the ‘social circuit’ for the well-to-do.  Don’t miss your chance to enjoy an enchanting garden party and meet other people who love the same things YOU do!

County Councilwoman and tireless garden advocate, Jani Iwamoto, confers with the Garden’s top volunteer Paul Fetzer

The Garden is intended to serve two populations– school children from the local elementary school and gardens which would help the area’s refugee community grow many of the crops they are accustomed to in their countries of origin as well as food to supplement their family’s needs.

One of 27 refugee families who have plots at the Garden

I have been fortunate to be involved in several large community-built projects over the years.  From that, I’ve learned that to really succeed, a project requires that ONE (or a couple of them) tireless champion whose dedication, passion and boundless energy drive through all obstacles.  This garden found that in volunteer Paul Fetzer.

Paul addresses the crowd at the Garden Ribbon Cutting Celebration

It is as amazing as it has become, well beyond the simple budget-conscious design I came up with, because of Paul.  He simply believed it could be bigger and better than any of the rest of us thought possible.  He dedicated himself to ensuring that the project would be a community hub and he’s spent nearly every day there, working for free for months on end to clear the land and red tape, raise funds and structures and draw in as many people in the community as he could.

The pergola structure Paul got donated and constructed by Zwick Construction.

Where I drew up a simple plan based on a pre-determined budget,  he had the vision to see that it could be so much more! He created a watercolor with all sorts of additional amenities then worked hard to bring them into reality. As a result, dozens of others wanted to help and last fall the initial beds were constructed as a community service project to build the beds.  Paul gave more time and energy and some local businesses and charitable organizations were willing to fund a bigger project BECAUSE they could see the community support from so many people.

View of Mt. Olympus from the Garden– the gardens and pergola are angled to take advantage of this amazing view.

Salt Lake County Mayor, Peter Coroon, works with school children to clip the ribbon and open the garden

Imagine what could be accomplished in all of our communities when that one person gets something started? When a handful of people turn it into a top personal priortiy and then when others believe and help MAKE it happen. I had my chance to be the ‘Paul’ on another community-built project, a playground that was custom designed by our school kids then installed by thousands of residents in just 10 days.  It was thrilling and exhausting and amazing. It’s also something I would never do again!  I’ve had my “Paul” moment and perhaps because of that I can be even more impressed with what he accomplished. I know it takes far more hours to pull something like that off than you’d ever imagine!

View of the raised garden beds. The school garden beds are in a different part of the garden.

There are so many things that can be accomplished when we sacrifice together and make a difference, however small.

One of my favorite quotes is:

“All big things in this world are accomplished by people who are naive and have an idea that is obviously impossible”-  Frank Richards.

What are YOU passionate about?  What change have you helped create or hope to create when the timing is right?

Link to news article about the garden: Community Garden

The original. HUGE shutter donated by Stanfield Shutter Company, tender succulents donated by Millcreek Gardens.

However, I recently discovered an amazing product called TUF-FELT which is supposed to be some sort of flooring underlayment but, thanks to some wonderful innovators, has found an ‘off label’ use as fabric to create vertical green walls. I decided I might just make MY OWN ‘Plant’ation Shutter Planter afterall!  Armed with some Tuf-Felt, I was prepared to try the Plantation Shutter Project again– but in a form which could be easily replicated!  Whew! While the original version took me several DAYS to create, this gal was assembled and planted in just 2 hours!  Best of all– you really don’t need to have special skills or talents to pull off this version for yourself!  The tutorial below is long but I wanted you to have ALL the details.  You can probably figure it out just by looking at the photos!

MATERIALS

Plantation Shutter- you will need one that is either made out of wood OR made out of vinyl. That can be tricky because most of them are made out of a composite material that is totally unsuitable as it will soak up the water and fall apart quickly.  It will also need to be the type that has the larger louvers.  The shutter can be large or small– it’s up to you!  My shutter is 64 inches tall and 22 inches wide.  I bought mine at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore  but the KSL Classifieds or Craig’s List are also good choices. Cost: $10

THIS shutter is too big! THIS shutter is too wide! Ah, this Shutter is just right!

Plastic Strip– This needs to be the length of the top of your shutter.  You will adhere it to the top to keep water from infiltrating the open grain part of the wood (even vinyl shutters have sides that are wood with vinyl over the top so the same potential water issue exists. I just bought a weird plastic strip at the big box store called panel connector’  that was $2 in the wood moulding dept.  Cost: $2

Looks something like this– it is rounded on the top so it sheds water.

Outdoor Weather-Proof Caulking & Caulking Gun- Buy this in the window and door aisle, you will use this to seal any parts that could absorb water when you don’t want them to!  Total Cost:  $5 for the caulking, I already had the caulking gun but they are just a couple of bucks if you need one.

Outdoor waterproof silicone caulk & close up of Tuf-Felt

Tuf-Felt- A fellow landscape designer (Rosey Cobbley) and I went in on some Tuf-Felt and ordered a bunch for our respective projects.  I do not believe there is a local source for this– we had to buy it via the company online but they were wonderful to accommodate us! We ordered the 1/2″ thick type and I used 2 yards, cut into the proper width strips, for this project.  It’s fairly inexpensive (around $12 per yard) so you may as well get a little extra!  Cost: $24

Staple Gun- You just want a hand-held staple gun.  A pnuematic gun will apply too much pressure to the louvers.  I used 1/2 inch sized staples in mine. I already had these– free.

Brackets– You can purchase pre-made fancy ones at the Big Box store like I did OR you can make some quite simply.  If you plan to wall-mount the finished shutter, you will not need the brackets.  You will use 1 x 4 pine boards instead– read ‘alternate installation’ instructions below for more details on that!  I will admit that the fancy brackets I wanted were pricey– Cost: $14 per pair, total cost $28.  You can save a lot here by simply bracing a plain board on a 45 degree angle if you wish.

Brackets & spray paint products I used.

Stabilizers– this is just 2 strips of wood that will be used to stabilize the brackets and help hold up your shutter (only for freestanding install).  They should be about 18″ long, depending on the size of your shutter, and preferably made out of a hardwood or even cedar or redwood since they are the part that will come into constant contact with the ground.

Primer, Spray Paint & Sealant- Use this to paint your brackets and stabilizers white.  I had this on hand but if you need to purchase it, make sure it is rated for outdoor use and expect a cost of $4 per can.  You will not use full cans of any of it.

Soil- I would use a mix of potting soil and coconut coir.  Coconut coir is my secret ingredient in container gardens of all types and it holds 10x it’s weight in water and keeps more even moisture in containers.  Generally, I would NOT do this with succulents as they want to dry out but in the unusual planting application we’ve got going on, the coconut fiber will provide an extra measure of insurance.  AVOID soils with peat moss if you can– peat moss is a pain and doesn’t work as well as coconut fiber. Most of the quality nurseries will carry coconut fiber.  It is a staple for me and I always have it on-hand.  No cost for this project but expect it to be about $12 for a big bag at Steve Reagan Company (where I purchased it) or you can get simple bricks that you can hydrate from Miller Landscape Products.

Plants!- I am using Utah-hardy succulents.  I will list the varieties below.  You need NOT put in as many plants as I did– they will fill in!  I used a ton because I knew that this little lady was going to be on tv and she wanted to look like a rock star while doing it!  Since I do tons of succulent projects, I have these all over the place.  Harvest them from your landscape for free OR you can buy them.  To purchase as many plants as I put in this project would cost around $100 but can be somewhere between cheap and free.  Smaller plugs are better as you’re fitting them into the small spaces between the louvers.

Optional- Dry Sphagnum moss to tuck in between the plants and hide the soil/ keep it from washing out. I have this on-hand to so no cost for this project.

Total Project Cost Estimate: Between $40-$200 depending on how much you have already or can get for free, the size of the shutter and number of plants desired, and access to basic tools and materials.

The impact, is priceless.  I had a neighbor stop her car and come from 2 houses away to see what in the world I had on my front porch. HUGE impact.  Then again, being as I’m prone to crazy projects, it might have been to assess my mental health!

Assembly:

I will try and keep this part brief as it is pretty simple– rounding up the products you need is the trickiest part!

My sweet Dad double checks my engineering (thank goodness– I didn’t pass!) and attaches the brackets and strengtheners to the shutter.

Add waterproof strip to the top of the shutter and then caulk around it to seal. Caulk all exposed parts where water could seep in.

Cut Tuf-Felt into strips as wide as your louvers. Use scissors you don’t care about or, even better, a box cutter.

Side view of finished ‘pockets. No sewing . Just carefully fill with soil and the soil will keep them in place.

Lean the shutter back to fill the pockets with soil so you are working WITH gravity rather than against it!

Use a mix of Sedums and Sempervivums (Hens and Chicks) to fill the pockets. Smaller size plants are better.

Side view of planted pockets!

It’s Done!

Alternate Assembly

If you wish to wall mount this on a block wall or wood outdoor shed, skip the steps that require the application of feet and instead use 2 x 4s to create a frame the same size as the shutter. Make sure there are drainage holes on the bottom part of the frame. Attach the plantation shutter to the shadow box AFTER you create the pockets (don’t make them deeper than the boards) then attach the entire unit securely to the wall or shed. THEN fill it with soil and plants! Remember that a fully loaded shutter with soil, plants AND the weight of water can be pretty heavy. Engineer your project accordingly. If you under-engineer it– it will fail. Never hurts to double check, as I did, with an experienced handyperson to ensure your calculations are accurate.

Do you want to see this plantation shutter planter  live and in person?  We’ll have it on display at the kick-off party for the new Jordan Valley Home & Garden Club.  The garden party kick-off (called the “Summer Soiree”) is $10 and open to anyone over the age of 18 (meaning men are welcome but expect it to be girly, sorry no children)!  At the event, we will learn from home & garden experts, stroll the gardens, and meet new friends who share your interests. Special mini-classes and demonstrations by nationally recognized DIY experts will be offered as well as live music and delicious appetizers– all in a gorgeous garden setting at Conservation Garden Park.  You can register for the Soiree HERE.

Regular Club meetings will begin in July and are free of charge.  Join us!

Here’s the link to the Studio 5 video! Try not to notice that I’m an old fattie and just enjoy the plants~!

Container.  This can be any size and may be as simple as the popular mason jars or you can fancy it up with glass apothecary jars.  I am working with a pretty large apothecary jar (about 24″ tall) and another smaller apothecary jar (about 16″ tall).

After adding the Activated Carbon to the bottom, make sure to clean any black residue off the glass before proceeding.

Activated Carbon.  You can purchase a jar of this in any WalMart over in the aquarium department.  Activated carbon is a form of charcoal that has tons of micro-pores which absorb smells and all sorts of ick that can otherwise grow in the moist, humid environment you’re about to create.  I just pour a decent amount into the bottom of the jar.  I know it is counter-intuitive to think that the sooty stuff you just added is actually cleaning things but it’s even used to clean the water you drink so it should be good enough for your plants.

Add gravel over the Activate carbon.

Gravel.  Any kind will do but I like the fine gravel used for fish tanks because it has a coating on the rock that ensures it will stay shiny.  I avoid the neon colors but you’re more than welcome to use them~!  I generally try and make a bit of a ‘well’ in the center so that when I plop the moss in the middle, the soil will be hidden from view.  This is just a personal preference– there is nothing wrong with showing the soil layer too.

Note– if you like the planter table the project is being built on, you can get a tutorial for the “Succulent Pallet Table” that I built HERE.

Chartruse Scotch Moss and Deep Green Irish Moss can be purchased from any decent nursery.

Moss or other moisture-loving plants.  Moss can be harvested from your own yard (depending on where you live) or you can cheat, as I did, and purchase Scotch and/or Irish Moss from the nursery.

Squish the moss down into the gravel.

Decor.  You can add fancy rocks, ceramic mushrooms and/or gnomes, fake bugs or if you’re REALLY brave– real bugs!  Ask your kids if they have something special THEY would like to contribute then give that item a place of honor in the terrarium.  Decor can also include twigs, branches or even preserved mosses like Reindeer Moss.

I clipped some of the twisted branches of my Contorted Filbert shrub in the yard.Carefully add your decor elements to fill the vertical space in the jar. This photo includes Contorted Filbert branches, Preserved Reindeer Moss and a succulent clipping (which will only live for a month or so).Side view of the Scotch Moss Terrarium

You can simply tear the plug of moss to the size you need– it will all seam back together over time in your container!

This version uses dark green Irish moss, Mexican black pebble, and dried bits of Corkscrew Rush.

Similar shapes and forms but different elements used to achieve it.

 Terrarium Care:

These plants will like a room with reasonable light but do NOT want to be placed in direct sunlight or you’ll risk overheating them.  The terrarium is a miniature greenhouse!  I would recommend taking the lid off and letting it air out at least once per week, probably on the day you water. I have only watered these once with 1/2 cup of water.  They shouldn’t need watering more than once every week or two.

Note that terrariums are meant to be ‘temporary art installations’ in your home.  you WILL need to dump the whole thing out and start over at some point but you should expect to enjoy at least 3–6 months of beauty before you reach the ‘time to start over’ point.  The good news is that the gravel and jars can be reused so just clean the jar, pop in some new activated carbon and replant.  Easy peasy even for the ‘houseplant impaired’ folks like me!

Why not? I so often feel like that conspicuous tulip! Must remember to just roll with it!

After a totally wild weekend, I am back from the SNAP! Creativity Conference. What an exhausting but wonderful couple of days! I have promised to get a post up about terrarium basics and will try and make that happen tomorrow. Between the SNAP! Conference, a local political convention over the weekend (at which my friend, Mia, was nominated to be the Republican candidate for US Congress), and Earth Day Activities which were celebrated Monday, I’ve been a little overwhelmed!

Main walk at Thanksgiving Point Idea Gardens

I’ll post more about the conference, the cool stuff I got and the “Garden of Eden” style venue offered by the incomparable Thanksgiving Point later in the week. I’ve also been privileged to be able to interview one of my favorite authors and the undisputed Queen of succulents, Debra Baldwin. She’ll answer some of the questions the ladies at SNAP! wanted to know about succeeding with succulents. In the mean time, I’ll taunt you with a few photos!

I didn’t get a chance to head over to the Botanical Garden @ Thanksgiving Point during the Conference but I shall remedy that this week.  Might even check the kids out of school early and go assuage my “Mom Guilt” for being totally MIA for the past 4 days!

 As I’ve mentioned a number of times before, I am NOT a houseplant person. However, I do  enjoy having living plants in my interior environment. What’s the difference? A ‘houseplant’ is   intended to live year in and year out inside your home, growing larger and leggier every season until you finally divide it to multiple containers and have even more to take care of.

 The longer a plant lives in your home in this manner, the MORE guilt you feel if it dies or outlives it’s welcome– and the more getting rid of it feels like the betrayal of a family member. I’m a Mom– the LAST thing I need is more to feel guilty about!

Thanks to the final projects I needed to complete for the class I’m teaching at the SNAP! Creativity at Your Fingertips Conference, I was able to put together a couple of fun projects that have been planned for a long time. Yea for deadlines!

No, instead I like to create temporary arrangements that will stay with us longer than a bunch of cut flowers but still with less permanence than a typical houseplant. A few days back, I created such an arrangement using a pot of already-blooming Hyacinths I bought for $4.97 at Walmart.  The rest of the items needed to create the arrangement were already on hand as I try to keep the staples available to use and reuse. 

Want to create your own Spring Bulb Arrangement?  It’s really easy if you adhere to the following steps:

 1. “Activated Carbon”- you can find this stuff in the aquarium supply department at your local “big box”.  It is used in the water treatment industry to filter and purify water.  It does something similar in an indoor arrangement.  Any time I use a container that does NOT have drainage holes, I add Activated Carbon.  You don’t want to invite the growth of mold and fungus.  It seems weird that what is more or less dirty, black charcoal can make things clean but it does.  Sidenote: you cannot substitute ‘charcoal briquets’ for your BBQ for the Activated Carbon.  They are not AT ALL the same.

Place Activated Carbon in the bottom of the container. Top with fine gravel (I used aquarium gravel because it has a coating on it to keep it shiny at all times and inhibit the growth of ick). Make a ‘well’ in the gravel and plant the bulbs in the center. Be very gentle when tugging on roots and don’t touch the roots with your hands if you can avoid it. Fill soil around the plant but keep the necks of the bulbs well above the soil line.

The pink blooms of the Hyacinths inside echo the pink blooms of my Flowering Crabapple outside the window!

I generally keep a host of natural staging materials on hand that I can recycle through arrangements like the one above.  When the blooms are spent, I will plant the bulbs outside in my Garden where they will continue to use sunlight and water to develop food stores, then the foliage will die back.  Next year, I’ll enjoy these lovely blooms in my Garden OR I can dig them when the flower buds appear and repeat the process from this year!  In this way I keep cycling REAL plants through my home but with only the smallest level of ‘commitment’.  I  “co-habitate” with my house plants rather than marrying them!  The scent from these 4 Hyacinths will NATURALLY perfume my living room for 3–4 weeks. 

Joy’s newest book!

Now that we will be launching the new Home & Garden Club (this is the culmination of literally a DECADE of planning and waiting for the right time), she has come to my aid again! I’ll be posting more about the Home & Garden Club event (and even giving away a few tickets) in the near future. For now, you can hear about it live on Joy’s show. Either myself or our amazing there-is-nothing-this-woman-can’t-do Club Chairwoman will be on the show to talk about the Club in general and the event in specific.

The show runs 9 am-11 am on Saturday mornings on KNRS 570am and 105.7fm here in Utah. I sure hope I can keep up with her! Joy’s knowledge is amazing! Since I just bought her new book, I’ll see if I can snag a signature on it while I’m there. Hope you can listen in!
*********************************** UPDATE!!! *********************************************

Joy in the Studio

I had a fabulous time! It was so fun to watch her work. I will say that I’ve always wondered if she was madly “Googling” behind the scenes to have all the answers to callers questions. Turns out she just knows this stuff off the top of her head. I learned a few things too (like you have to prune out the central leader on a peach or nectarine tree so that the center of the tree is open and light gets to all the fruit). I am, once again, thankful for the years spent as a speech & debate nerd in high school as those speaking skills came in handy last Saturday. It’s challenging to think quickly under pressure like that and I’m so impressed with how EASY Joy makes it look!

I approached this ‘seed season’ with far more gusto than usual. After 20 years of growing seeds in my window sills or under lights in the basement I now have access to a REAL greenhouse at work. And not just any greenhouse, but a state-of-the-art facility that has every bell and whistle!

Or at least it’s supposed to. It’s not quite finished yet.

Succulents overwintering in the greenhouse– neither the heat nor the cooling systems work yet.

Still, I couldn’t resist the urge to plant some little tomato seedlings with the same big dreams that always accompany the planting of seeds. I had hoped that the greenhouse would be finished ‘any day’ since it’s nearly a year behind schedule but I should have known not to count on ‘almost finished’ applying to anything that is already a year behind schedule!

Various tomato varieties I am growing from the suppliers listed in the post

In anticipation of the new facility, I acquired some of the most unique tomato varieties I could find– no need to pay top dollar for them at the Farmer’s Markets. I ordered seed from Wild Boar Farms and purchased the rest locally through Kenyon Organics. I’ll have the “Farmer’s Market” in my own backyard. Sort of. Turns out I should have stuck to the ‘lights in the basement’ arrangement for now. Did I mention that greenhouse isn’t fully operational yet?

Little seeds all planted in plug trays.

It got up to 80 degrees last Saturday– unseasonably warm. I’m sure the temperature in greenhouse got a higher than that. Combine the high heat with the fact that my tiny, tender seedlings were only in little bitty plug trays AND that I had a jam-packed weekend with no time to run in to work to water them by hand– and you have a recipe for disaster! Sure enough, my poor little guys were mostly dead by the time I got in there! Sad days.

See how they are falling over and constricting? Some were even crunchy! Crunchy seedlings= bad!

I thought I had lost most of one tray and ALL of the second. Turns out I was able to salvage at least some from the second tray I thought was a goner. I won’t have nearly as many plants as planned– and some varieties I won’t have at all- but something is better than nothing! I am trying to decide whether or not to try a second sowing but I think we’re getting too close to the plant-out date now for it to be worthwhile– no sense growing them all season and then not having the tomatoes mature before the frost comes. I can’t quite decide if I should chance it or not.

Today I took my daughter to the greenhouse and we transplanted the little survivors of the Tomato Holocaust into larger digs. Hopefully they’ll all grow along nicely now. Hopefully. There will still be many chances for me to kill these little guys so I’ll be glad to get them safely outside by the ‘last frost date’!

Seedlings 1 week after transplanting up to pony packs. They are MUCH happier in a bigger home.

In the end, gardening is about learning. I know a lot about some things and very little about others. I’ve grown some things from seed but I certainly don’t think of myself as an expert in that regard. And you know what? It’s totally okay. Gardening is about the process as much as it is about the results! I have now learned a valuable lesson so hopefully I can avoid a repeat in the future.

Yes, I am fortunate to have access to what may SOMEDAY (insert long-suffering sigh) be a fabulous greenhouse. However, I’ve been more successful at growing seeds under shop lights in the basement than I have at growing them in a lovely ‘glasshouse’ so don’t think for a moment that the greenhouse is a requirement to succeed! Hopefully they really will get the thing finished and then much of the process can be on autopilot. Until then, we may well have weekend custody of the little critters to try and save who’s left!