Easy flower arrangement: one cool flower in one cool vase

There’s nothing prettier, or easier, than a single bloom in a small vase. These were spotted at Vanilla Moon Bakery on a cupcake outing with my daughter. A small, squat white vase with a single spider mum placed on each dark wood table. This shows off the beauty of the flower more than a full arrangement and is more budget friendly if you buy your cut flowers. Which I would in this case: I love spider mums but I don’t think they’re a plant for a lazy gardener.

A beautiful vase that does good

These beautiful little vases are handmade and come in every color of the rainbow, they’re only $20 each, and Material Good donates 10% of their profits to community organizations.

Small vases are especially useful this time of year when your garden flower supply is dwindling. You can tuck single blooms or leaves in each vase, or display them in a group leaving some empty.

Indoor gardening: get this look

It’s the time of year to time to think about indoor gardening, even around here. Look at this adorable vignette in the home of a Chicago-based jewelry designer – so simple and pretty.  Growing things inside my house always makes me feel like I’m in some cool country house in Provence. This Giant Clover needs a lot of light, but any plant would look pretty in this setting. There’s really no reason not to garden indoors; if you are one of those people who can’t keep houseplants alive you can do three things:

1. Grow only Sansevieria. I’m not really joking here, that’s pretty much what I do.
2. Think of your houseplants the way do you cut flowers and replace them when they stop looking good.
3. Stop overwatering. You’re killing them. Seriously, the lazier I get, the better my houseplants look.

Here are some accessories to get you started. EVERYTHING is on sale right now, so it’s a great time to style your indoor garden and then use these outdoors next summer.

Orb lanterns from West Elm

Ceramic hurricanes from West Elm

Glass and ceramic hurricanes from West Elm

Galvanized planters from Pottery Barn

Galvanized trays from Pottery Barn

Indoor herbs

I can grow fresh herbs year round in my garden. But there is something about herbs growing in the kitchen. They’re right there, ready to use, they look pretty, and they smell amazing. Most herbs will grow quite happily next to a window. They will need more water than your houseplants – probably twice a week. Small leaved herbs (lavender, rosemary, thyme) won’t need any special care. Basil and mint will want their leaves washed occasionally or they will get spider mites. That’s about it.

The other thing you can do is think of them as cut flowers and just replace them with new plants when they start to look ratty. It’s still less expensive than buying cut fresh herbs for cooking. You can get potted herbs most of the year at Trader Joe’s.

Two handled vase from Wisteria. Small bowl made my my mother.