Hi there GPODers!
Christine here, the Fine Gardening/AIM Garden Group Executive Digital Editor. I’m taking over the GPOD this week while Kaitlyn is on a much deserved vacation – hopefully she’ll be bringing back some photos to share with us!
I’ve been in and out of the GPOD over the years, but I thought I’d take this week to post some of the images I haven’t had time to share with Kaitlyn and to introduce myself a bit more. I’ve been working with Fine Gardening since 2017, and it has been a great pleasure to be able to serve our subscribers and online members and work with the team at FG in creating and delivering excellent gardening and garden design advice over the last 8 years.
My gardening journey is fairly circuitous – from starting my own vegetable garden as a pre-teen to exploring herbal medicine in my teens and twenties, foraging for wild native plants as a wilderness guide to trying to grow my own wedding bouquets. Most recently, I’ve been slowly working on designing a long border for privacy along my front fence line (while also parenting two rambunctious toddlers).
I love starting seeds, and my setup has changed dramatically over the years, from windowsill attempts to a more successful setup with lights and heating pads. I’ve learned so much from Carol Collins, our Editor in Chief, with whom I shot the video 15 Tips to Make Seed Starting Easier and who is always a huge help with all things gardening.
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If you are interested in seed starting, but are not sure where to start, I highly recommend our course Seed Starting Made Simple with the incomparable Niki Jabbour, which you can purchase or get as part of joining the Fine Gardening membership along with our other gardening courses.
In 2020, we got a simple greenhouse that I actually recommend if you are looking for a simple setup that can withstand snowy conditions. You would want to reinforce it if you live in a windy environment though, as it is fairly light. That March, my husband proposed and I decided I wanted to grow my own wedding bouquet. The wedding was set for July 2021, so I began selecting and purchasing seeds for my bouquet that fall and starting them the following spring.
I was going for a romantic bouquet of dark reds and creams, and I think it would have (mostly) turned out ok had we been able to have our wedding on the original date. In these images you’ll find:
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‘Amazon Neon’ purple dianthus (Dianthus barbatus ‘Amazon Neon’, USDA Zones 5–9)
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‘Black Beauty’ scabiosa (Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Black Beauty’, USDA Zones 3–7)
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Red spike amaranthus (Amaranthus cruentus ‘Red Spike’, annual)
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‘Stargazer’ Oriental lily (Lilium orientalis ‘Stargazer’, USDA Zones 4–9)
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‘Café au Lait’ dahlia (Dahlia ‘Café au Lait’, USDA Zones 8–11; grown as a tender bulb in colder regions)
Unfortunately, due to Covid, we ended up delaying our big wedding. Here’s how the bouquets might have turned out, though, had we kept our original date.
These didn’t come together quite the way I had hoped so maybe it was for the best. Some of the seeds I was really hoping for didn’t end up making it and some of the ones that did, didn’t tie in well with the arrangement in my opinion. On the bright side, I ended up having two more opportunities to design my bouquet.
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We ended up eloping on what would have been our honeymoon to Costa Rica in August of 2021. With the help of Blue Butterfly Events, who handled everything, we planned an impromptu wedding within a week of our departure date. It was an amazing trip and such a fun way to turn our postponed wedding into something unique and memorable. I’ll be showcasing more of the beautiful flora from our wedding/honeymoon trip to Costa Rica tomorrow. This one may have been my favorite bouquet of the bunch, though its a tight race. This bouquet features tropical anthurium, monstera leaf foliage, and variegated croton as well as orchids, celosia, heliconia, and passion fruit vine. If you love tropical plants, you should definitely check out this article by Irvin Etienne.
My third bouquet was designed by Country Gardener Florist in Millerton, New York and was also so beautiful. At this point, I was 5 months pregnant, making our second wedding in May of 2022 a celebration in multiple ways. I was too tired to try to do my own bouquets at this point. Thankfully, Country Gardener saw my vision and created a beautiful bouquet with all of the things I wanted for a spring wedding. This bouquet had pampas grass, protea, supernova thistle, ranunculus, shimmer roses, and eucalyptus foliage.
Three years later, we’ve got two babies, a new home, two dogs, and two cats. Everything is overgrown, but we’ve got big plans for the future of the landscape. I’ll make sure to keep everyone updated as we tick off projects!
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