February 17, 2012 -- a quickie

There is always something driving an arrangement--a vase you want to use, a piece of plant material you want to save. a flower you want to showcase. But the driving force behind my windowsill arrangement today was this: I needed to create something quickly, because I was out of steam. I gardened all day doing mostly unpleasant stuff (pruning rugosa roses and clearing creeping Charlie from around their stems), and even though it was a beautiful day to be outside, I was ready to come in and collapse. I gave myself about 5 minutes to pull off a windowsill arrangement, and this was the result: a gourd within a gourd (I had nested those gourds together months ago, so that was already done) with a stem of Mahonia bealii tucked underneath. Voila--instant arrangement. I like having used the Mahonia, because it's so wonderfully fragrant right now, and I like the way the outdoors appears outside the window in this photo. It looks almost spring green, and while that's an illusion (there are evergreen hollies outside the window), it is beginning to feel green outside.