A week ago, just before the hard frost, I rushed out, despite having arrived home after dark, and grabbed armloads of marigolds. I put them in five gallon buckets filled one-third with water and brought them inside. That set the stage for more flower arranging fun. I completed a fall bouquet I enjoy doing – a 360 degree pot of gold- marigolds that is – in an oversized cup.
Extending a bouquet’s life
Renewed bouquet
I also decided to use my new supply of marigolds to renew my arrangement in the “real McCoy” bowl. The marigolds in it were fading and I thought some new ones would extend the life of my bouquet. While I was at it I made some other improvements. When you look at an arrangement on the table for a few days, it seems like you always think of ways it could be improved. I like the results!
In one of my visits to my sister, the topic of conversation turned to our grandmother’s flower vase and pot collection. We reminisced that grandma had some pots and vases by the classic pottery maker named McCoy. I guess that’s where the old idiom came from, “It’s the real McCoy.” Long story short, my sister, MarySue, who inherited my Grandma’s last house, found the beautiful McCoy bowl shown above down cellar and gifted it to me along with a violet pot. The bowl was made for old fashioned flower arrangements using “flower frogs” which were small metal or plastic bases with spikes pointing upward. I remember Grandma having them and I think I could still see the clay marks where Grandma had used two of them in this bowl. Of course, I used foam taped down in back. What a joy to fill it with marigolds-well, mostly marigolds. I threw in some coneflower seed pods, drying hydrangea blooms, a little sedum, some zinnias, and one re-blooming rose to make this fall arrangement.
Marigold row 2024
I love marigolds
My marigolds which I grow from the seeds of the previous year’s crop have been spectacular this year. I love that they bloom with such warm colors and they last right up until frost. Personally, I also love the pungent smell as I arrange them. It is a much slower task than arranging zinnias or gladiolas as there are many side branches and leaves to be removed. But the result is always so cheery. And by growing a mix of colors the marigolds themselves provide contrast in the bouquet.
Bouquet of marigolds and zinnias
I bring in lots of flowers
As to procedure, I brought in the flowers the day before, stuffing the armloads of cut marigolds in a five gallon bucket filled one third with water. Grandma called that overnight wait “hardening” them. Then the next day, I got out my small floral scissors and floral foam, picked out the vases I wanted to fill, and went to work. I spread the flowers out on newspapers on a table first. The newspapers make clean-up much simpler. I have an empty bucket at my feet to catch the snippings for the compost pile. Typically I have brought in enough flowers for at least two bouquets. The second bouquet for this batch is pictured above. One benefit of taking pictures of my bouquets these days is that an app will bring them up in succeeding years “on this day.”
Last night was the first frost here in West Granby. So for me it was time for my annual tradition, going out and cutting armfuls of flowers for season-end bouquets. I especially associate this tradition with picking marigolds as they are not the easiest to arrange and they look better in the garden, that is, until you know they won’t be there anymore tomorrow. So I usually don’t pick them til frost threatens. So late yesterday afternoon I gathered bunches of the marigolds that my sister-in-law, Chris, had given me to grow and sat down at the table to arrange them in multiple vases. For me it’s a lot of fun as I put into practice the family knack for flower arranging that came down to me from my mother, Dorothy Jones, and my grandmother, Jessie Isaman. Here are this year’s results. All the bouquets this year are all-sided bouquets. The first bouquet, the largest, decorates the dining room table. It happily matches my wife’s fall colors. The second sits at her computer desk to cheer her spot. The third is on my chair side table along side my Bible, devotional book and notepad. There are full size marigolds and two colors of smaller ones along with a very hardy daisy type plant that blooms very late. Greenery is form a licorice plant and some shrubbery that grows out front that I have to trim anyway.
