Indoor Gardening Part 2 - Bringing the Outside In

A snip of this and a tuck of that gathered on a sunny stroll and voila! A winter arrangement that costs nothing but my time and enjoyment. Great way to spend an afternoon!

I've been wondering with what to replace my holiday bulbs. I've seen wintery-themed arrangements here and there, but the ones I like are pricey. And temporary. Bad combo. Then it dawns on me -- I actually have everything I need to do virtually the same thing with items from my own back yard. For free! Time for a scavenger hunt, we're gonna get crafty today!

Jack inspects the bounty we’ve collected on our late morning stroll. By this afternoon they will be transformed into lovely indoor arrangements.

It's a warm and sunny 45 degrees in Montana, making the decision even easier. Jack and I take a stroll up the driveway which cuts through the woods and collect a bucket of stuff. Twigs, pine boughs, bark, acorns, pinecones and the like. Next we head through the gardens to look for berries, seed pods, etc., but things are cleaned up pretty well. There is some type of green and purple berry on a vine halfway up a tree. I can just barely reach it! It's coming with us.

I check with my mother in law to see if she'd like to join me after lunch for arts and crafts with twigs and leaves, and she says yes! So I lay out the different types of greenery, berries, twigs and seeds with some feathers I had left over from another craft project, plus assorted vases, lake rock, floral foam and trimmers. Let the games begin!

From the forest floor to floral arrangement! A fun and relaxing way to spend a sunny winter afternoon. The arrangements you create are the bonus.

The sun is bouncing off the lake as we start arranging. One of these pine boughs excretes a LOT of sap, but it makes the house smell nice. I have soap, it's all good. There's a lot of chit chat interspersed with rotating the vases and their contents to make sure there is no "bad side". Eventually we are satisfied with the end products and a lovely day is had by all.

I managed to go through quite a few photos and compiled a little slide show with everything including arrangements from years gone by, to herbs drying, nursery shots, images of forced bulbs in swanky hotel lobbies, etc. because it's winter and we all could use a little color and nature right now. Enjoy.

So many ways to bring the outdoors in! Herbs, terrariums , flowering plants, forced bulbs, cut flowers, garden centers and beautiful public spaces, most photos taken in years gone by.