Carroll Garden Club met at our traditional spot on the first Wednesday of October–Union Bridge Community Center. Our hostesses had scored a monster of a pumpkin for the centerpiece arrangement, grown by our Wilma. Other pumpkins with the same eye-catching combination of purple asters and yellow mums with added gourds decorated other tables. As we well know, there are some fantastic cooks in our group and we look forward to whatever they bring when hostessing!
Our theme for this meeting was succulents. Some members had brought some in to show per horticulture chair Marjorie’s request. Here we can see a sprawling aloe, a jade plant, a sansevieria (aka Mother-in-law’s Tongue) and a tray of mixed succulents which may have come from Tierra Blooms. Succulents have become a big deal, not only for container gardens and green roofs, but as table arrangement decor, as part of bridal bouquets and wearable jewelry to name a few creative uses.
Our speaker was Claire Jones who is on the FGCMD board. She handles trips abroad for garden viewing in various world spots. She is also a great designer and was here to show us examples of how succulents are used and their care: great drainage and lots of sun for the majority. She had a slideshow of what are truly works of art for decorative containers and displays. Here, Claire is showing us a plant, nicknamed “Hairy Balls” which is actually a relative of milkweed. She likes to use it in her arrangements.
She brought along a number of finished projects. In this case, she was focused on using pumpkins decorated with succulents. She enjoys hunting for all the different colors and shapes of pumpkins and there are so many available now. Below are three of her samples with a closeup of some of the combos used.
Claire said that she uses a hot glue gun and starts with gluing a sheet of moss to cover the top of the pumpkin. Then she selects from a wide variety of succulents which she glues to that surface, choosing the sizes, shapes and colors that complement the pumpkin. She may add other items aside from the succulents.
Some examples used were pieces burro’s tail, sempervivum, sedums and dudleya . Certain succulents are only suitable for indoor use in our climate, whereas others should be grown outside for best results. If the succulent- topped pumpkins are sprayed/misted once weekly, the succulents gradually root into the moss and can be transplanted into growing medium afterwards–just remove the glue from each plantlet first. Many succulents are very easy to propagate from pieces, like the well known jade plants, so one can have ongoing opportunities to continue making future arrangements without having to replenish much stock.
Claire’s website is :Garden Diaries.
