I have a love of fresh flowers and have shared that love on this blog on more than one occasion.  I wouldn’t mind a vase of flowers in every room in the house.  Bath, kitchen, bedroom…it makes my heart sing to walk into a room and be greeted by colorful, living arrangements of flowers.  Big or small bouquets, they both equally have their charms.

A friend gave me an antique crystal creamer with three white roses, a piece of fern, and a small silk bow for my birthday one year.  It was so beautiful and ticked all the marks of things I love.  Petite with big impact.  Equally lovely is a large arrangement of a dozen roses with fillers, fancy bobbles, and ribbons.

I don’t mind buying fresh cut flowers from time to time, and I am lucky enough to receive flowers every now and then.  But don’t be limited to cut flowers in a room for freshness and life.  There are so many more options!

Here are a few of my favorites:

•  Fresh cut herbs.  I love an arrangement of fresh herbs.  They can be as sophisticated or country as you choose.  The vessel in which they are displayed, the combination and choice of plants all can create a wonderful story just as fulfilling as flowers.  Lately I have really been enjoying the flower blossoms of basil and thyme.  I keep a small, vintage hobnail vase of these on my kitchen windowsill.   As filler for a fresh cut floral arrangement, I often add a couple of stems of rosemary.

• Dried flowers or herbs.  Yes, fresh flowers are so full of vibrant, saturated color, but autumn and winter months can be cheered by gorgeous muted dried flowers.  If these flowers are something you want in your home, start planning now.  You may want to harvest cuttings from certain plants and bushes so that you will have lovely, dried flowers for your home in a few months.  I plan on drying some of my hydrangeas for this purpose.  I will put vases filled with dried hydrangeas and roses in the rooms of my home that don’t have many visitors.  That will provide a bit of color for the person passing by.  Don’t forget to dry any fresh cut flowers you receive so that they get a bit longer life around your home.  The thyme blossoms I mentioned earlier are just as pretty and sweet when they are dried.  The leaves are a bit faded green, but the small buds are still lovely.  For a recent visit of a friend, I made tiny nosegays of lavender to lay in her room and bath.  These tussie-mussies look just as cute dried, so they have stayed around.

• Flowering plants.  I just purchased a small orchid plant at Lowe’s a month ago.  So far, it has lived!  I am keeping it in the guest bath to serve as an ongoing point of interest.  Flowering plants are a great option since you don’t have to replace them like you do fresh flowers.

• Green plants.  Aunt E always said it was the house plants that kept us all from getting sick.  True, they do clean the air of toxins (one study showed they cleaned cancer-causing compounds from the air), but they also provide fresh oxygen.  So, this living adornment is more than just a pretty plant.  I have several ivies, a Norfolk pine, Ficus tree, asparagus fern, and various other green plants strewn around the main rooms of our house for beauty and health.

• Succulents.  I have a few agave plants that I separated from larger plants.  These freebie plants are in the laundry room and kitchen.  They are nothing fancy, but they are attractive and bring color to two rooms that could easily be considered boring!  The kitchen is also where I keep my aloe vera plant, which reminds me of Aunt E.   These plants may prefer the outdoors, but right now they are hanging in there and flourishing.  If they do need to go outside, then they are all ready for the move as I planted them in terra cotta pots.

• Air plants.  I really get a great deal of joy from air plants.  They take being ignored rather well.  I keep a small glass container near my sink, but out of the sunlight, just to brighten my day as I go about my dish washing and cooking.  On Mondays I water the two small plants by soaking their roots in water for five minutes, then letting them dry for a couple of hours before returning them to their container.

Of course, too much of a good thing is not always good.  I try to keep any floral displays that need watering to a manageable number.  Mondays are my days to go around the house to water, prune and otherwise survey the state of the flowers and plants.

Those plants with larger leaves may need dusting but be cautious of adding anything to shine the leaves.  It isn’t good for them as it may inhibit their ability to take in water.  Just dust them with a damp cloth and they will be fine!

What are your favorite flowers and plants to keep around the house?  Do you prefer fresh or dried?  I would love to know in the comment section!

Thank you so much for reading!

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