January 7, 2012 -- collards, leftovers

This almost doesn't count as a windowsill arrangement (it's on a table in front of the windowsill), but I enjoyed it so much I had to include it. These are the leftovers from some Collard Green Coleslaw I made yesterday (the ribs leftover from removing the "flesh" of the leaves, as well as some blanched leaves from the interior of the bunches). If I'd known, when I was cutting them out, that I was going to use these ribs in an "arrangement," I'd have cut them more carefully, but they're still pretty striking.

And here is Mary Ann Pugh's recipe for Collard Green Coleslaw. Mary Ann gave me both the recipe and 1/2 lb. collard greens for Christmas. What a gift!

Collard Green Coleslaw

1/2 lb. collard greens, stems removed
3 medium carrots, grated
1 medium onion, grated
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup rice or cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp. powdered mustard
1 tsp. celery seed
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper


Stack collard greens leaves and roll into log. Cut narrow strips from log to create "ribbons." Transfer to bowl and add other veggies. Whisk remaining ingredients together in small saucepan. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and pour hot vinegar mixture over veggies. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. (Adapted from Vegetarian Times)

January 6, 2012 --- Asian daffodil

Having a daffodil in January is like having a Z to play in Scrabble; you feel compelled to use it to great advantage! I didn't like leaving my lone daffodil blossom in Oasis (it just wasn't going to last as long there as it would with its stem in water), so I moved it first to a regular vase then to this bowl, where I supported it with four chopsticks. This is a wonderful technique to use with camellias (positioning them in a low bowl supported by a grid of chopsticks), but this is the first time I'd tried it with a daffodil. I love it!

January 5, 2012 -- you can't eat Oasis!

I thought I had a nice head of brocolli in my refrigerator's crisper drawer tonight, but when I went to pull it out for dinner, I realized that the green in that plastic bag wasn't brocolli; it was a leftover Bravo Oasis holder I'd sprayed green (for an event), soaked, then stored in the frig. when it wasn't used. I'm still wishing it were brocolli, but I decided to make the most of finding it by using it as a vase. The daffodil I picked on January 1 was still pretty, so I decided to display it in the Bravo cylinder. To insert a daffodil into Oasis, you have to first make a pilot hole with something (I usually use a chopstick) to keep its mushy stem from collapsing. Because it was handy, I used one of the new chopsticks I'd bought in NY. I like those chopsticks so much (they're bright green and striped), I decided to use more as the upward thrust in my arrangement. The greens all come from a single twig of a variegated holly (called Butterfly, I think). The little Oasis cylinder solved my "what to do for a windowsill arrangement today" problem, but I'm still in a quandry re what to serve for dinner.

January 4, 2012 --- wake up!

This little concoction was inspired by something I found along the roadside this morning--a bottle of "A.M. AWAKE Fast Shot," a "scientifically blended formula" of something designed for "instant energy." Under the label (curled in foreground of the photo), was a nice little brown bottle, which I used to hold two stems of black liriope berries, two orange voilas (which are still blooming outside), and a couple of pine tags. Using the pine tags was fun, because I "harvested" them from my December 31st arrangement. It was interesting to be reminded that when you need a vertical element in a tiny arrangement, you don't need a yucca or iris leaf--just a couple of pine tags will suffice!

January 3, 2012 -- okra "flower"

I pulled the sections of an okra pod apart to create this "okra flower," something my grandaughter, Grace, taught me to do. It's amazing how effective this "flower" is. As I pulled the pod apart, seeds were spilling all over the place and it was all I could do to resist collecting them. (Nancy, you have already saved all the okra seeds you could possibly use!) The foliage the opened-pod is combined with is equally interesting. It is buttercup foliage that I collected on my walk this afternoon. It was seriously cold outside, but this foliage was as staunch as it could be (and prettier than it looks in the photo).

Here's how the windowsill looks right now (that's a red oak leaf on the right):

January 2, 2011 -- multiflora rose foliage

I actually picked these two stems of multiflora rose foliage on a walk a couple of days ago, and they've been sitting in a vase on the windowsill ever since. I loved the leaves' color: sort of reddish with yellow undertones, and their well-chiseled shape and diminutive size makes them seem more like something rare and elegant than like the leaves-plucked-from-invasive-weed they are.

January 1, 2012 -- a daffodil!

What a great way to start the new year---with a daffodil blooming! It's not all that unusual for this particular daffodil to bloom very, very early (I think it has bloomed for me in January before, and I know this variety, Rjenveld's Early Sensation, sometimes blooms in December in Gloucester), but it's still a surprise on New Year's Day! Here it is in the garden.

I had no compunction about picking the daffodil (it's blooming way away from the house in a spot where I'd be unlikely to see it much), but I did have a struggle deciding what greenery to combine it with. I picked several things, then settled on the linear foliage of sacred lily. The other greens (an arum leaf, some ivy, a frond of autumn fern) I dropped into a salsa bottle just to save them, then decided I liked them so much, I gave them a spot on the windowsill, too. Lots of evergreen foliage is really pretty right now, because it hasn't been burned by seriously harsh weather.