How To Choose Which Outdoor Plants To Harvest And Why 🌿
You’ve found me and Lovey in our Sedum beds. 🐱🌼 We’re located in the Midwest so the seasons are starting to change around here. It’s getting colder and that means our outdoor plants are going to go dormant or die off here soon. Instead of enjoying them outdoors for a limited amount of time, why not harvest the plants, build beautiful arrangements, and extend their life indoors?
For this topic, you’ll probably want to tune in on YouTube so you can get a better visual. Click the link down below to watch. This is going to be a two-part series on how to choose which outdoor plants to harvest and why — and once you’ve harvested your plants, I’m going to show you what to do with them AKA how to build beautiful arrangements that look luxurious and how to extend their life indoors.
I believe plants make people happy. But, it’s not just me who thinks so — Studies show that just looking at plants can reset our mental focus. 🧠 Yep, in general, plants are good for our mental health.
I grew up in the greenhouse industry, but now I’m a certified master gardener and horticulturist. Plants are kind of in my blood. 😉
In the YouTube video, I take you around the farm where there are flower beds for miles. When the farm landscape was designed, we didn’t want typical grass, so we opted for different plants of all kinds. We have annuals, perennials, tall grass, and much more. When the seasons change and I know that the plants are dying off soon, it’s hard for me not to harvest them to bring them indoors. I mean, you’ve already put all the hard work into growing these plants outside all season so why not bring them indoors for a little bit at the start of fall? 🌾
What Can You Harvest?
You can harvest anything on your land! As mentioned, we harvested from the farm landscape so there’s a lot for us to work with, however, you don’t need this much inventory to harvest plants to build beautiful arrangements. Use what you have!!
Annuals
With annual plants, you’re gonna have to replant them next year anyway, so harvest all you want to enjoy them inside your home for a couple more weeks! Here are some examples of annuals that I chose to harvest from our farm:
Chilly Chili Ornamental Pepper (Careful when harvesting — These are HOT. 🌶️)
Mandevilla
Marigolds
Cordyline (Depending on the climate)
Perennials
Sedums are in the succulent family so they have a waxy stem that helps them last for a really long time as opposed to other garden plants. I love harvesting perennials because I don’t have to worry that they won’t come back in the next growing season. Here are some of my favorites that I’m building arrangements with from the farmland:
Begonia
Salvia
Some marigolds
Geranium
Peace Lilies
Fern
Corn Plant (Dracaena family)
Cordyline (Depending on the climate)
Grass & Palms
I think when folks think of arrangements for inside the home, they think of flowers. But I’m here to challenge that and say that leafy plants have the ability to create just as big of an impact as flowers do. Leafy plants add a really nice contrast and different texture to your arrangements that we don’t typically see! Grass and palms can be really great filler plants in arrangements or they can be beautiful on their own. Here are some I’m using:
Ginger Plant
Parlor Palms
Switchgrass
Big Bluestem Grass
Indian Grass
Now that you have a better idea of what can be harvested and why you should harvest plants to give them one last hoorah indoors before they die off, get out there and harvest your plants and I’ll be back to show you how to build arrangements and also how to extend their life indoors. ☀️💧🪻
Fun fact: If I could have a job that I wouldn’t get paid for, I would pick flower arranging. 😆 I love it so much and it allows for so much creativity. You won’t want to miss part two because this is where things get really exciting!
