Budget Blooms
Budget Blooms: Starting The Year Off Right
Thump. That’s the sound of us falling off the fresh flower bandwagon last October. From the first of 2009 through September we were enjoying one inexpensive (and even free) bouquet for each month of the year (a super sweet Christmas present from the hubs). But somehow the end-of-the-year madness (toss in a few holidays, a growing family, a bathroom gut-job, and an impending nursery makeover) sadly derailed our year of budget blooms.
Well, John was determined to kick this year off right with a happy and cheerful January bouquet for me (actually purchased on 1/1/10- what a nice “fresh start” to the year). This month’s arrangement hails from the grocery store and only ran us $4. Nice. And to stretch our flower budget even further, I separated the blooms into two mercury glass candleholders-turned-vases and proudly displayed our mixed batch of daisies, mums, and alstroemerias in this rarely seen nook of our kitchen:
We love how they look sort of New Years-y and cheerfully festive with the cake stand full of ornaments and ceramic fruit… but of course since these flowers are all long-lasters we’ll soon be replacing the ornaments with some edible treats (cupcakes if we’re bad, fresh fruit if we’re good) as the month goes on.
We really like how the happy pops of yellow in the alstroemerias (they’re almost springy- which is encouraging on some of the coldest days) pair with the fresh green of the mums and the big white daisy (along with all the other white accents like the cake stand, ornaments, and lotus candle holder). It’s sort of a winter-white-meets-New-Year’s-sparkle effect… with an optimistic splash of spring tossed in for good measure.
And of course for $2 per arrangement we’re pretty happy with our re-commitment to at least one affordable bouquet per month. But what about you guys? Do you have any favorite seasonal blooms that you whip out each January? Is there any other greenery that you love having around to start the year off right (a gorgeously scented potted rosemary? a luxe bouquet of red roses?). Do tell.
Wanna see our first grocery store bouquet from last January? Itching to check out February, March, April, May, June July, August, and September too? Just follow the links for some pretty sweet cheap-o (and even free) bouquets.
Budget Blooms: September Sedum
It’s almost the end of September so it’s high time I shared my monthly bouquet (a super sweet Christmas present from the hubs). Just like last month’s myrtle branch, this month’s blossoms didn’t hail from the grocery store. It’s probably the very last month we’ll have backyard blossoms so we took advantage of that bittersweet fact and triumphantly clipped some of the season’s final blooms. I seriously adore the delicate pink flowering sedum that grows around the back patio (we actually inherited it with the house but transplanted it after we upgraded the patio for our backyard wedding). Anyway, here are my lovely free flowers living it up in a similarly toned soft pink vase on the console table in the living room:
The cool thing about sedum is that the leaves and branches are almost like an aloe plant. They’re succulents so they feel like they’re full of gel- and thanks to the fact that they always feel so full of fluid they actually do really well in dry weather. We’ve also found this guy to be super hardy (we sort of beat him up when we transplanted him and he took a licking and kept on ticking) and my clipped stems have already lasted for weeks inside, so it looks like they do well when they’re cut as well.
A lot of our favorite bouquets are comprised of all the same blooms, maybe because they mimic the same monochromatic yet layered textures that we love when it comes to our decor. I also really like the approach of putting bouquets in vases that are similar in tone (like these raspberry roses in a red vase from June) so the pale pink blooms paired with this soft pink vase really make my heart melt.
It’s getting past blooming season here in Virginia so we’re thinking next month we’ll be back to snatching some cheap grocery store bouquets. But what about you guys? Have you snagged any cheerful flowers courtesy of your backyard or your local store? We’d love to know what flowers are on your “yes please” list this month.
Wanna see our first grocery store bouquet from January? Itching to check out February, March, April, May, June July and August too? Just follow the links for some pretty sweet cheap-o (and even free) bouquets.
Budget Blooms: Myrtle Magic
Thanks to two pretty major road trips, August almost slipped away before I could share my monthly bouquet (a super sweet Christmas present from the hubs). Just like last month’s lush lilies, this month’s blossoms didn’t hail from the grocery store. Again we bucked the normal $3-5 bouquet and headed outside, this time to snip one pretty hot pink branch from the crape myrtle on the side of our house. Here’s my lovely free flowering branch living it up in a blue glass vase on the mantel in the living room:
For those of you who live too far north to enjoy Crape Myrtles (amazing trees that runneth over with pink or white blooms pretty much all summer long), might I recommend moving to the south to enjoy them? They’re planted along almost every road and around virtually every shopping center and they truly make a former northerner like myself feel like I’m in a Disney movie. I practically expected birds to land on my arms and fashion me a dress out of curtains when I moved here back in 2005.
The pop of hot pink really wakes up the entire living room, and the raspberry tone mixed with the soft blue vase is an unexpectedly awesome pairing- especially in our otherwise light and airy home. Gotta love how something so small can make such a big impression.
So what about you guys? Have you snagged any cheerful flowers courtesy of your backyard or your local grocery store? We’d love to know what blooms are tickling your fancy these days and what bouquets your backyard is bearing without breaking the bank.
Wanna see our first grocery store bouquet from January? Itching to check out February, March, April, May, June and July too? Just follow the links for some pretty sweet cheap-o (and even free) bouquets.
