You Belong Among the Wildflowers
When researching flowers to buy for my wedding bouquet and décor, I came across several lovely pinterest pins of wildflowers. Normally, I don't care much for a variety of flowers like yellow and purple. But somehow, when mixed in with all the green foliage and pops of reds and oranges, it works. I love that wildflowers convey this sense of being carefree and raw, free to land wherever and make a home. Reminds me of the way I used to be.
I decided that as part of my DIY Bride experiment, I'd try to grow my own flowers. Up until last month, the only flower I had grown was an amaryllis plant gifted to me. It bloomed once, but then it died and I left the bulb outside to rot, not knowing what else to do with it. While this whole seasonal growth thing is still a little confusing to me, being that Hawaii doesn't really have seasons, I think I'm much more educated on flowers than I used to be. In fact, I am a proud mama of upwards of 20 large and tiny containers full of wildflowers, herbs, and succulents:
Since they're all mixed up, I don't really know what's what. There are seeds of Poppies, Sunflowers, Lupines, Bachelor's Buttons, Zinnias, Echinacea/Cone flower, Black-Eyed Susans, Delphinium, Cornflowers, Sweet Peas, and more. I have no idea whether any of these will bloom in time for the wedding, but it has been such a joy to wake up every morning and check on their progress, water them, transplant them, and find the best spot on the lanai where each one will be happiest.
Some of the seeds I purchased were butterfly and hummingbird mixes. It'll be interesting to see whether those winged creatures will fly up to my lanai to hang out among the wildflowers. I'm also trying to save seeds from flowers I grow so that I can plant more. I already picked seeds from the $1 zinnias I got on clearance from Lowe's, which had withered and dried. I'm hoping to just start a seed library and continuously plant more. I'm also trying to propagate rosemary for the first time and continuing to make slow progress with my succulents. I had no idea they'd take so long to propagate.
In some ways, I feel like gardening is a Higa family tradition. My Dad's Dad was a gardener, and my Dad was into natural herbs and medicines. I just discovered that one of the flowers I like, the coneflower, is actually Echinacea, which my Dad used to rave about and feed us kids when we were sick. I was also interested in using hypericum berries in my wedding bouquet and found that St. John's Wort is from a type of hypericum. My Dad used to also give us some of that to help us relax, (although I just read online that it is used to treat depression and can have some negative side effects). Still, I feel like gardening is my link to both of them and my way of carrying on this tradition. I only wish I had pick up this interest sooner, while both were still around.
I decided that as part of my DIY Bride experiment, I'd try to grow my own flowers. Up until last month, the only flower I had grown was an amaryllis plant gifted to me. It bloomed once, but then it died and I left the bulb outside to rot, not knowing what else to do with it. While this whole seasonal growth thing is still a little confusing to me, being that Hawaii doesn't really have seasons, I think I'm much more educated on flowers than I used to be. In fact, I am a proud mama of upwards of 20 large and tiny containers full of wildflowers, herbs, and succulents:
Since they're all mixed up, I don't really know what's what. There are seeds of Poppies, Sunflowers, Lupines, Bachelor's Buttons, Zinnias, Echinacea/Cone flower, Black-Eyed Susans, Delphinium, Cornflowers, Sweet Peas, and more. I have no idea whether any of these will bloom in time for the wedding, but it has been such a joy to wake up every morning and check on their progress, water them, transplant them, and find the best spot on the lanai where each one will be happiest.
Some of the seeds I purchased were butterfly and hummingbird mixes. It'll be interesting to see whether those winged creatures will fly up to my lanai to hang out among the wildflowers. I'm also trying to save seeds from flowers I grow so that I can plant more. I already picked seeds from the $1 zinnias I got on clearance from Lowe's, which had withered and dried. I'm hoping to just start a seed library and continuously plant more. I'm also trying to propagate rosemary for the first time and continuing to make slow progress with my succulents. I had no idea they'd take so long to propagate.
In some ways, I feel like gardening is a Higa family tradition. My Dad's Dad was a gardener, and my Dad was into natural herbs and medicines. I just discovered that one of the flowers I like, the coneflower, is actually Echinacea, which my Dad used to rave about and feed us kids when we were sick. I was also interested in using hypericum berries in my wedding bouquet and found that St. John's Wort is from a type of hypericum. My Dad used to also give us some of that to help us relax, (although I just read online that it is used to treat depression and can have some negative side effects). Still, I feel like gardening is my link to both of them and my way of carrying on this tradition. I only wish I had pick up this interest sooner, while both were still around.
Comments
Post a Comment