I have more than 100 houseplants as I love being surrounded by the sight, smell and textures of flowers and greenery. In addition, I look for other, easy ways to bring the delights of the natural world into my house. This is especially important in colder months when I am outside less.
I’d like to share some easy ways you can bring plants and flowers inside this Easter (and throughout Spring).
- Bring in branches and stems of flowering plants like Cherry or Almond blossom, pussy willows with furry catkins or bright yellow forsythia and pop them in a vase!
- Put bulbs (from your garden or buy in pots) into a miniature garden. I used anemone and grape hyacinths (Muscari). Finish off with moss (I pulled this out of our lawn!) and a homemade birds nest. I found pliable hazel, birch and cornus twigs and wove them into a circle. To keep them tightly together I used string to tie knots and left the ends untidy to make it look like there were pieces of string in the nest. The daffodils I picked in our garden and poked into the moss. They didn’t last more than 12 hours, but would be perfect for an Easter table.
- Create a small table arrangement. I used a flower pot lined with foil and filled it with soaked oasis foam*. I cut greenery, twigs and pussy willow / forsythia to add some colour and interest.
You can see all these arrangements, and how to make them, in a video on my Facebook group The Cactus Surgeon, a private group that you’d be welcome to join. Together we celebrate nature’s small wonders.
I believe that by connecting with nature we can create joy and find some peace, even on the hardest of days. Vincent Van Gogh said, “How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun.” I couldn’t agree more. And, at this time of the year it is a symbol of Spring. A reminder that longer, warmer days are on the way.
Pussy willow catkins are tactile, and I challenge you to pick some without stroking them! I bet you can’t. I don’t have this or forsythia in my garden but asked a friendly neighbour if I could pick some from two huge bushes in his garden, which hang over the verge. Most people are more than happy to share their bounty. If you can’t find any look for bunches of cheerful yellow daffodils or potted bulbs which can be put in the garden after you’ve enjoyed them in the house. I do this every year and am building up quite the collection outside.
*this year I hope to find a more sustainable replacement for Oasis foam, but for now I am using up old stocks.