LIVING VASES - Breathing Life into Beauty!

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Who doesn’t love having beautiful fresh flowers in their home?! I know I do, but it is a rather costly luxury if you are going to buy them from a florist or nurseries cold room on a regular basis. At my moms memorial, we had some gorgeous bouquets and when it was over, we split them all among the ladies in the family. Over the last three weeks I have done my best to preserve the bouquet that I had, giving it a weekly “refresher” by re-cutting the stems and giving them fresh water. I was actually really impressed with the fact that they lasted so long and I have absolutely loved having them as a centre piece in my lounge, but as you can see in the three photos below, it has gradually diminished as the flowers begun to die.

This got me thinking about how to continue enjoying the beauty of such a grand display in my home without having to spend repeated cash on freshly cut flowers... besides which, that is always the kind of thing that is more special when they have been given to you as a gesture or gift.

I often root stuff in my kitchen to ultimately put into my garden and as far as bouquet displays go, I think that completely green displays are just as beautiful as those with flowers... so I started looking at how I could create a "permanent display" of some kind... what plants would work etc.

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There are the obvious selections herb selections such as mint, thyme, basil, oregano etc. but I was also thinking that as somewhat of a "compensation" for the florals... it would be nice to have plants with a variety of leaf shapes as well as variegated leaves. A little bit of reading got me quite excited because there really are so MANY options.. all of which are incredibly beautiful and easily accessible. What most people seem to do is choose a singular plant to grow "hydroponically" in water, but as always... my idea is a little different with the intention of creating somewhat of a bouquet. Some of the primary options that really appeal to me are the following...

There are so many others that interest me, but these alone would make an awesome variety as a combined display in my opinion. I realise that each and every one may have "individual needs" so it will be a bit of trial and error to begin with no doubt. I would also like to do this with a collection of herbs... in fact I am quite excited about exploring this more. It is funny really, because as I mentioned - I root cuttings all the time, but I never really considered turning them into permanent displays.

Considering that my moms memorial bouquet had been extended to it's maximum and I would have thrown it out on Monday which is now my "house cleaning day" - I had every intention of getting started with this today, because I actually have a fair portion of the plants as well as some others... but I went to go and have an afternoon nap and shortly after I woke up I received a phone call. It was one of my moms art students and she was at our gate with a gift for me... two gorgeous bouquets of flowers and a bottle of red wine! So, for now, I get to appreciate these tangerine beauties... but I have every intention of exploring the idea of "living vases" and creating my own!