Garden to Vase: Growing and Using Your Own Cut Flowers

305 Pages·2007·8.73 MB·English

by  Linda Beutler

US$29.95
beutler
What could be more thrilling than to grow all the best
&
W hen you feel the urge to re­create the
mandell
plants for cutting right in your own garden, and then
combinations of color and texture that
to create inspired arrangements of your own? enliven your garden in arrangements to
G
enjoy indoors, does a crisis of confidence follow?
Which flowers should I use? Will they last in a
Learn from a master: a vase? At what stage should I pick them? Do they
need some kind of conditioning? Could I be grow­
· What makes a good cut flower · Fine points of harvesting r
ing other plants that would add excitement to my
· the emotional e=ects and · Classic flowers d arrangements?
Linda Beutler works as a floral designer and
meanings of flowers · tropical flowers The answers to these questions, and many more,
garden writer and is an instructor of horticul­ e
can be found herein. An accomplished gardener
· useful herbaceous perennials · making bouquets—from
ture for Clackamas Community College in
n and professional florist, Linda Beutler offers unique
Oregon City, Oregon. She serves on the gov­ · Gems from the herb garden basic to special occasion
insights into creating inspired floral arrangements
erning council of the International Clematis
· Planning a cutting garden
and growing the plants that go into them.
Society, has been president of the Pacific t
In her lively and down­to­earth style she explores
Northwest Clematis Society, and is active in
o
the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon. Her earlier pLus the essence of floral design; making creative use of
book is Gardening with Clematis (Timber Press V plants you’re already growing; techniques for har­
a detailed directory of hundreds of classic and
2004). vesting and preparing cut flowers; bouquet basics;
unusual plants for the cutting garden, with tips
a and creating arrangements for special occasions.
Allan Mandell gives photography lectures for purchasing cut flowers She devotes an entire chapter to the well­loved
and teaches workshops throughout the Pacific s mainstays: lilies, narcissi, tulips, roses, peonies, hy­
Northwest. He has received six national awards e drangeas, and tropical flowers.
for his photography from the Garden Writers
A wealth of expert information culminates in an
Association, and has completed five of his own
alphabetical directory that describes the flowers,
books, including Artists in Their Gardens and
yG foliage, and fruit of more than 200 outstanding
Naturalistic Gardening. His photographs are or
uo plants that are as lovely in the garden as in a vase.
published internationally. rw
Each entry includes the plant’s botanical and com­
oi
n
w mon names; its habit, hardiness, height, fragrance,
g
n a and appearance; when it can be harvested; how to

cn
ud grow it; how it should be conditioned; and insider
t fl u tips about what to look for if you’re purchasing cut
os stems rather than growing the plant yourself.
i Garden to Vase
wn
g Allan Mandell’s breathtaking photographs show
e
r flowers in full color at every stage from the garden
s
Jacket photographs by Allan Mandell to finished arrangement. Visually stunning and re­
Photograph of the authors by Wendy Street
plete with information both practical and inspira­
For details on other Timber Press books or to receive our ISBN 978-0-88192-825-9 Growing and using your own cut flowers tional, Garden to Vase will help you grow both as a
90000
catalog, please visit our Web site, www.timberpress.com. gardener and as an artist of the garden’s bounty.
In the United States and Canada you may also reach us at E
800-327-5680, and in the United Kingdom at AN linda beutler Photography by allan mandell
timber
[email protected].
Press
£20.00
9 780881 928259
Garden to Vase
<F1; fig. Title page.tiff>
Garden to Vase
Growing and using your own cut flowers
Linda beutLer
Photography by allan Mandell
tiMber Press
Frontispiece: Flowers harvested in their prime and properly handled yield perfectly beautiful and
long-lasting bouquets. Lucky Farms of Gresham, Oregon, at the Portland Farmers Market.
Text copyright © 2007 by Linda Beutler. All rights reserved.
Photographs copyright © 2007 by Allan Mandell unless otherwise indicated.
All rights reserved.
Published in 2007 by
Timber Press, Inc.
The Haseltine Building
133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204-3527, U.S.A.
www.timberpress.com
For contact information regarding editorial, marketing, sales, and distribution in the
United Kingdom, see www.timberpress.co.uk.
Printed in China
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beutler, Linda.
Garden to vase : growing and using your own cut flowers / Linda Beutler ; photog-
raphy by Allan Mandell.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-88192-825-9
1. Flower gardening. 2. Cut flowers. 3. Flowers. 4. Flower arrangement. I. Title.
SB405.B535 2007
635.9'66--dc22 2006025177
A catalog record for this book is also available from the British Library.
This book is dedicated with utmost fondness to Wendy Street, Robin Miller, Mark Vossbrink,
and the late Steve Mitchell. Together they raised me from a pup. —Linda Beutler
Nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small it takes time—we haven’t
time—and to see takes time, like having a friend takes time.
—Georgia O’Keeffe, letter to Anita Pollitzer, 1925
COnTenTs
Acknowledgments 9
Preface 13
Chapter One: Developing Your Philosophy of Design 19
What makes a good cut flower? ~ A philosophy of gardening
The question of proportion ~ Emotional effect and meaning
Color makes emotion
Chapter Two: Flowers from Your Own Garden 33
New uses for old friends ~ Roses as ornamental woody shrubs
Perennially useful herbaceous perennials ~ Raiding the herb garden
Planning a cutting garden ~ Access and maintenance
Chapter Three: From Garden to the House 51
Timing the harvest ~ Speaking of tools ~ Some fine points of harvesting
Preparing woody stems ~ Rinsing away problems ~ The value of floral
preservative ~ Home remedies ~ Evil ethylene ~ Summary tips
Chapter Four: Classic Flowers 73
True lilies: It’s all in their bulbs ~ Consider the narcissus
Wild about tulips ~ Ravishing roses ~ Proud peonies
A hydrangea renaissance ~ Tropical flowers: Some like it hot
Chapter Five: Basic Bouquets 113
The nosegay ~ Hand-tied bouquets ~ Arrangements using floral foam
Concentrating on containers
Chapter six: special Occasions 131
Winter and its holidays ~ Project: Creating a winter welcome
Spring and renewal ~ Project: Useful snarls ~ Summer’s flowers and fruit
Project: Letting flowers go to your head ~ Autumn and the mingling of textures
Project: Out of our gourds
Plants for the Cutting Garden: Flowers, Foliage, and Fruit 155
The Meanings of Flowers 281
Help with Botanical Latin 284
Conversion Tables 287
Bibliography 288
Common Names Cross-Reference 291
Plant Name Index 296


ACknOwLeDGMenTs
THE FLORISTS: Kim Peterson Alvarez, Liz Eiseman, Lynda Germann, Lark
Miller, Kris Okamoto, Madie McGraw Richenstein, and Mary Takayanagi have been
coworkers over the years who, in some cases unknowingly, have had a wonderful
influence on my work. Margaret Willoughby and Irene Moss (the latter a student of
the legendary Constance Spry) combined their prodigious talents to make exciting
stage arrangements for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon before handing the job
over to me. The late Beryl Shelhart was my instructor at the Western School of Floral
Design in 1986. Dottie Ferrell was looking to hire a naturalistic floral designer at just
the right time and went from boss to dear friend in a heartbeat. With Dottie you get
Opal Kickbusch (Auntie Opal)—it’s a package deal—and Opal is so generous with the
profusion of her garden. Amy Burbach is Dottie’s worthy heir. Andrea Leake, a “girl
graduate” of the floral design classes at Clackamas Community College, makes me
enviously wish I’d known what I wanted to be when I was her age. Brooke Hansen:
Who knew that the first “garden girl” I ever trained would set the bar so high for
those who would follow? Nor would I have suspected that someone young enough to
be my daughter would become one of my best friends.
Murray Rosen, farm manager of Chalk Hill Clematis, has taught me about yet
another facet of the vines I collect so passionately—thank you. I also thank Elizabeth
Howley, Loretta Mills, and the staff of the horticulture department at Clackamas
Community College, who have given me and my students an environment in which
we all can thrive.
The family: When I turned in the manuscript for Gardening with Clematis (Timber
Press, 2004), the first response from my husband, Larry, and my mother, Betty Crisp,
was, “Now you can start work on your next book!” And so I did. Growing up, I can
remember Mom often saying that if money were no object, she would have fresh
flowers in her house all the time—okay, Mom, what’s stopping you now? As for my
husband, Larry: imagine you’ve become engaged to your longtime paramour, and she
announces she is giving up her secure desk job for the vagaries of life as a florist . . .
and imagine saying, “Go for it.” Agreeing with him completely then, and constantly
urging me on now, is Lucy Hardiman. Lucy, this is all possible because of you. Thank
you all.
Thanks again to the rest of my extended family and friends in horticulture: Shirley
Beutler, mother-in-law extraordinaire, and family; Jacky Mitzel—I became a florist
too late to do your wedding flowers, but thank God you had daughters (I’m waiting);