The Pink Veranda

We are coming to the end of the hydrangea season. To keep a bouquet that will last throughtout the  year I am going to dry my flowers. In the past I have tried to dry them without success by hanging them upside down and letting them air dry. This time I am going to use the vase method. First, only pick the hydrangeas which the color of the flower's petals has faded.  My blue flowers have lost most of their color and the petals are beginning to turn papery, this is the optimum time to pick them. Cut the flowers leaving at least a 10 inch stem and remove all of the leaves.  I put the flowers in a vase with 4 inches of water and then placed them in a room where they will not get direct sunlight.  The water will eventually evaporate and the flowers will dry.   The trick to getting a nice dried flower is to pick your hydrangeas after the color begins to fade and the petals begin to have a papery texture. It is important to gather them at this point....

Last week we celebrated summer birthdays. There were nine total, both family and friends who had a birthday on either June, July or August.   To make the house more festive I picked up flowers from the market and added palms from my backyard to the arrangements. I used palms as a filler instead of ferns because they look great with just about all types of flowers, they fill up the vase and I have an unlimited supply. I also love white flowers with palms. The fresh and simple look of white is enough to spread cheer.  I had placed the vases of flowers around the house and after a week they still have their bloom.  Which leads me to the pictures of my bike. I love photographs that people have taken with a bike's wicker basket overflowing with flowers.  Since I own a bike with a wicker basket, and I still have a houseful of flowers I thought I'd try to create my own   photo by our garden gate. I'm still working on getting the k...

Today I stepped out into my southern garden and the Ixora's are in full bloom! The huge balls of hot pink flowers are just popping from their beds under our palm trees. Ixora's are the south's version of  the hydrangea.  When they bloom they brighten up the garden, adding color to the very green landscape. We have had so much rain this summer that many of the flowers in my garden have just given up, only mushrooms and ixora's have prevailed! Ixora Plant