Mary Kate Mackey

Award-winning garden writer Mary Kate Mackey’s work has appeared magazines like Fine Gardening, Meredith’s Simply Perfect series and Sunset. She co-authored Sunset’s Secret Gardens-153 Design Tips from the Pros and contributed to the Sunset Western Garden Book. In “Rooting for You” she will talk with friends and colleagues who will share their horticultural knowledge on the gardening questions we all share.

Tips for Better Bouquets – unusual plant materials make arrangements pop

Summer’s horticultural bounty makes it easy to decorate your home with the contents of your garden and greenhouse. But annual and perennial flowers are not the only candidates for the best displays. Alongside your favorite black-eyed Susans, lilies, and bunches of sweetly scented roses, consider adding colorful foliage, boughs and berries from shrubs and grasses to create a polished look. For advice on fabulous arrangements, I’ve turned to a professional—Charles Little, a farmer whose crops are destined for the West Coast cut-flower market. A few weeks ago, I spent a morning walking his vibrantly blooming fields outside Eugene, Oregon.

I met Charles when my garden writing colleague, Debra Prinzing, invited me to the regional meeting of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Debra is researching her next book A Fresh Bouquet - Seasonal, Local and Sustainable. Later, I’ll let you know where you can obtain this must-have reference. In the meantime, here are a few tips I gleaned from my farm tour.

• Consider the multi-colored foliage of herbs. Handsome herbal leaves stand up to summer’s hottest days and are long lasting in a vase. Charles Little’s farm had rows of variegated pineapple mint (Mentha suaveolens ‘Variegata’), golden sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Aurea’) and golden oregano (Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’).
• Use bushes for bouquets. I was surprised to walk through fields of familiar shrubs like Spirea ‘Snow Mound’ or the American holly Ilex ‘Morgan Gold’. Because most of the woody shrubs that grow around your home can benefit from some shaping, you can prune in early summer and sturdier new growth will follow by fall.
• Seek out bracts and berries. Add the bright orange-red bracts of Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’ or the golden berries of Viburnum ‘Michael Dodge’ to enliven a cut-flower collection. Charles also cultivates rows of snowberry (Symphoricarpos x chenaultii ‘Green Pearl’ and ‘Red Pearl’) as well as Rosa glauca.
• Harvest flowers and foliage from grasses. The airy inflorescences and strappy leaves lend zing to floral arrangements. The cut-flower farm featured rows of variegated Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’ and upright Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’.
• Look for the overlooked. In my garden, I’ve always clipped off and composted the stems of gray-leafed lambs’ ears (Stachys byzantia). Not anymore. On the shelves in Charles’s cool room, I saw vases holding neat bundles of the woolly pink-purple flower stalks. Now I value the blooms of this profligate seeder for my own arrangements.

 

 

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Grafted Vegetables - June 2010

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5 tips to liven up your Greenhouse - March 2010

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Great Garden Show Ideas - February 2010

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How Plants Freeze - January 2010

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Five Specialty Nursery Catalogs for the Holidays - December 2009

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Hot Ferns for Cool Greenhouses - November 2009

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Wish Upon Next Years Plant Stars - September 2009

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Ten Fruiting Plants for the Greenhouse - August 2009

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Unusual fruiting shrubs and trees - where have you been all my gardening life? That was the question I asked myself while standing at One Green World’s tasting... Read More...

 

Whats Wrong with my Plant - July 2009

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“Rooting for You” explores ideas that help you become your own best gardening expert. Whether you care for three containers by your front door or full-on... Read More...

 

Every Plant Tells a Story - June 2009

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If they made movies about the plants’ life stories - how they start out as unknowns in far away places and end up as star performers at a nursery near you... Read More...

 

Rooting for You - May 2009

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