November 10th, 2013
Oh how I love the way hydrangeas respond to cool weather as fall settles in!
Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) are like little sparklers emerging from the hydrangea mound.
12 stems mop-head hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla), harvested from my garden (note, the lace-cap hydrangeas don’t have the same visual impact as the mop-head form)
20 stems Dusty Miller (Centaurea cineraria), grown by Charles Little & Co.
25 stems sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), grown by Jello Mold Farm
7-inch tall x 11-inch diameter cast-iron urn. Intended as a planter, it converts to a watertight vase when lined with a plastic bowl.
This was the very first arrangement I designed in early November 2011 when I dreamed up the bouquet-a-week-for-a-year project.
Preserve your bouquet: There’s a bonus to using these late-season flowers in an arrangement. As the vase water slowly evaporates, the mop-head hydrangeas, Dusty Miller foliage and sea oats will air-dry without changing shape or color.
I created the arrangement you see here during the first week of November and by the following May it looked just about the same. By then, I needed the urn for another project, so I disassembled the preserved ingredients and tossed them in the compost bin. Not every cut flower will air-dry as nicely as this trio did, but with a little experimentation you’ll soon notice that some long-lasting ingredients can be preserved for months.
A BONUS BOUQUET: Using some of the same elements, here’s a bouquet I made this week, November 2013. It employs the same weathered urn, hydrangeas, a lacy form of Dusty Miller, rose hips, feverfew sprays and a few Cafe au Lait dahlias. This is a favorite style to which I continue returning. Love it!
An autumn arrangement glows on a table by my front door.