garden — pleasure in simple things

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make the most of grocery store flowers

September

friday field trip

Today’s field trip is to the local Stop ‘n Shop to visit the floral department. I want to show you how easy it is to utilize the florist at your local grocery store. Why spend a lot at a traditional florist when you can buy flowers for giving at the grocery store for a more reasonable price. An added perk is that many grocery stores, like Stop ‘n Shop, are open 24 hours! You can pretty much buy a gift at any time of the day or night that fits into your schedule.

Use these five tips to make grocery store flowers work for you.

1. STICK WITH THE SAME COLOR OR VARIETY OF FLOWER. Instead of buying a bouquet that contains a mixture of colors and varieties of flowers, pick one color or one type of flower and stick with it. You will get much better visual impact for your budget.

2. CONSIDER A POTTED PLANT. Very often, potted plants in season are less expensive than cut flowers and look much better/healthier. Plus, the recipient has the added benefit of enjoying a permanent plant rather than a fleeting bouquet. Some grocery stores even sell potted herbs – a nice departure from a traditional flower if the recipient happens to be a foodie! Containers sold in the floral section are very reasonably priced and can be a great alternative to wrapping.

A potted plant is paired with a cute container that was priced at onlyl $4 in the Stop ‘n Shop floral department.

3. USE YOUR OWN FLOURISHES. I always use my own ribbon and tissue when preparing grocery store flowers for giving, rather than relying on the limited selection available at the grocery store. The gift not only looks prettier, but using your own touches helps give your gift a personal flair.

I used two potted plants and a basket from the floral department for a cost of less than $20 (and less than the price of a dozen roses). I added my own tissue paper and ribbon to complete the look and add my own personal touch.

4. MAKE THE MOST OF SPECIALS. If roses are $25 and a special on tulips makes them a quarter of the price…how much nicer to make a combined bouquet of four bunches of tulips! A potted orchid on sale may be less than a bouquet and more appropriate for the recipient. Be sure to check all the specials.

Shopping for cut flowers, two bunches of sunflowers on special were less than an assorted bouquet and provide much better visual appeal.

5. SHOP FOR ADD-ONS. With all the items available at the grocery store, there are many options available to you to add a little something to your gift, should the occasion or budget warrant it. What a great added feature of doing your flower shopping at the grocery store! A gift of engagement flowers can include a wedding magazine or some chocolates…flowers to welcome a new baby can include a bib or pacifier…just hop over to the appropriate aisle. At this time of year, a trip to the produce aisle can mean the purchase of a pumpkin to serve as a great seasonal container for your flowers. Perfect to house Halloween or Thanksgiving flowers for giving. (I love the white ones!) Grocery stores also sell gift certificates, so you can also easily tuck in a certificate for a cup of coffee or the latest music.

Whether you are shopping for yourself, or for a gift, remember these five tips when shopping for flowers in the grocery store.

Hope you enjoyed these tips for making the grocery store florist work for you. Why not pick out some flowers for your own home?

All the photos in this post were taken in the floral department at Stop ‘n Shop. Thanks for visiting, Jackie

1 comment » | garden

squash blossoms…farm to table

September

An easy do-it-yourself pictorial.

For the first time this year, I picked my own squash blossoms when I visited Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, CT. I happened to overhear someone asking directions to the appropriate field to pick them. I immediately got excited about the prospect of picking some myself. I have had fried squash blossoms in restaurants and really enjoyed them – even though I am not a big fried food lover. I decided to take the opportunity to try and cook some up myself.

I originally posted these photos on my facebook page, but have had many requests to put them on a blog post for those that don’t use facebook. So, here is how I prepared the squash blossoms…it was very easy and they were very delicious!

Easy! Hope you enjoyed these photos on preparing squash blossoms…farm to table!

Thanks for visiting! Enjoy your holiday weekend, Jackie

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discovering a sunflower maze

August

Navigating through 350,000 sunflowers.

I have been to many corn mazes in my lifetime, but had never heard of a sunflower maze until last week. I certainly was intrigued by the idea of it. Imagine a field full of sunflowers…it just sounded so Provence. Not caring so much about the maze, but more about the sunflowers, I decided to make the trip to Middlefield, CT to check it out. It was my first trip to the 1,100 acre Lyman Orchards farm.

A photo of a sunflower at the Lyman Orchards sunflower maze in Middlefield, CT.

I had imagined a field of yellow. But, as I approached the field, I discovered that there were many varieties and colors of sunflowers that made up the maze. My favorites were not the yellows at all, but some of the varieties in the darker hues. They were all beautiful. It didn’t even bother me when I got so terribly lost in the maze… I was too busy taking in all the varieties of sunflowers and trying my darndest to avoid all the bees. (I felt lucky to only sustain one bite.)

A photo from the sunflower maze. The flowers are ‘sterile’ meaning there is no pollen…this discourages the bees from hanging around for very long.

I have included a very short piece of video at the end of the post that I took with my son’s GoPro camera, hoping to capture a little of the experience for you…needless to say, a very rookie job…what can

I say…it was my first attempt! It is very tough to take video without a viewfinder!

A photo of one of my favorite sunflowers at the sunflower maze. Lyman Orchards is the 12th oldest family-owned business in the U.S., operating since 1741 and currently run by the eighth generation!

My first visit to a sunflower maze was a wonderful experience. Please enjoy the photos of this truly lovely place.

Thanks for visiting, Jackie

2 comments » | garden

5 great ways to use sea glass

July

“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.”
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Okay, after spending countless hours searching for sea glass, you are pleased with your collection this season. Are you tempted to add it to that one big jar you have in some nondescript location? Don’t do it! There are better ways to put these beautiful treasures on display. Here are five great and easy ways to use your favorite pieces of sea glass…no drill, glue, or special talent required. (Be sure to click on the photo collages below to see the sea glass treasures full screen.)

IN YOUR GARDEN Sea glass looks great as a decorative touch in your garden. It gives a fresh look to a birdbath or garden container. It is also a neat way to finish off a potted plant by covering the top of the soil. Maybe the thank you gift for the weekend you spent at your friend’s beach house is a plant finished off with the treasures you collected while visiting.

ON A SHELF A great way to display favorite pieces in your home is on a shelf, bookcase, or coffee table. Just use a couple favorite pieces to highlight them as special, or group them by color for some great impact. They look wonderful used in combination with other natural items like driftwood or a bird’s nest. A unique piece can look great under a small dome on your mantle.

AS A VASE FILLER Using sea glass to fill a vase is always a great way to bring the beach into your home. Pieces can be used in a vase with fresh flowers or to anchor a candle in a jar. Putting pieces in a mason jar and adding an old nostalgic black and white beach photo is a great addition to a summer mantle. If you have a large collection, filling a glass lamp is another option. I like to use a filled vase to serve skewered summer appetizers or desserts.

MAKE AN EASY AIR FRESHENER Gather some pieces of sea glass into a small dish or teacup to use as an air freshener. Just add your choice of fragance oil. I found some really great oils at a local herb store, but most craft stores also carry it. You can pick a floral scent or something reminiscent of the sea and surf. Yard sales or Goodwill stores are great sources for pretty dishes that are sure to sell for under a dollar. Or, use that odd teacup you haven’t been able to throw away.

TO CREATE WRAPPING PAPER Take a photo of some pieces of your collection. Get a color print of it on your home printer or at the local copy center to use as wrapping paper. An easy way to add the beauty of the sea to a gift. Use raffia or pretty sea-colored ribbon and tie on a shell to complete the look. Use your new giftwrap for any occasion. It is a great departure from the giftwrap typically used for the holidays..using it brings recollections of warm memories of the sand and sea no matter how cold it may be outside :)

Thanks for visiting, Jackie

This project is being submitted to Celebrating Everyday LIfe recycled & repurposed diy project linky party

5 comments » | diy

diy painted glass vase

July

easy color-coordinated vase

Have you painted the inside of an old jar yet? It seems to be very popular right now. When I first started seeing them around, I had to laugh, because when I was young, painting old jars was something my friends and I would do at the summer playground when we ran out of all other craft materials…after exhausting all the supplies for making tile ashtrays and gimp keychains.

Over the years, I have painted an occasional jar as a nostalgic activity. I haven’t really been motivated to do it lately…not, that is, until I was in Anthropologie the other day and saw the many jars the store was using as props for their in-store displays. They had painted the insides of mason jars. But, rather than painting each jar a solid color, several colors were used in each jar. The result was almost a tie-dyed look. Using pastel colors in similar hues, I thought the effect was really beautiful.

With my coneflowers in full bloom, I decided to paint a jar in colors to coordinate with the color of the coneflower blooms. I have purple coneflowers, so I would use subtle shades of lavender and gray.

It is such an easy process…if you haven’t yet tried it, don’t feel intimidated. You can’t mess up :) Simply pour a little paint into the jar and swirl it around to cover the inside of the glass…that’s it!

I found out that my craft store plastic paint bottles were perfect for the multi-color application. I just squeezed the various colors into the jar and swirled them around. I added a little splash of silver too, just to add a little sparkle. You can control the pattern the paint creates by controlling which colors hit the glass first. Let some paint drip from the top to the bottom of the glass. Then, pour some paint in the bottom of the jar and swirl it around, tipping it to cover the sides.

If you make an experimental jar first, you can get the feel for how you can control the pattern of the paint covering the glass. I experimented on a couple of Snapple jars that were in my recycling bin, but I saved a mason jar for the vase I intended for the coneflowers.

The great appeal of this project is being able to create a vase in any color scheme you choose, at virtually no cost – repurposing old jars and leftover paint. It’s easy to instantly create a vase to match a color scheme for a party or a room in your home.

Give it a try! Please post a photo of your creation on my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/insimplethings

Note: I put a plastic cup inside the jar to contain the water. I don’t think the water sitting in the paint would provide a happy result ;)

3 comments » | diy

oozing with inspiration

May

terrain’s opening

Since I have been anticipating the opening of Terrain in Connecticut for quite some time, I was thrilled to find out the official opening was scheduled for Mother’s Day weekend. I decided that would be a perfect treat on Mother’s Day morning – to visit the new store. Owned by Urban Outfitters, Terrain is a home and garden store, that up until this weekend, only existed in Glen Mills, PA. The store has that same hip vibe as Anthropologie (also owned by Urban Outfitters), but with a gardening aesthetic. An old car dealership in Westport, CT was transformed into a 16,000 square foot retail space, a restaurant with an outdoor patio, a coffee bar, and an outdoor nursery…Terrain.

Relief prints by Connecticut artist Bryan Nash Gill

It was hard to resist not calling in sick to work on Friday to attend the opening day of the store. I had been driving by occasionally during the construction process and was very excited to finally see the store completed. I could not wait to look around inside. Finally, I was able to check it out and I soon found out that I would not be disappointed.

Free sessions in container planting – this one was with herbs.

The store is oozing with inspiration. I especially love the beautiful hand blown glass terrariums by Vermont artisan Simon Pearce. They can be planted by one of the Terrain staff, tailor-made to the purchasers tastes… when I was there on Sunday, many were being created to bring home to a mom on her special day. I vowed to put a Terrain terrarium on my birthday wish list so I could someday put one on my desk at work. There would be no reason not to smile every morning with a work of art like that in your workspace.

The frame of a 1920’s green house is used in the decor.

The knowledge of the barista at the coffee bar was extremely impressive and I am sure the 7:30 am opening time will make it a popular spot for locals to make a quick stop before heading off to work. I didn’t take the time to sample the menu, but the café boasts a Food & Wine “Best New Chef” of 2011 on staff and provided both a visually interesting indoor seating area as well as seating on an outdoor patio.

Terrain’s website is: www.shopterrain.com

5 comments » | field trips, garden, style

happiness in white

May

joy in spring flowers

I love white. Checking out my gardens at this time of year brings me both happiness and sadness….happiness for the white, and, sadness for the white. I so adore all varieties of white flowers, but seeing them in bloom in my garden reminds me that my original plan to have all my gardens exclusively in white (a virgin garden), did not come to fruition. It just got so difficult to find white varieties that I eventually gave in to purchasing varieties in other colors. I still do my best to find all the white I can. And, when I get my annuals, I pick mostly white…the last few years I have been loving euporbia (diamond frost…the poinsettia relative) in my containers. I still mourn my white forsythia…one of my favorite ‘whites’, but apparently it just did not like my yard….