Let's bring the outdoors in ...

I found a wonderful blog today that truly inspired me! It’s funny because the name of the blog is actually Things That Inspire. She has just written a piece entitled “Flowering Quince.” In it, she features lovely images of cut branches of flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) displayed in vases in varied and beautiful indoor settings such as this:

This photograph from Things That Inspire features a room designed by Michael Smith, the new Interior Designer selected by the Obamas. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of his work in the future! To read the rest of this fabulous blog and view more of these lovely images go Here.

I am inspired by this for several reasons. First, what a fantastic way to bring the outdoors in! In terms of composition, we call this linkage. By placing the vase with branches next to a window or in a room with windows, we are linking the indoors to the out. The branches indoors link to those outdoors. Not too scientific, but extremely effective!

I recently posted an article here entitled Plants for Winter Interest. Many of the plants that I wrote about in the article make spectacular cut flowers or stems that are more than suitable to bring indoors. Let’s take a look.

First, here is the bush that provides the stunning cut branches of the flowering quince we saw above. This one is in red, of course.

Photo by Muddy LaBoue

What makes this so beautiful is that the flowers bloom on the wood before the plant leafs out in late winter.

The Pussy Willow (Salix discolor) is another late winter/early Spring blooming plant that is quite suitable for cut arrangements indoors. Look at these lovely displays:

Photo by Nellie Vin

Photo by Jade * Jstahippygrl

These Pussy Willow arrangements created by the photographer are striking in this context and look at the texture they add to the room!

Now, here is what the Pussy Willow plant looks like, although this is a small speciman.

Photo by Garthmoore

Forsythias are another late winter/early spring bloomer that I grow solely for the purpose of cutting those bright yellow beautiful branches off and bringing them indoors each winter! Here is the effect ….

Photo by denovich

And here is the plant:

Photo by Crusader

What a spectacle it makes in late winter! These shrubs are stunning as specimans!

Another winter-blooming plant that looks just as great indoors as it does out is the Winterberry Holly or Sparkleberry Holly (Ilex verticillata). Here's a photograph from another great blog called My Notting Hill. It's a display of Winterberry in a store called Hudson in Boston.

Here is the Winterberry plant in winter:

Photo by Natural Newscapes

Finally, I would be remiss to not list another winter-blooming favorite in the south that makes a lovely addition to any indoor space. It is the camellia (Camellia japonica).

Photo by tanakawho

And, the plant:

Photo by Peterson Farm

How beautiful is that in the midst of winter?!

I hope you all will be inspired, like I have been, to go outside and find one of these plants to cut and bring indoors. It's a beautiful way to bring the outdoors in!

Many thanks to my new friends at Things That Inspire and My Notting Hill for sharing your lovely photographs and blogs with me. You truly are an inspiration and I hope to be inspired by you for many months to come!