No garden is as beautiful as the one you’re going to have next year!
As we bid our gardens farewell, we can hold onto them in a number of ways.
If we have geraniums that we would love to plant again, we can pot them up to keep as houseplants. I have a pink geranium that I have kept going for ten years this way. Last year I finally divided it and the twins are pretty as ever. If you don’t have room for another houseplant, dig up the geranium, knock the dirt off the roots, cut the top back so that it fits in a brown paper bag and hang it up in the basement until time to plant in the ground.
Some annuals (asters, zinnias, salvia, straw flowers and globe amaranth) dry well, are reasonably sturdy and maintain their color. Tie them in small bunches and hang upside down in a warm, dry place. I hang mine on the rod in my laundry room.
One year I decorated our Christmas tree with dried flowers, the easiest tree I ever did. I just poked the posies among the branches and it was done in no time. Of course, I had planned to do this and had planted lots of straw flowers and dried most of my roses. You may remember a home, decorated by the Naperville Garden Club for the Cup of Cheer House Walk, that had a tree covered with dried, painted silver hydrangeas.
What do you have growing that you could use in your home? Even a small tree or wreath would be adorable.
Dry hydrangeas. October is a good time to do this because the flowers need to be open for a few days at least. A few weeks are better and the color is usually better, too. The flowers should feel dry. Cut the stems as long as you think you need, remove the leaves and put in a vase or bucket with an inch of water. As they take up the water, they will slowly dry and will hold their shape without wilting. Most hydrangeas will dry beautifully, but not oakleaf or climbing hydrangeas.
Keep making notes in your garden journal and your gardens will be even more beautiful next year.
The Naperville Garden Club invites you to our October meeting held at Seven Bridges Golf Club at 8:45AM on Wed., Oct. 26, 2016. The program is titled, “Give Your Garden the Blues, the Color Blue That Is.” RSVP by Wed., Oct. 19. Find details at www.napervillegardenclub.org and in the events section of Positively Naperville.
