The rains have begun in Oregon, and soon the last of the flowers will wrap up their show and bed down until spring.
I didn’t want to say goodbye for that long and so have been cutting and pressing a few blooms, mementos of all this year’s sunny garden pleasures.
It’s surprising and fun to see what survives the loss of moisture. Queen Ann’s lace, lavendar, and the tiny blossoms from the rosemary plant all came together nicely, and glued fairly easily onto card stock.
But wait, there’s more. I had good luck with my finicky gardenia this summer and wondered if I could start a second one using the softwood cutting method.
I use plastic takeout containers with lids for starting new plants this way. Just put a little damp soil in the container, insert the cutting, punch a few small holes in the lid for air, close it up and put it somewhere it gets indirect light. This gardenia start has been in the container for about a month and in another few weeks should have sufficiently developed roots that I can put it in a small pot. I’ll keep it inside for the winter and in the spring, with luck, it’ll find a home outdoors. Few things smell more wonderfully exotic than a blooming gardenia.
Having something young and growing through the winter will be a fine thing.
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 