Grow Your Own Bouquet

Make this the year you add a few flowers to your outdoor garden for your indoor enjoyment.

Start by selecting a variety of bulbs, annuals and perennial flowers that bloom at different times for a season of fresh cut flowers. Combine spring flowering bulbs with pansies, snapdragons and other cool weather annuals. Peonies, Solomon's seal and Siberian iris are just a few of the spring blooming perennials to consider. Summer and fall are filled with many choices, including the billowy flowers and long-lasting seedheads of ornamental grasses.

Include a few plants like hosta, coleus, papyrus, and lady’s mantle that also provide foliage.

Add a few fragrant beauties like stock, tuberoses, peonies and roses for a bit of aromatherapy.

And don’t forget the trees and shrubs. Colorful or flower covered stems make a nice addition to any arrangement.

A bit more information: Display your flowers in creative homemade vases. Shorter wildflowers and pansies can be displayed in old spice jars. Repurpose pasta, pickle and other glass jars into vases for larger cut flowers. Add a ribbon or a bit of paint to dress them up.