Bringing the Outside In

Bringing the outside in … you hear that phrase every so often these days. The concept is a pleasing one – bringing a small portion of nature, i.e. God’s beautiful creation into home – where it can become a part of our personal living space. I love that!

As I was putting together some of my container plantings the other day, I decided that I wanted to encourage you to add a few ivy plants to your list of plants this spring. They come in a variety of leaf shapes and sizes, and can be a beautiful rich green, or a playful variegated cream/green. They look wonderful draping down from containers curing the summertime, but what really sets them apart is their long lasting ability to thrive as a cutting in a vase.

Ivies thrive remarkably well for month after month in vases or bottles filled with water. I prefer simple green Perrier bottles, but I also have some vintage lab ware that they look great in as well. A bottle with a cascading sprig of ivy brings a gloomy corner alive with vibrant green freshness. At the moment, I have a still sprig of ivy in both bathrooms, but I’ve planted the ivy sprigs that had been sitting on my computer desk and kitchen counter into my summer flower containers. Soon they’ll be mingling with the flowers, and gracefully tumbling down the sides of the containers. In the fall, when my flowers are spent, I’ll take cuttings of all my ivy plants, put them in sparkling bottles water, and place them around my home once again. The outside will be in!