From the Garden — Fresh Flowers April through October

During the months of April through October, the gardens at Harmon Gardens are open weekends for visitors to enjoy. One of the perks of having a large garden is that I can always add something a little special to an arrangement, something you don't often find from traditional flower shops. Unique additions might be unripe green blackberries or fragrant mint or pea pods with soft tendrils. Feather and cockscomb celosia are long lasting flowers that can be kept for dried bouquets after the bloom of fresh has faded. Lavender in brilliant bloom late spring is followed by summer sunflowers in an array of colors. When autumn arrives, you might receive a bountiful arrangement in a red Cinderella pumpkin, fresh cut from the vine.

With a move from the Bay Area, my husband Don began building a dream garden for me. The project began on weekends in 1999, refurbishing an old ranch property on Main Street in Douglas Flat. We continued to improve and expand the gardens, which now include a potting shed, greenhouse, and koi ponds with waterfalls. The old ranch home originally built as a one room cabin in the 1850's was reconstructed. It is now used as my floral workshop. The 1960's cottage originally built as the post office for Douglas Flat has been remodeled as a guest cottage and available for rent. The most recent addition to the garden is chickens! Well, not in the garden, but free ranging on occasion, and if I don't eat all those wonderful eggs, I'll have some to sell!

If you come to visit my gardens in Douglas Flat, you'll often leave with more than you came. I love to share practical and educational advice on the care of individual plants and flowers. I won't temper my excitement at the sight of a bed of Snow on the Mountain, a euphorbia of variegated green with white leaves, used as accenting foliage in a flower arrangement. And, I often share seeds, cuttings and root starts from plants. One of my favorites for dried arrangements is ornamental oreganos. The pinkish/purple flower bract from Kent Beauty Oregano resembles miniature hydrangea. My early garden began as one full of everlasting flowers and herbs to use for making wreaths and dried bouquets.

So, you'll find my garden in bloom from early spring with tulips, daffodils and other bulbs through summer red sunflowers and fall colors of celosias, dahlias, and amaranths. We welcome visitors from April though October, maybe even November when the weather cools and the mums begin to bloom!