Canning Preserved Roses

Here's a quick and inexpensive display that would be great for a wedding, party or just decorating the home - place a Preserved Rose in a pint mason jar with some Reindeer Moss for greenery and to hold the rose head in place.

The cost should come out to $5-6 per jar - $3.75 for the Preserved Rose, $0.63 for the Reindeer Moss (one bag should do about 10 jars), and $0.84 for the mason jar. 

These would make very convenient mementos for your guests once the party is over, and should last for months, if not years after the event.  

Hanging Amaranthus Window Display

Alicia Arnold of Facets Fine Jewelry used our Hanging Amaranthus and Mossy Sticks to create some gorgeous window displays in her store and sent us these photos.

Facets Fine Jewelry is located at 4530 Lee Hwy, Arlington, VA 22207 (703 527 4247).

Potted Dried Lavender

Here we trimmed a bit off the base of one of our bundles of English Dried Lavender and dropped it into an 87 cent 4" clay pot. Simple and effective! 

Hanging Hanging Amaranthus

Hanging Amaranthus has a gorgeous dripping form that can really enhance a display.  Shown above is a bit less than one bundle hung from a single 18-24" Natural Manzanita Branch that we set in plaster. 

Here's how to do it:

1. Prepare the bundles for hanging. Open up the package of Hanging Amaranthus and separate out the stems. Typically a single stem has plenty of flower strands, but if you'd like more, combine some stems. You could tie the strands directly to the branches, but if you're like me you'll inevitably want to move the bundles around until it looks just right. To facilitate this, we cut a length of wire, folded it over, and wrapped it with more wire to create a simple loop to hang the small bundle of Hanging Amaranthus from the branches. The appearance doesn't really matter here, and a quicker way to do this would be to use a small paper clip cinched onto the bundle with a small cable tie. 

2. Hang and arrange. 

3. Conceal the wire and top of the stem. Once you have everything hanging where you like it, it's time for the final step. Properly preserved Hanging Amaranthus is almost yarn-like. Snip off a long strand, drape it over the top of the wire and wrap it around the top of the stem. 

This step makes a huge difference in the look of the display. At first I had the wire and the top of the stem exposed and it just didn't look right. I tried covering it up with some ribbon, and finally came up with this solution. 

Afternoon Sunlight

Here's a picture taken in my apartment as the afternoon sunlight was illuminating an arrangement of Protea Repens and Preserved Cedar. In the background is a bundle of Paper Birch Forks. 

My Gift Wrapping

My friends and family may no longer accept branches as gifts, but that doesn't mean that their gifts will be free of items from Nettleton Hollow! Last year Sword Fern was the botanical of choice to decorate my "unique" packages (as you can see, I love contrast - there's nothing like a satin bow on kraft paper), but this year it is Salal and Star Flowers.
While trying to figure out how to gussy up a bag containing nearly $100 worth of scented candles from 3R Living in Park Slope I came up with a cool trick to quickly and inexpensively turn a gift bag from ordinary to extraordinary:

1. Lay down a long strip of packaging tape sticky side up;

2. Place the stems of Star Flowers on the tape with the flowers a few inches above the tape (not too heavily though, as you'll need to leave plenty of the glue exposed to stick to the bag);

3. Cut tape to length; and

4. Apply to the inside of the bag.

In the picture above, Salal was used as a background for the Star Flowers, but it would still look fantastic with any tissue paper of contrasting color. Simple as that, and one bundle of Star Flowers will provide quite a few feet of "flower tape."

Gorgeous, Justin, but is it practical - won't the flowers get destroyed the second a clumsy customer or inebriated guest grabs the bag? Despite their delicate appearance, both the blooms of the Star Flowers and the stems are incredibly resilient - ideal traits for an application like this. (I definitely wouldn't try it with lavender).

New Stuff!

We've added four new items - Star Flowers, Ti Tree Flowers, Star Grass and Rice. Check them out!

Pulling Apart Protea Grandiceps

We pulled apart a few Protea Grandiceps flowers and found that there was plenty of beauty on the inside. The top flower shows how it looks before getting pulled apart. In the middle, you'll see what it looks like after we pulled off a few petals, exposing the satiny, saffron-colored filaments. The flower on the bottom shows what it looks like with the filaments and most of the petals removed. Lastly, in the bowl are the filaments, looking like saffron on steroids.

Releasing Lavender's Fragrance

Lavender's fantastic piney/floral fragrance is one of the reasons why it is so popular. After it has been sitting around for a while undisturbed, however, the fragrance fades. That doesn't mean it is time to get a new bundle - if you crush a single bud between your fingers, you'll be hit by a burst of scent - it's still in there, but needs a little coaxing to come back out.

Enter the hair dryer. Put it on its hottest setting and blow away. The oils will migrate out, filling the room with fragrance again.