Budget Blooms: The March Mix
I’m back to share my cheap-o monthly bouquet (a super sweet Christmas present from the hubs). This time to usher in March I grabbed a mixed bunch:
One of the fun things about a varied assortment means the scenery changes when you spin the vase (or the old-bathroom-drinking-glass-turned-vase). Here’s the same arrangement from another angle.
One big pink beauty plus some fun lime colored blooms along with some smaller pink cuties = love.
But you know we love to get at least two arrangements out of one $4.99 grocery store bouquet (making each arrangement less than $2.50). Here’s the other half:
Look at those fun purple flowers. The flowers have flowers! Little white blooms erupting like barnacles.
What do you guys think of my March mix? Do you know what kind of flowers they are? The thing about getting two flower arrangements for under five beans is that they don’t really come with any information at all. And my flower knowledge is seriously limited.
The biggest surprise so far in our cheap grocery store bouquet “experiment” is how long they last. Each month’s bouquet always looks lovely for at least three weeks (changing the water every few days and recutting the stems once a week seems to help). Both my January and February flowers went strong for over 21 days each. Here’s to my March mix taking me all the way into April!
And speaking of April, has spring sprung for you guys? Anything you’re doing to usher in the warmer weather? From spring cleaning to annual planting, we’d love to hear what you’re up to!
Leave a comment
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Hi! I just found your blog/website about a week ago and have been loving it ever since. I too have limited flower knowledge but I believe the green flower (LOVE the color!) in the first arrangement is a spider mum. The huge pink one could possibly be a dahlia. In the second arrangement, the pink flowers are alstroemeria. You’ve inspired me to pick up a cheap bouquet next time I’m at the grocery store.
Two weeks ago I did a scorched-earth closet-cleaning… if I hadn’t worn it since we moved into our apartment in June 2007, it went out. Five huge bags to Housing Works (a local thrift shop) later, I had gotten a nice tax deduction (for ’09), rediscovered a few great items I forgot about, and have a lot more room to move my hangers around! Now I just need to tackle my shoe collection and folded sweaters/jeans in the cabinets…
the green flowers are button mums.
I was at Target Sunday and saw some great things that reminded me of your home (you know I blog too much when I think of bloggers homes when I shop)… just great clean “earthy” Natural things… you probably have seen them.
Very pretty. It looks like you’ve got a pink cushion mum, and another type of mum in green, some sort of lily, and the purple flowers are statice. I love making small bouquets around the house from a larger bouquet. Thanks for all of the tips.
Gorgeous combination of pink and green! Love this!
The big pink one looks like a peony. The green are button mums, often referred to as Kermit mums. The other pink appear to be astrolomeria. I’m not quite sure about the purple, though…
So pretty! :) Spring fever has been gnawing on my soul for weeks now, and I can’t stand it anymore! Fortunately we move into the new house in a few weeks and I’ll have more than my fair share of cleaning and decorating projects. Yay!
Is your snow still around?
Hey Momomatic,
With weekend temps of 80+ degrees, any evidence of snow has been completely erased and the whole city has been out in flip flops admiring the daffodils. Crazy!
Thanks for all the flower info everyone! We’re learning, we promise…
Oh and Tam, we’ll have to check out Target and see all that natural stuff you speak of. It sounds right up our alley!
xo,
Sherry
The small pink flowers are alstromeria. They are also sometimes called Peruvian lilies. My Publix has bulk flowers that are 3 for $10 and I am always picking up bouquets of those just to brighten up the house.
I also got some of those little purple flowers in a bouquet for my birthday and they seem to last forever. I’ve had them in a little cup since January!
Are your grocery bouquets from Ukrops?
Hey Nicole,
So far all of our bouquets have hailed from Kroger except this month’s bouquet (which did in fact come from Ukrops). Good eye!
xo,
Sherry
I think the pink & green combo is a type of dahlia or chrysanthemum (aka mum) and the green is a kermit mum. The pp’ers are correct. The 2nd vase is alstroemeria and statice. Very nice!
love these! the pink/green combo is perfect.
I live in the pacific northwest where it may only snow once, the entire winter. This year we’ve had a few very unusual snow storms, including one just yesterday! The news this morning said it was 23*F in my neighborhood and the high is only 39, not the mid-50′s which are more the norm for March. My spring bulbs look quite funny covered in snow.
I wish it was 80* here (so sad when I live where the highest monthly average temperature is only 76 and doesn’t occur until August, sigh). Send some warmer weather in my direction, k? :-)
I was in Target yesterday night & found white ceramic horse on sale(under $13). It just reminded me of you. I also love shopping in worldmarket(http://www.worldmarket.com), you can check it out too.
I love your flower arrangements!! So fresh and beautiful. Our den/kitchen area currently has three bouquets going and I am loving it! We recently purchased our home so we haven’t been there through all of the seasons, and this morning I was shocked and very happy to see that we have some lilies coming up in the backyard – what a nice surprise!
I love the pink and green. There is nothing like fresh flowers in your house.
I also picked up a bouquet of flowers 2 weeks ago at the grocery. They were on sale for 2.99. What a steal! They have the same green pokey flowers in them. They are still going strong. No wilting at all. YIPPEE!
I wish I knew what they were. They are so cute.
LOVE the pink and green together! BTW, do you mind telling me what camera you guys have? It takes such great photos!
Hey Sarah,
We have a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS Digital Elph (I think it’s the one in the commercials with Maria Sharapova and her dog). It’s a super fantastic inexpensive digi cam (around $150) with 8 mega pixels, a zoom lens, an image stabilizer feature and a great macro setting (which is what we use whenever we take close up pictures like the floral shots above).
We always set it on “manual” and usually keep the flash off permanently. Because we turn on all the lights before shooting anything inside, it allows us to avoid the flash (which tends to blow things out in the foreground while leaving things dark in the background). And of course when we’re outside taking pictures we never need the flash anyway, so it’s pretty fabulous to just leave it on “manual” with the flash off all the time, and just press the “macro” button (ironically, it looks like a flower) whenever we go in for a close up. Hope it helps! Happy snapping…
xo,
Sherry
The statice are a neat little flower — if you dry them, they pretty much look the same as when they are fresh (they just feel a little papery).
I think the giant pink princess is a Dahlia. In addition to the previous thought, your hubs is more sweet-o than cheap-o for such a smart and thoughtful gift. I would prefer a tiny five’s worth a month as opposed to an expensive bouquet. The little stuff is always more special, imo.
Love the flowers, especially the limey green. So beautiful. Thanks for the photo tips.
Cute bouquet!
You totally inspired me to bring cut flowers into our living room. I picked up a bunch for $3 at the farmer’s market, and there were so many that I spread them around the apartment – on the coffee table, the mantle and a small bunch in the bathroom. Makes me so happy. I’ll have to post a little update and share.
Paula
i love this idea and have been doing this since feb. so im a month behind you guys. it truly does make the rooms feel incredibly fresh. thanks for the tip.
Down here in Texas the grass is starting to green and the trees starting to bud. Makes me so happy every morning when I look outside and see just a little more evidence that Spring is nearly here!!
My favorite flower to buy are the green ones you have, which I now know they are called bottom mums thanks to your readers! =) Bottom mums last FOREVER! They are the most bang for your buck! =)
I like to get flowers but it seems our grocery bouquets are a little boring. Last week though I was at the discount grocers and picked up a potted hydrangea for only 4.99. It’s hardy to zone 5 so I should be okay planting it outside later in the year too. I realized that a lot of interesting bedding plants are the same price as fresh flowers so I can enjoy them inside for a month or two and then plant them outside for next year.
I can’t believe you have 80 degree weather. We just got a foot of snow in northern Michigan on Sunday. I was hoping the 40 degree weather today would melt it, some of it is gone… but I WANT SPRING! Perhaps I should pick up some flowers to brighten my home! Great post! Love the blog!
I wished spring was here to stay. It has been in the 70s for the past few days and starting tomorrow through the weekend in comes the rain and the 40s again. BLAH!
The green mums are so perfect for the month of March. A little bouquet of them would look perfect on Matt’s and Michelle’s bookcase. I saw your newest little arrangements and instantly thought of your latest mood board.
I second Emily on the alstromeria. They’re my fave cheap grocery store flower – great colors from white, to pink and burgundy with rich green leaves, and they always last at least 3 weeks.
But last year I discovered the wonders of my own cut flower garden. I had an empty bed in my backyard so I got 3 packets of mixed cutting annual seeds and zinnias and just sprinkled them around, threw a little more top soil on and watered – worth a shot. I generally don’t have a green thumb and I swear that’s all I did, but the results were amazing. I had armloads of huge, beautiful flowers all summer, and was giving bouquets to anyone who wanted. By the end of the summer all the plants were over 5 feet tall and still blooming away!
Hey Elizabeth,
We’re so excited to hear your cutting garden success story! We have an herb, veggie, and cutting garden in the works so we’re crossing our fingers that our thumbs stay green for the duration of the project. Stay tuned…
xo,
Sherry
I love the arrangements! My mom actually owns a flower nursery, so you would think that I would know flowers, but I don’t! I have a very black thumb while hers is the greenest. :) As for spring…we’ve planted our vegetables and cleaned the house already!! Three brownie points for us!
The large pink flower is a peony. I use to have a bush when we lived in Memphis. Too hot here in Central Florida for such a great flower.
Love the pink and green together.
Hi Guys,
Quick question: how do y’all deal with the little fungus gnats that seem to be attracted to live plants? I took your advice about bringing plants into the house, and while they look great, the bugs are a downer.
Love your site.
Thanks!
Hey Bridget B,
We wish we could be more helpful but we’ve never had that problem. Perhaps you could water your plants less since it seems like soggy soil would be attractive to critters who like to breed in moist environments. We only water our plants deeply once every week or two. We’ve heard numerous experts say that’s better than more frequent watering- and plants often die from overwatering so it’s a safe way to go (not to mention less effort). Maybe you can google “natural fungus gnat remedies” or call your local nursery and ask someone there what they recommend. Good luck and let us know what works so we can spread the word!
xo,
Sherry
Love that purple statice (in the second vase with the alstromeria). In my experience it lasts forever. It is also beautiful dried. I’ve heard it’s also insanely easy to grow which is always a plus for a non-gardener like myself.
My best guesses: big pink is a peony (fantastic, romantic flower–good score in a grocery store), green is button mum, little pink is alstroemeria and purple is statice.
I heart grocery store mixed bouquets. I feel like they last forever! I got a bunch of white mums with yellow centers (looked like big daisies) for a party and split them into little bouquets around the house afterward. Most of them lasted 2 weeks! I’m also working on a cutting garden but we don’t have much full sun and I’m trying to maximize that for veggies. I need a bigger yard!
I have serious spring fever. It was fabulously warm over the weekend (70s!) but is now back to a more typical Ohio March in the 30s-50s. I just planted some pansies outside in pots (that I snagged from Pier1 last fall at 75% off!).
For the first time, I am forcing blossoms inside from my neighbor’s dogwood tree. They look pretty with just the buds–can’t wait to see them bloom! You may have noticed this idea in the February BHG.
Hey Bridget B,
At the end of winter, all the ladybugs wintering in my attic wake up and bang against my kitchen window. I redirect them to those plants with whiteflies. Whiteflies also like the color yellow – so you can buy fly strips, or make your own by simply putting glue on yellow paper. I’ve also heard spraying your plants with a solution of dish detergent and water will help keep them at bay.
Remember, be careful to always water those plants from the bottom & don’t overwater – this will help keep the whiteflies away.
I love this idea as well. I hosted my mom’s birthday dinner and remembered this idea. I went out and bought a bouquet and used an old mason jar and a big vase and wrapped raffia around it…they’re adorable and I got a bunch of compliments. BTW- I love your blog! :)
Wow-Great minds think alike! I just posted this very topic on my blog: http://theclassywoman.blogspot.com/2009/09/bouquet-month.html on this very thing yesterday.
I love your arrangements-very pretty! The pink and green is my favorite, I love that combination. My favorite go-to place is also the grocery store. Today I’ll be picking up a dozen roses for $5.99 as I saw it in the weekly circular and I’ll be splitting them up too…..
Hey guys!
I found your blog a few weeks ago and have been going through every single one of your posts (and there’s a lot)!! I absolutely love what you have done with your house. I wish I could start doing my house, but unfortunately we have housemates who would probably mind the disturbance. We’re buying another house soon and will hopefully be able to decorate that without any complaints, except from our puppy!
Everyone loves you in Australia! Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Amanda