Ted Lare Garden Center Blog

Endless Summer Hydrangea Wreath

Supplies:

• Wreath Form—Wire or Grapevine (I prefer wire)  
• Spool of Floral Wire
• Wire Cutters
• Scissors
• Fresh Hydrangea Blooms (see notes below on selecting)
  

  Floral Wire & CuttersWire Wreath Form

 Select your hydrangea blooms

The secret to perfect blooms for your hydrangea wreath is very simple: Wait until they are ready before picking them. While it is tempting to cut the hydrangea blossoms for drying at the height of their color, this doesn’t work. Fresh, recently opened blooms, rarely dry well in open air.  If you use fresh hydrangea blooms they will shrivel within a few days and create open areas in your wreath form.  

 Hydrangeas do best when allowed to dry on the plant before picking them.  You want to pick the blooms when they are on their way out.  Leave the blooms on the plant until late summer.  Toward the end of the summer the petals will begin to age and take on a vintage look.  Blooms will feel more papery or dry to the touch versus the “wet” feel of fresh blooms.  It is the older blooms with the paper touch that you want to cut.  If left on the shrub a while longer, many blooms will pick up interesting shades of burgundy and pink. Normally the best harvesting time in Iowa is from August through October.

 Any type of hydrangea blooms will work, some of the more common ones I haved used are Annabelle, Endless Summer, and Limelight.  I prefer to make wreaths with round or mop headed  hydrangea blooms because they are fuller and cover the wire wreath forms easier. 

Cutting the Hydrangea Blooms

 Cut your flowers when you are ready to begin making the wreath form.  .  You may want to cut blooms that are similar in size.  This will help your wreath look consistent in size all the way around.  When you cut your hydrangea blooms cut them with a stem of at least 4 inches so that you have enough stem to wire the flower to your wreath form.  Once you have cut your hydrangea blooms strip all leaves off the stem and trim any brown blooms off the flower head.

Creating the Wreath

1. Take a small piece of wire to wrap into the back of the wire base at the top so that you can hang the wreath on the wall or door.
2. Wrap the free end of the floral wire around the edge of the wire wreath form and secure it to the wreath form. 
3. Place a hydrangea stem with bloom on wreath form. Using the spool of floral wire wrap the wire around stem to secure it, pulling wire taut.
4. Place another flower bloom on the wreath, with the flower head covering the stem of the prior bloom and wire this one on. 
5. Continue adding flowers and wrapping stems around the wreath until wreath is completely full.  Cut the wire and attach the end of the wire to the wreath form.
6. Now look at the overall appearance and shape of your wreath—Balance is what you are looking for in shape, you don’t want any blooms sticking out way above the others, you don’t want one side of the wreath to be fuller than the other. Try stepping back and looking at a distance.  Give the blooms a little “haircut” with the scissors if they need it in order to balance out the shape.
7. Hang your wreath up.  Your blooms will usually dry within one day to one week, depending on temperature and humidity levels.  Once they are dry you have a wreath that you can enjoy!

Annabelle Hydrangea Wreath

Expect your wreath to look good for about one year or much less if they are in direct sunlight.  When your wreath doesn’t look pretty anymore strip off the old flowers and use the old wire base to make a new one!

Beautiful Fairy Garden by theburghbaby.com

What is fairy gardening?

Miniature or “Fairy” gardening is one of the newest and most creative gardening trends!  Our customers (and their kids) love to create these miniature container gardens.  There are endless creative possibilities for miniature gardens with the use of dwarf sized plants, moss, “fairy” sized furniture,  mini patios, and more.  Fairy gardening can become quite addicting (just ask a few of us that work here at the garden center)! 

Tiny Fairy Garden by Kelsey at Ted Lare Garden Center

Choosing a Container for your Fairy Garden

Typically the containers that work best for fairy gardens have good drainage and have a wide diameter across the top.  The wider the diamater at the top, the more space you will have to create your fairy garden.  Traditional terra cotta pots with a low bowl shape work well but don’t be afraid to get creative.  Some of the prettiest fairy gardens I have seen have been in creative containers like wash basins, picnic baskets, bird baths, and hyper tufa pots.   

Birdbath Fairy Garden by fairy-gardens.blogspot.com/

Selecting Plants for your Fairy Garden

Since the whole purpose of the fairy garden is to have miniature plants, you’ll want to select plants that stay small or can be trained or trimmed to stay small.  Take into consideration where you will place your container when its finished.  You will want to choose plants appropriate for the sunlight conditions in that area.  You will also want to select plants that are zone hardy compatible for your container and decide whether you will leave your container outside for the winter or if you will bring your container inside.  Below is a list of plants that work well in fairy gardens.

• Baby Tears
• Ferns
• Creeping Thymes
• Irish Moss
• Jade Trees
• Succulents
• Sedums
• Rosemary
• Dwarf Conifers
• Dwarf Boxwoods 
• Moss
• Mini African Violets
• Bonsai trees such as Schleffera, Ficus or other varieties

Choose dwarf sized plants for best results in your miniature garden.

Select Fairy Furniture & Accessories

There are a multitude of fairy gardening accessoires available right now.  We carry benches, patio sets, arbors, hammocks, pots, cloches, gardening tools, hoses, wheelbarrows, fences, and much more.  You may also want to consider putting in a patio or walkway through your fairy garden. Small stones or tiles can be used to accomplish this.

Fairy Garden Accessories at Tedsgardens.com

Layout your Garden & Plant It

Fill your pot with potting soil.  Any regular mix of potting soil will work well as long as your pot has adequate drainage.   Before you begin planting we suggest laying out your fairy garden with the plants, stones, and/or fairy furniture you have selected.  This allows for adjustments in placement without making a big mess. 

Once you have determined placement, plant your plants in the soil and then add patio stones and fairy accessories to your garden. Some items may need to be staked down in order to keep them in place.  A paper clip or piece of wire will often do the trick.  If an item is top heavy a nail can often be glued to the bottom of it to act as a stake to put in the soil and keep it in place. 

Miniature Garden with Patio by minigardener.wordpress.com

So you ask, “Now what?” Relax, sit back and wait for the fairies to show up!

Look for my next blog posts that will show all the absolutely cool fairy accessories that are available and pictures of some inspirational fairy gardens.

Now that you’ve made a trip out to our garden center and purchased some of the cool air plants we have in stock you may be asking youself, “Now what?”  Air plants are so great to add a little green to any room and they can add texture and interest as well.  There are many creative ways to display air plants in your home.  Here are just a few fabulous ideas to get you started.   

Air Plant in Hanging Glass Globes from budgetwisehome.com

Wall Vases with Air Plants by shelterness.com

Air Plant in Sea Shell by Robin Charlotte.

Hanging Air Plant Pod from Mudpuppy

Air Plants in Glass Vases and Bowls Grapevine with Air Plants by vivaterra.com

Table Centerpiece created with Air Plants

Glass Air Plant Garden

Live Lamp made with Air Plants by toHold on etsy.com

Happy decorating!