Dish Gardens 101: Creation

With April on the horizon, we are wrapping up our informal class about dish gardens today, with an overview of how to make a dish garden.

Step 1: Select a container.

Your container will help establish the style of dish garden you're looking for. Are you going for informal or rustic? Try a wicker basket, with or without a handle. Are you thinking artistic and more modern? Look for a ceramic container, available in a variety of colors, shapes, and styles. Are you hoping for a more traditional look? Consider a terracotta pot, also available in many styles.

Step 2: Prep the container.

Line the container, whatever you choose, with a layer of sturdy plastic. Then add a layer of vermiculite to the bottom, about a half-inch deep. Doing so will help with drainage so the plants don't sit in water, which could lead to rotted roots.

Step 3: Choose the plants.

Most plants included in dish gardens are three- or four-inch plants. Depending on the size of your overall container, you can group anywhere from three to five or more plants in your dish garden. Choose plants according to light and water requirements; a cactus probably won't be happy with a bromeliad in the same dish garden. Think compatibility for best results. Also think about the visual impact you want to have: mix taller and shorter plants, green and/or blooming plants, and a vine plant that drapes or spills over the side like an ivy or a pothos for best visual appeal and to create movement and interest.

Step 4: Situate the plants.

Leave the plants in their individual growing pots. (See Tip #3 below for exception.) Group them together several ways outside your container before you start adding them to the container, to see what arrangement looks best. Then arrange the plants in the container. Usually, taller plants go at the back of the garden, with lower plants toward the front, and then the vine plant in the front or to one side so it can drape over the side of the container.

Step 5: Finish the dish garden.

You can cover the visible soil surface of the dish garden (which might just be around the edges of the container) with Spanish moss or sheet moss to give the garden a finished look. Then, feel free to add accents: insects like butterflies, lady bugs, or bees are a popular choice, but you can also carefully add branches or attach ribbon bows, if you like.

More Tips:

1. For best results, try to pick plants that are compatible with one another. Again, a cactus won't need the water that a bromeliad will need. Keep water and light requirements, especially, in mind.

2. When you water your dish garden, remember that you need to water each individual pot within the container. Pouring water in the middle of the container won't let all the plants, each in their individual pots, have enough water.

3. If your plants are compatible enough, you can actually plant them directly in soil in your container instead of leaving them in their individual growing pots. Choose a container with a drainage hole and a saucer to protect the surface of the table or counter; add a half-inch of gravel or vermiculite to the bottom; add high-quality potting soil (check with your local florist or garden nursery for the best type of soil for your chosen plants); and plant the plants directly in the soil. Finish and accent as you like.

Thanks for joining Paul Wood Florist in Old Town Fort Collins for this course on dish gardens! Call or come in today to speak with one of our designers about planning your next dish garden to accent your home or office.

Have You Thanked Your Doctor Lately?

We're thankful for those in any medical profession, but with Sunday, March 30, being National Doctor's Day, we're especially thankful for our doctors!

Consider a small token of your appreciation for your personal or family doctor. Choose from a flower arrangement, a wrapped bouquet, a dish garden, a plant, or any of our spring merchandise.

We at Paul Wood Florist can arrange to deliver your gift, or you can do so personally.

Thank a doctor sometime between today and Sunday for being your health care provider!

Celebrate the Sense of Smell

Today is Fragrance Day, originally developed by perfumers.

But what if you're super-sensitive to scents? (Some of us are!)

Come celebrate Fragrance Day with Paul Wood Florist in Old Town Fort Collins and let us help you select the flowers you need, whether fragrant or not.

Some of our more fragrant varieties include Oriental and Stargazer lilies, stock, genestra, Fuji mums, waxflower, and garden roses.

But we also carry dozens of flowers that are all but scent-free, like the ever-popular gerbera daisies, snapdragons, Asiatic lilies, most roses, sunflowers, daisy poms, and most of our tropical flowers (ginger, birds of paradise, calla lilies, anthurium, heliconia, orchids, and more).

If you're in need of flowers, fragrant or unscented, don't hesitate to call or come by and speak with one of our store employees.

Looking to Propose? We Can Help!

The most wedding proposals take place on Valentine's Day. Everyone already has hearts, flowers, and romance on their minds, and it works out nicely for a lot of couples.

But if you missed out on that opportunity this year, or something went awry in your plans and you just never got around to popping that oh-so-important question, then we have a deal for you!

Today is Proposal Day. (Who knew such a thing existed?)

If you have a proposal to make to the loved one in your life, think flowers first. Paul Wood Florist in Old Town Fort Collins is happy to provide you with rose petals in an assortment of colors, as well as fresh flowers, arranged or wrapped, or even green and/or blooming plants, if your partner has an enviable green thumb.

We also carry chocolates, and we're happy to go above and beyond to "dress up" whatever you purchase for a better presentation (picture a ribbon-tied box of chocolate, or a showy presentation-style bouquet of flowers).

Come in today to speak with one of our employees about ways you can set the stage and make the most of the moment with what we offer.

And even if you're not proposing marriage, a single carnation pinned to your lapel could go a long way to making that business proposal stick!

Best wishes!

Dish Gardens 101: Types and Plants

Believe it or not, there are different types of dish gardens. Each type is based on the kinds of plants used. One key to a successful dish garden is to group like plants together.

Succulent Dish Gardens

A succulent is a plant with "thick, heavy leaves" that store water, especially in dry, arid, and desert climates. Examples of succulents include the aloe vera plant your mom or grandma used to keep on her kitchen counter so she could apply the cool gooey secretion inside to burns. Other succulents include cacti, euphorbia, Christmas cacti, hens-and-chicks, jade plants, and snake plants (also called mother-in-law's tongue).

Succulents in a dish garden do well if they are treated the way the plants need to be handled individually. They need bright, indirect light (don't broil the plants to death). Also, wait until the soil dries out between waterings for best results. (Look here for more information about the care and maintenance of succulent dish gardens. The information is written for New Mexico, but Colorado has a similar climate. Inquire at Paul Wood Florist or with your local garden center for specific requirements.)

Tropical Dish Gardens

From one extreme to the other, we go from desert to the tropics. Tropical plants are simply those that prefer the climate nearest the Equator: plenty of water (but don't over-water or leave plants sitting in water) and medium to bright, indirect light (depending on the plant, since some tropical plants grow beneath the canopy and get less sun than others). These plants also do very well in dish gardens.

Examples of plants that tend to be more "tropical" include anthurium, ivy, palms, nephthytis, pothos, and African violets. As always, check with someone at Paul Wood Florist or your local garden center for the most climate-specific recommendations for tropical plants and how to care for them.

"Everything Else" Dish Gardens

Dish gardens simply do best when all their plants are similar. If you try to cluster a succulent beside a tropical plant, for example, or a plant that needs high water with a plant that needs very little water, you've made maintaining your dish garden far more difficult than it has to be.

Call or come in to Paul Wood Florist today to speak with someone about the best dish garden plants for your home or office. We're happy to help!

Saint Patrick's Day

Celebrate Saint Patrick's Day with flowers!

Green flowers are unusual and uniquely beautiful selections. We like bells of Ireland, trick dianthus, kermits, and green Fuji mums. Mix and match green with white, yellow, or even purple for a stunning arrangement to celebrate your Irish heritage.

Come to Paul Wood Florist today to see what we've done with the place!

Dish Gardens 101: History

Now that we know what a dish garden is, where on earth did the idea come from originally? Did someone in ancient history think it might be a good idea to pull perfectly good plants out of the ground outside and bring them inside to keep alive? Did it have to do with an early attempt at "wintering over" a favored plant? Did someone simply want to make the indoors more beautiful and thought, naturally, that plants would be the way to do it?

Read on to find out the answers!

Beginnings

Gardens are as old as ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Babylon, and Persia. Formal garden styles, using ornamental plants as part of a landscaped and well-tended area, started with walled gardens in Egypt and graduated to terraced gardens in Mesopotamia and Babylon. In India and China, a more organic, naturalistic style became most popular.

Next Steps

Japanese architects, designers, and gardeners picked up the naturalistic style from the Far East and, according to Questia, "elaborated it into a distinct style of highly disciplined arrangements of plants and their settings with the object of achieving subtle beauty based on economy and simplicity."

In other words, the Japanese really refined and perfected the simple, natural style they learned from China and India. The goal of Japanese garden work was to create simple designs that mirrored the ordinary beauty of the natural world.

Further Design

From larger landscape design, Japanese artists started to create their simple, natural landscapes on a much smaller scale.

Enter the bonsai, a practice of cultivating dwarf trees begun more than a thousand years ago in Japan. Small trees or woody plants were (and continue to be to this day) planted in small containers, and then pruned and carefully shaped to maintain their miniature size. Maintaining such a plant is truly an art form: those who have mastered the techniques can manipulate the plant stems, stalks, and leaves to create the most realistic representation of the natural world possible.

The End Result

Japanese gardeners began to recreate miniaturized versions (much like the small bonsai) of their larger landscape designs in small containers with groups of plants to show what their full-scale designs would look like. The simplicity and "indoor garden" style of the small-scale versions caught the attention of Europeans and others traveling through Japan, and the practice spread outward as people returned home with the idea to plant their own tiny gardens.

Hence: the rise of the dish garden.

Plant a Flower Day . . . And Alternatives!

Today is Plant a Flower Day!

For those of you who are Colorado natives, or who at least have lived here long enough to know the weather and climate patterns, you're probably not jumping for joy just yet. March and April are often the snowiest months Colorado sees (winter coat over your lovely spring Easter dress, anyone?). Whoever declared today's holiday obviously didn't have Colorado in mind!

But that's all right! We at Paul Wood Florist would love to recommend fresh cut flowers, wrapped or arranged, to brighten your day. Come in today to browse our selection and designs, and remember that spring is just around the corner, no matter how much snow may be on the horizon!

Lincoln Center Wedding Show Tomorrow

Look for fresh flowers by Paul Wood Florist at the Lincoln Center Wedding Show tomorrow, Sunday, March 9, beginning at 1:00 p.m. in Old Town Fort Collins. Browse dozens of wedding vendors, from caterers and photographers to officiants, attire options, and musicians, and everything in between that you might need to book for your upcoming wedding!

This year, the show has been divided into four sections, one for each of the four seasons, with coordinated flowers and decor for each.

Our wedding designer, Sue Charles, will decorate the arch on the third-floor balcony, in the spring-themed section of the show, with floral swags in shades of pink, purple, and blue, and popular garden flowers like alstromeria, roses, tulips, delphinium, and stock. 

Click here for more information. Admission is free, so there's no reason not to come out!

Dish Gardens 101: Introduction

This March, we are focusing on a phenomenon that appeals to gardeners, plant growers, and florists alike.

Welcome to Dish Gardens 101.

Try an experiment. Get together with a group of your friends, family, or coworkers, and at some point in the normal flow of conversation, mention that you're thinking about purchasing or creating a dish garden.

Then count the number of blank stares and confused looks you get in return.

It's a shame that dish gardens go unacknowledged and unnoticed when they are so easy to care for and maintain, and such a lovely and healthy addition to any indoor space.

We at Paul Wood Florist are on a mission to reintroduce the dish garden into the everyday vocabulary of people going to a flower shop such as ours.

Today, we're starting small, with the definition of a dish garden.

What's a Dish Garden?

GardenGuides.com says that a dish garden is a "small-scale landscape," and "a miniature garden in a shallow, open container."

BloomIQ.com mentions that such gardens are composed of "groups of plants in a decorative container" and that the end result is the creation of "fashionable home decor that dresses up a living space with interesting textures, unique shapes, and organic color."

The shallow, open container is where a dish garden differs from, say, a terrarium, which normally requires a closed (often glass) environment to maintain humidity levels and keep terrarium plants happiest.

At Paul Wood Florist, we loosely define a dish garden as a selection of easy-to-care-for plants grouped together, still in their respective pots, in a larger, decorative container (ceramic, metal, basket, or other). Dish gardens often feature accents, which we'll cover in more depth later this month, and are usually "finished" with moss (reindeer moss, sheet moss, or other).

Here's an example.

This dish garden features a collection of mixed green and blooming plants in a wicker basket. Each of the plants in the basket is still in its own container, making it easy to replace one plant with another to change the overall look of the design, or when one of the plants begins to wilt or needs a dormant period and is less visually appealing.

What Can You Do With a Dish Garden?

The possibilities are endless.

Know someone in the hospital or in need of a pick-me-up? Try a dish garden for a unique alternative to flowers. Plants tend to last so much longer!

Need a host or hostess gift for a party? Take a dish garden along with a mix of unique plants to express your thanks.

Looking to decorate for an event of your own? Dish gardens make beautiful centerpieces and provide interest from every angle, giving your guests an instant icebreaker for conversation.

Want to celebrate someone in your life? Give the gift of spring with green and blooming plants combined in a sophisticated, rustic, or otherwise unique container to bring spring indoors.

Stay tuned for more information, including the history of dish gardens, the best and most popular plants to use, how to build a dish garden yourself, maintenance tips, and much more!

Celebrate Employees and Salespeople Today

Having finally set the Valentine's Day frenzy to rest, we've moved into March, and we want to invite you to celebrate not one, but two holidays with us today!

The first holiday is Employee Appreciation Day. We've got a day to celebrate secretaries and administrative assistants and professionals; we have a day to celebrate our employers and bosses. Today, though, is the employers' chance to celebrate the people who work for them. If you have a chance today, at the very least, please thank the people who work for you, because it's very likely that you were once in their position at some point in your career.

If you have a lot of people who work for you, why not brighten the whole office and thank them all at once? Come in to Paul Wood Florist in Old Town Fort Collins today or this weekend, and pick up a floor plant or even a ficus tree to visually demonstrate your appreciation for all of the people who work with you. They will thank you for your consideration!

The second holiday is National Salesperson Day. Take just a few extra seconds when you're checking out today, whether at a coffee shop or a floral shop or a grocery store or anywhere else, and thank the person who is helping you. Sales personnel often get overlooked in the rush to finish shopping and get out of the store, but without them, you'd be stuck more often than not trying to figure out how to convince the self-checkout station to ring up your fresh produce.

Breathe a sigh of relief when you see someone waiting to check you out, personally and with a smile, and be sure to say thank you. We're losing the art of face-to-face communication in our culture. Don't let it happen to you!