The Pleasures Of Garden Crafting -
Growing Plants For Artful Fun

There are a growing number of gardeners who are choosing the plants in their gardens based on their ability to provide materials for their crafting hobbies. As most of us already know, gardening can be a whole lot of fun, but it's even more exciting when you can use the plants you grow for another source of pleasure - particularly when that pleasure is as enjoyable in the dead of winter as it is during summer.

So to honor the crafters out there who see their plants as materials for their crafting projects as well as fun to grow, we're starting a discussion on growing plants for crafts. You can contribute your favorite plants for crafting, or describe some interesting applications of plants you've grown that might fascinate others. If you grew it and then you used it, tell us about it!

Here's what our gardening gurus have to say about growing plants for crafts;

Stefan Says:

Garden crafting has made a resurgence of sorts. Many people have become aware of the vices associated with mass-produced products and have enlisted 'grass roots' alternatives for their garden craft/hobbies. But it all comes with preparation, and early spring is the best time to begin the search for the right materials for your garden crafts.

For floral crafts, lavender is an 'all-time' favorite. In colder climates it takes the unreliably hardy Munstead Lavender a long time to establish and become viable. However, I have often used the fast-growing and floriferous fernleaf variety in zone 3 as my source. If fragrance isn't the issue but the blue color is what you desire, Victoria Blue Salvia (Salvia farinacea) is great and a readily available substitute for crafting.

Another plant that provides an exotic dried flower is artichoke. Often I have started this plant indoors until it produces two sets of true leaves and then tossed it outside when the colder (but not freezing) temperatures of April force it to go dormant for a short period. As a biennial it is fooled into believing it has gone through a winter and readily produces the chokes that make great focal plants in dried floral arrangements. Other plants that could also be used for dried floral arrangements include daylily and Siberian iris seed pods, ornamental grasses, and of course Oriental poppy seed pods. Remember to pick the grass fronds just before they break open in the late summer and spray them with hair spray to stop them from making a mess inside.

Jim Says:

I'm not much of a crafter per se, so my contribution to the conversation will be mostly secondhand. I've been associated with a number of gardeners who are big into crafting and who use what they grow to support their hobby.

I love the idea of "outdoor art" where the whole yard is the canvas for the craft. I've seen some brilliant landscapes where the gardeners have used standing dead trees or stumps as creative elements, adorning them with wonderfully trivial items or carving them into whimsical forms. I also love outdoor arrangements in large containers, such as mixing dogwood and birch branches, one or two evergreen boughs (sprayed to keep the foliage on) and an accent such as one or two creative ornamental grasses. It just makes fall seem to go on long after the leaves have actually dropped.

One of my personal favorite plant materials is willow. I've seen some stunning things built from willow whips, including woven arbors, welcome mats and an interesting birdhouse. It's such a flexible material and it's surprisingly easy to weave together - it holds together exceptionally well.

On the indoor side dried arrangements have always fascinated me. It amazes me how many of our garden staples can be used in creative arrangements. The hardy Annabelle hydrangea has one of the finest large flower heads and looks so bold indoors - and it holds all winter! And if you grow your own wildflowers, many of them can be successfully dried for a potpourri-like effect in a vase. Stunning!

What do YOU say?

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