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Almost any ornamental plant is worth a closer look. Shown here, Solomon’s seal, phlox, grasses, prairie coneflower, etc.
The butterfly garden at Veterans Park in Papillion.
Some of us love bringing flowers indoors. Even in summer when there’s an abundance outdoors, seeing them on the breakfast table makes for a wonderful start to the day.
Some gardeners use them as motivation — after the perennial bed is weeded or after the kitchen is cleaned — flowers can be cut and brought indoors for a bouquet.
On days when it’s too hot, too rainy, too cold or we’re too busy, they bring the outdoors in, along with some fresh air and fragrance.
And while outdoors it can take a lot of plants, and large blossoms, to really make an impact, indoors the tiniest of flowers tucked into the base of a small saltshaker can brighten a counter or tabletop.
Almost all plants are worthy of a closer look, including many that we don’t think of as vase-worthy. The leaves of hosta, Solomon’s seal, coralbells, lady’s mantle, brunnera and other “primarily foliage” plants are amazingly long-lived and can provide filler for flowers that are in shorter supply. Vines like Virginia creeper, clematis, bittersweet, English or other ivies, periwinkle, grape vine and wintercreeper offer similar filler as well as delicate trailing vines to spread out around the vase.
Annuals are all about blooming. Pansies, tobacco plant (nicotiana), cosmos, zinnia, lantana and many more are happy when deadheaded and do well as cut flowers. Mid-summer landscape plants for cutting include alliums, baby’s breath, beebalm, black-eyed Susan, blazing star, coneflower, coreopsis, pincushion flower, roses, salvia and yarrow.
In fall, aster, sedum, goldenrod, sunflower, toad lily and turtlehead can be brought indoors to give them more attention. For drying: feverfew, amaranth, lavender, baby’s breath and hydrangea. For seedheads, good selections include blue false indigo; poppy; Mexican hat coneflower and milkweed.
Trees and shrubs can be more finicky. Cuttings from some of them wilt almost immediately upon cutting, but viburnum, forsythia, lilac, fruit trees and many others offer wonderful options for bouquets. A few that offer particularly interesting branching or foliage include willow, dogwood, redbud, deutzia, camellia, witch hazel, hibiscus and hydrangea.
Almost without exception, the complex form and beauty of plants deserve more than a passing glance. Bringing them to eye level is one way to better enjoy them. And would we rather get that closer look while we’re weeding around them, or by having them on our desks and tables?
The Papillion Junior Woman’s Club is sponsoring its third annual “Walk Through the Gardens” on July 16 from 9 a.m. to noon.
The walk is a benefit for the Tri City Food Pantry and Heartland Hope Mission. Admission is any monetary donation or nonperishable food item.
Six gardens will be featured.
1301 Phoenix Circle, Papillion: This house features cottage gardens, a long brick walkway bordered by perennials, an edible garden as well as ginkgo, umbrella and blue spruce trees. The piece de resistance is a pumpkin patch. In the past, some have grown to 400 pounds.
516 Deer Run Lane/515 Quail Ridge Road, Papillion: While both of these back-to-back yards feature multiple sun gardens with a wide variety of plants, it is in the shade gardens where most folks will linger. Hundreds of hostas are accented by ferns, epimediums, bleeding hearts, trillium, celandine poppies, brunnera, hellebores and shade-loving shrubs. Both yards contain fountains and one has a pond.
404 Shannon Road, Papillion: This yard is a cottage garden charmer. A honey locust tree will greet you in the front yard encircled with beautiful shade plantings. A large oak tree awaits in the back yard is surrounded by plantings, a bird bath and a sweet little fairy. This garden says pull up a chair, sit a spell, and drink it all in.
7830 S. 98th, La Vista: This pollinator-friendly garden features native plants that are bee and butterfly magnets. Butterfly milkweed, prairie petunia, Golden Alexander, Joe Pye Weed, Mexican Hat and ironweed blend in lovely coexistence. It also includes two beautiful clematis. Look for plants with delightful names like rattlesnake master and verbena bonariensis.
Veterans Park, Halleck and Monroe Streets, Papillion: The butterfly garden has quickly grown into an awesome showplace. The garden, built in the shape of a butterfly, features a small water bubbler and a large monarch butterfly sculpture with numerous plants that are attractive to pollinators. It continues to be a haven for birds, butterflies, bees and hummingbirds as well as an oasis of peace and serenity for humans.
Representatives of Tri City Food Pantry and Heartland Hope Mission will be on hand as well as master gardeners at some homes. Donations will be accepted at each garden site.
Outdoor signs, summer wreaths, plants and other garden treasures will be sold at the Shannon Road address.
marjie.ducey@owh.com, 402-444-1034, twitter.com/mduceyowh
Scott Evans, Nebraska Extension in Douglas-Sarpy Counties
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Marjie is a writer for The World-Herald’s special sections and specialty publications, including Inspired Living Omaha, Wedding Essentials and Momaha Magazine. Follow her on Twitter @mduceyOWH. Phone: 402-444-1034.
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OWH Living writer and columnist Marjie Ducey looks back at her favorite gardening stories of 2021.
At 8-feet tall, the flower is about twice the size of the other lilies that were planted in the Millard home's flower bed.
Hand picking has been proven to be effective. Do so around 7 p.m. to help reduce the distress pheromones that the plant emits and the aggregation pheromones the beetles produce.
The names might not be as familiar but native plants are perfectly suited to conditions in Nebraska, so they’ll do well especially as we head into the possibility of more drought due to climate change.
Almost any ornamental plant is worth a closer look. Shown here, Solomon’s seal, phlox, grasses, prairie coneflower, etc.
The butterfly garden at Veterans Park in Papillion.
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