When I watch you my heart says where were you 20 years ago when I had your energy? I still garden, though much slower, and you have taught me so much. Thank you! 💐🌸🌺🥀🌼🌷🌹🌻🍅🥬🥦🥕🥒🫑🧅
Hi Laura😊 while I was watching this video (loved it, by the way) I noticed that lovely comfortable looking chair against the dark wall in your studio and had a (maybe silly) thought.... I thought it looked like a great place to interview guests. I would love to see you sit down with your parents and ‘interview’ them. What is their background in plants, how did they get started, where did their passion for plants come from, did their parents have beautiful gardens, what did they do before Andrews, what are their top 5 ‘must haves’ each season etc etc.....anyhoo just thought I would share my thoughts from across the Pacific, in Brisbane, Australia 🌹
I can’t believe after all of the artichokes I have consumed over the years, that I had never actually seen one in full bloom. They are stunning and I can’t wait to see how the drying experiments turn out. Thanks again for another informative video Laura and Aaron!
DRYING: Last summer I made an arrangement with closed and blooming artichokes among other flowers. I left them in the vase of water and when the water was gone, they stayed in that vase. Just like drying hydrangeas from a vase of water, the artichokes dried nicely by just taking up the water and then drying out on their own in the vase. The purple does fade out to a very pale purple.😀
Artichoke blooms last up to 3 weeks in a vase! I grew up in Spain and they grew everywhere so we would always have a bouquet of artichokes in the summer months
My family lived in Valencia, Spain in the mid 70’s. I remember the artichoke fields and most of all how we all learned to enjoy eating them. Wonderful memory.
Good Morning! You always inspire me. I no longer buy 2 or 3 plants at a time and wait for them to spread. I buy 6 or 12 and enjoy them longer. When you plant, you cause a run on plants all over the world!!!
Good morning, Laura. I recently purchased 20 acres of land here in NM. 🥰😍 I’m so excited and can’t wait to start my garden. There’s nothing now but eventually we will build. I’ve been telling people about you and how your garden is amazing. Your videos will be a great guide for me and starting my garden. Great video today. ☺️
That's exciting! So happy for you, neighbor! I'm in the Texas panhandle. What part of NM are you in. My aunt live in Hatch, NM. You may have heard of her. She's well known and loved in the area. Her name is June Rutherford and she created the "Big Jim Chile". She named it for her first husband, James Lytle, because he had started and almost finished the process before getting cancer and passing away. He was a close family friend and I called them my aunt and uncle before they really were. Then, my real uncle, Payne Rutherford, started helping her on the farms and being a good "brother in law". Before too long, there was a wedding and she became my real aunt. She's the only aunt I have left and is 93 yrs old, now! My brother is an artist and musician. He has lived in NM for around 35 years. He is up in Taos and he loves it! He plays bass for Michael Martin Murphy (Wildfire is his most famous hit, if you aren't old enough to know who he is. You have probably heard this one or one from later on. Gary's art is in a gallery in Taos called " The Ranch at Taos". He's pretty amazing. You can find him on FB, too. So, you know, we love NM. We talked of moving to the Hatch area when we were younger but never made it out of the panhandle. Still glad we are close enough to make trips "next door" without it being too big of a deal. Happy gardening and blessing to you in your new adventures! Maybe you should start a UA-cam channel for all your new adventures!🙂
@@mariankay6482 My son attends NMSU & I just picked up Big Jim & Sandia peppers. Nice to know the history. Means more to me now. I will look up family members mention on my next visit. Thanks for sharing. I agree with Marion, you should vlog your NM garden journey.
@@No.DROUGHT.about.IT. You can find June Rutherford in an internet search. She's a very coloroful woman! She reminds me of the Proverbs 31 woman more than any woman I know!
Artichokes are Absolutely Beautiful in Bloom. We live in Yuma, Arizona & we are a Huge Agricultural Area. To see them planted in a Huge Field was Breathtaking! Laura you make my morning to see you Always Soo Excited!! Hugs 👍😘💞💞💞
They look too much like the thistle weeds growing around my yard. I have to disagree with Laura. Also, it's too much work to eat an artichoke. I am not a fan of that dinosaur plant.
Hi Laura! You often talk about the importance of including the 4 colors in every garden bed. What are some of your favorites for green, yellow, blue, and red foliage?
PLEASE PLEASE, DO tell us the variety of these GORGEOUS artichokes, Laura!!! My daughter grows artichokes to eat and your variety looks much more compact--AND PROLIFIC, than hers. We are in the Pacific Northwest. I have learned so much from you about gardening, pruning, planting and fertilizing both indoors and out. Thank you SO very much for sharing your talent with us!
Laura, we used to preserve blooms with the glycerin method. I always thought that glycerin preserved the bloom color the best and with the least amount of a desiccated look. I would give that a try, Laura. (This was the ‘80’s…lol) But, it still is a valuable option for flower preservation. The artichoke blooms are a stunning color!😱
@@FernsAndForest the nice thing about glycerin is that it leaves the blooms almost supple. I wonder how freeze drying would work after glycerin? Because if I remember correctly, the glycerin “dries” blooms by replacing the water with glycerin. So they aren’t truly crunchy…Now I have to do an experiment!! Lol!
Laura, you so inspired me that I installed a drip irrigation system in my garden this year. Oh my goodness, has it been a time/plant saver! Everything has done better this year from the consistent water. I’ve had a few learning experiences, hydrangeas needed more water and potted plants needed less, but all in all, with a few tweaks, I’m so happy with the results! Thank you for helping me to overcome my timidity and trying something new!
I live in New England and have been considering some drip irrigation. When I water consistently, my roses are bursting with blooms but that's not my usual. What part of the country are you in? Was it expensive to get started?
I agree its been great watching this channel as i too now have drip running to two gardens. Now that its 100+ every day i love how beautiful plants look and i dont have to hand water!
Maxine, these guys are from eastern Oregon (Ontario). It’s high desert, lots of farming in the area, which is all only possible d/t irrigation. The soil there is alkaline.
@@maxinemann2490 Hi! I live in western Washington State where we are very wet late fall through spring but our summers have become hotter and drier, especially in the last 20 years. I ran about 300 feet of drip irrigation tubing in my back yard and if I remember correctly, with all the fittings, tubing, timer, etc, it was around $600.00, possibly a little more because I really didn't keep track. I had to go back to the Home Depot store quite a few times to get everything that I needed. I wound up ordering the "Rain Bird" pressure regulator, backflow preventer and adapter kit on line because it was much easier than piecing it all together. Just go for it! You'll learn as you go along. Hope this helps.
I have only dried artichokes once and based on my success with peony’s I didn’t want them to close up from hanging upside down so I set a 1” trellis on sawhorses (you could set them in the slats of your wooden rack) set the artichoke flowers in random openings (stem side down, flower side up) and let them dry. The flowers faded a bit but they remained more open and didn’t dry into a closed ball style.. when they were dry I did spray with a light dusting of gold and put them outside in my fall arrangement - they were beautiful and lasted until I took the arrangement apart in early spring.
I love when Laura say I have never grown these we will see what happens, or its a novelty because its seems no matter what her hands touch they are pure magic, and they are so beautiful, and it makes me want to get out there and try it.so thank you laura .
When you said you needed some red out in the spot on the new property, I instantly thought, “Ninebark!” Then you mentioned it as an option. Yay! Arching, small leaved varieties dotted around the property would emphasize the casual, freeform design you are going for, and a nice contrast with the upright tree trunks, grasses and rounded bushes you have in place so far.
Haha I just put up a video using silica gel today! So funny you are too, great minds think alike! Artichokes are such stunners! Our neighbors grow them and let them flower. One of our favorites to stop and see each year! 💜
From Walnut Canyon National Monument forester...use 1 part Borax and 2 parts plain ground cornmeal in a shoebox...bury plant in mixture for a week or more as needed, thinner petals such as a rose dry quicker than a more fleshy artichoke. Should remain the same colors as when you put it in the mixture. Good Luck!
Those Artichokes are beautiful😃 I love how excited you get when you see a plant producing things you need for your arrangements 🥰 You have a such a gift, even placement of plants in your landscape
I had a dried flower shop years ago and it works best to use rubber bands to hang things upsidedown. When doing a bunch just put the end of the rubber band on one stem, wrap the rubber band by the other end and just go around and around the bunch then put thatbend over top of another stem then hang the bunch up. This goes super fast and as they dry the rubber band stays tight. As the artichoke you did the right thing. That is the only way I dried them and that is why they are so expensive. It takes lots of gel and time! Great job!!
Hi Laura: Artichokes are a big part of our garden look here in Tuscany...they survive well in our zone 8B or 9A area, and repeat bloom every year. Winter rains and chill no problem, and very few pests. By early April they are thriving again, and add lovely color to the garden when in bloom...we won't let anybody cut them to eat...they are too pretty as growing beauties! And the foliage also adds a different look to the other greens...we love them! You might try covering them to protect from heavy freezes, especially with the chill winds you get...they are actually very hardy. Love your videos, and with the Proven Winners bounty now available here, we really have no excuses not to create a "Laura" garden in Italy! Keep up the good work.
I noticed your silica gel crystals had some dark flakes in them. Depending on the brand, this could be an indicator that your crystals are in saturation (say if you left them out in room air for a long period of time). You can "recharge" them by popping them in an oven for a bit, spread out on a cookie sheet, until the darker crystals turn a lighter color, essentially dehydrating the silica gel. This may help your flowers dry much faster. I purchased my own silica gel crystals off Amazon shortly after watching one of your earlier videos. Worked great for my spring tulips and daffodils and I'm looking forward to trying out some dahlias soon. Love all your videos!
Agreed - I bought some WiseDry silica gel crystals off Amazon after watching an earlier video and was inspired before this video was even over to go cut some blooms (zinnia, anemone and dill flowers) and use the crystals to dry them. The instructions say the orange crystals turn green when they have been saturated. The instructions also say to cover the container with the flowers/crystals while drying - which I assume is to prevent moisture from the air getting into the crystals.
Those Artichokes are beautiful! Love the color, hope they keep their color in the drying process! I have never seen an Artichoke bloom, just in the food arena to be eaten. Good luck in the experimental process, anxious to see the dried Artichokes! 😃💜💚💜💚🌿
The artichokes look amazing. I had no idea they were so beautiful. Would Aaron be willing to give us a little overhead peek with the drone of all of the new plantings and such? It's such fun to see the new areas take shape.
It’s like watching a painting develop! Benjamin is just adorable. I panic seeing him without a brimmed or legionnaires hat though, skin cancer is such an issue here - it’s always a good habit to encourage if you’re willing 💕
It's great to see more perennials (for those of us non-annual people LOL) going into your estate. I look forward to watching as your garden matures and the perennials come into their own glory!
Love love the yellow flowers that look like daisies. I love gerber daisies and those yellow flowers remind me of a daisy. Thanks so much for sharing love your videos
I vote for the black smoke bush behind the Heliopsis! what a fantastic contrast, and textural interest, and if you locate something taller there your eyes will automatically follow the path to your beautiful cut flower garden (subtly directing to a destination!). LOVE THE Heliopsis drift! bravo!
Hi Laura, If you have a dehumidifier (probably not since your climate is so dry) you could dry the artichokes in the same room as the unit. I dry all sorts of things in front of mine!
Not going to have perennials in the new garden space, Laura plants perennials 😁 knew you couldn’t resist. Nice to see the steps for irrigation ,I’m still struggling with mine, must research local supplies 😍😎🇫🇷
Good morning. Love this.video as always. I've been an event florisrt for 31 years. We've had the best luck preserving brides bouquets by having them freeze dried. I recently watched a video using a freeze drier to preserve herbs. They also came out beautifully. This might be a piece of equipment to consider. Have a wonderful day, Joann
I just love the way the Heliopolis look in your new garden too! On my way to pick some up for my sunny side of my garden. Great video and love those artichoke plants. You baby boy is so cute too!
So awesome to see the new space getting planted up! I'm new to gardening and often get overwhelmed coming up with ideas of what to plant in a big space. Seeing this come to life is such an inspiration!
Big, open space can be intimidating! In this video, you see how Laura planted up just the start of the grass path with the hydrangeas and sage. Both small, manageable areas. Start your open space thinking of it as a puzzle with small pieces to make beautiful. You'll do great because you have Laura showing you how!
I was saying that myself as Laura was talking about planting meadows. I need the details about how one plans and plants a meadow and how do you maintain one???
Drying Flowers. I used to dry a lot of different flowers and found fine, white sand was one of the best ways to dry them. Like your silica gel it keeps the flower shape and colour well, but sand dries the flowers more slowly than silica and the flowers are not so fragile after being dried. It does take a little longer, but sand is also a lot less expensive. This may not work well for more humid areas, but like Laura I live in a hot dry climate here in southern Australia.
Me too!! Maybe a drone tour? Although with all the new space, maybe it would be easier to do 2 videos each month: one of the new property and another of the area around the house. I have appreciated how Laura has included mini-tours as she works in various areas so perhaps that's even easier.
I like it when you plant up the new property. It's looking better each time you plant and mulch does wonders! Now those artichokes are beautiful! I never knew they flowered like that. I'm interested to see how the drying works out. Beautiful, Laura!
Those artichokes are beautiful! I never knew they were such lovely, interesting plants. Since gardening is always an experiment, I think I’ll try growing some artichokes next year.
So surprised that for it's height, Aaron hasn't planted a couple of Cedar of Lebanon trees. And for their beauty, you could also plant a couple of the Wedding Cake Dogwood trees. Both should work in your zone and are absolutely stunning trees. The Cedars would be great for the space you have. 40 to 100 feet tall Aaron lol.
As beautiful and mage stoic as those Cedars are the number of sticky cones ours dropped was in the hundreds and I just had nowhere to get rid of them. We ended up leaving a huge mound of “mulch” under our 80’ tree. Beautiful tree but needs space and oh so many cones.
@@annemarievanstone1734 lol. Some things are worth a little mess. Besides it could probably have enough space to just BE. They are truly a gorgeous and majestic tree. I'd love to have one. But lol sadly it would take up our whole half acre roflol.
Have you decided what you will do to separate the grass paths from the flower beds? With such a large place maintenance on bed edges could be a ton of work! Give us the good and the bad.
Love the drift of Heliopolis!!! Going to be beautiful in that space. Wow! Those artichokes are gorgeous. I hope they do dry that stunning color. Great work y’all.
Everytime you do more plantings I can see your vision. It's coming along out there. And artichokes are new to me too. My friend would dry wedding bouquet,s in silica gel & they turned our beautiful. I hope they hold that amazing color.💜
You can definitely feel that change of season is in the air, same is here. We still get midd 90F (34-36°C) during day, but days are noticeable shorter and as evening approach, temperatures drop more significantly and nights are cooler. But I don't mind, late summer-early autumn is my favourite time of year, you in US call it Indian summer, here we call it grandmother summer, it's still warm but not hot any more, flower garden is still beautiful and veggie garden is full of produce we worked for during spring and summer. and for those with good eyes for details, I drive trough forest on my way to work and back, and trees started to prepare to show their true colours, they are still green, but different shades of green started to appear. 🤩😊 And we're happy autumn is coming for our favourite gardener, that mean more planting and development of your new space, and for us, new ideas what can we improve in our gardens 😊
Find something beautiful and pop it in somewhere is my M.O. Also known in my life as “impulse plant buying with no idea where they will go” but you make it sound so much better. 😎
It's astounding how much the new land has changed!! It's looking phenomenal! QUESTION: What will be your solution for keeping the grass, in the walkways, from creeping into the gravel, in the driveway, and vice versa?
First, your hair color in the sunlight is gorgeous! Second, I had no idea artichokes bloomed into those beautiful big flowers! I can’t wait to see how they look. And last, all those Tuscan suns look so great. That area is coming along so well.
So beautiful, Laura! When I read the title ‘Planting Heliopolis...’ *Me* OooOo... I’ve never heard of that before! Must be a new variety! 🤩 _Watched the video_ *Me* Oh. 🤣🤦🏻♀️
I don't understand why people go on youtube to press the un-like bottom. if you don't like something don't watch it. Jesus. This channel is awesome she is so respectful and doing her best, that's why many follow her. Jesus stop that is just awful. anyways fabulous.
Good morning everyone 👋 Greetings from Windermere, Florida zone 9b 🇺🇸 That's a beautiful cheerful perennial choice. You are wise to pick some easier care plants. Happy planting and Happy Weeding 😊...if there is such a "thing" 🤣
Wonder why did she hesitate in the first place, am so happy when my perennials started to show up comes Springtime, I couldn't do without them in my garden
I say it everytime, so much fun to watch your garden elvolve! The artichoke flowers are stunning in their own way! Beautiful color! Can;t wait to see how your experiments work!
I'm blown away by those artichokes. I've never seen a live plant and they are gorgeous. Those blooms? OMG! They remind me of something you would see in a sci-fi movie on an alien plant or some strange underwater world. Incredibly beautiful. I might try growing those myself some time.
I'm so thankful you like to experiment! I've never seen an artichoke plant and always thought they were grown in a warm temperate zone. They're beautiful and grow in my zone -- 5. The blue strands of the flower remind me of Sully's fur on Disney's Monsters, Inc. Maybe Benjamin would like that movie!
When I watch you my heart says where were you 20 years ago when I had your energy? I still garden, though much slower, and you have taught me so much. Thank you! 💐🌸🌺🥀🌼🌷🌹🌻🍅🥬🥦🥕🥒🫑🧅
I completely agree!
Amen to that!
Right? When I think of all I wish I had known then, that I have learned from GA, woo!!😊
I so agree as well would have taken me all day to plant those.
I think that all the time
Hi Laura😊 while I was watching this video (loved it, by the way) I noticed that lovely comfortable looking chair against the dark wall in your studio and had a (maybe silly) thought.... I thought it looked like a great place to interview guests. I would love to see you sit down with your parents and ‘interview’ them. What is their background in plants, how did they get started, where did their passion for plants come from, did their parents have beautiful gardens, what did they do before Andrews, what are their top 5 ‘must haves’ each season etc etc.....anyhoo just thought I would share my thoughts from across the Pacific, in Brisbane, Australia 🌹
My mind was in the same place. Amazed someone was thinking the same thing!
@@phyllisshand6183 great minds think alike 🌷
I thought the same thing!
yes!!!
I love that idea
I can’t believe after all of the artichokes I have consumed over the years, that I had never actually seen one in full bloom. They are stunning and I can’t wait to see how the drying experiments turn out. Thanks again for another informative video Laura and Aaron!
DRYING:
Last summer I made an arrangement with closed and blooming artichokes among other flowers. I left them in the vase of water and when the water was gone, they stayed in that vase. Just like drying hydrangeas from a vase of water, the artichokes dried nicely by just taking up the water and then drying out on their own in the vase. The purple does fade out to a very pale purple.😀
Good to know! Thank you!
The color of the artichoke blooms is INSANE! Looks like something from a coral reef...gorgeous
My first time seeing an artichoke in bloom, amazing!
I agree. I had no idea they bloomed like that.
Me too! So pretty
I don't like to eat artichokes but tempted to grow them for the blooms now lol. Very unique and beautiful.
Artichoke blooms last up to 3 weeks in a vase! I grew up in Spain and they grew everywhere so we would always have a bouquet of artichokes in the summer months
Our family liv
My family lived in Valencia, Spain in the mid 70’s. I remember the artichoke fields and most of all how we all learned to enjoy eating them. Wonderful memory.
My little boys (4 and 3) watch with me often. They get so excited every time they see Benjamin. "It's Benjamin! He's helping his mom!"
Good Morning! You always inspire me. I no longer buy 2 or 3 plants at a time and wait for them to spread. I buy 6 or 12 and enjoy them longer. When you plant, you cause a run on plants all over the world!!!
Agreed! Laura the influencer. 🤩
I wonder about the first person who saw one of these growing and said, "oh, let's eat one of these!". 🤣🤣
They are certainly a very beautiful plant. 💜💜
Goodmorning everyone!!
I never knew they bloomed like this, the colour is phenomenal!
Good morning, Laura. I recently purchased 20 acres of land here in NM. 🥰😍 I’m so excited and can’t wait to start my garden. There’s nothing now but eventually we will build. I’ve been telling people about you and how your garden is amazing. Your videos will be a great guide for me and starting my garden. Great video today. ☺️
That is so exciting. Good for you.💥
Too awesome!!
That's exciting! So happy for you, neighbor! I'm in the Texas panhandle. What part of NM are you in. My aunt live in Hatch, NM. You may have heard of her. She's well known and loved in the area. Her name is June Rutherford and she created the "Big Jim Chile". She named it for her first husband, James Lytle, because he had started and almost finished the process before getting cancer and passing away. He was a close family friend and I called them my aunt and uncle before they really were. Then, my real uncle, Payne Rutherford, started helping her on the farms and being a good "brother in law". Before too long, there was a wedding and she became my real aunt. She's the only aunt I have left and is 93 yrs old, now!
My brother is an artist and musician. He has lived in NM for around 35 years. He is up in Taos and he loves it! He plays bass for Michael Martin Murphy (Wildfire is his most famous hit, if you aren't old enough to know who he is. You have probably heard this one or one from later on. Gary's art is in a gallery in Taos called " The Ranch at Taos". He's pretty amazing. You can find him on FB, too.
So, you know, we love NM. We talked of moving to the Hatch area when we were younger but never made it out of the panhandle. Still glad we are close enough to make trips "next door" without it being too big of a deal.
Happy gardening and blessing to you in your new adventures!
Maybe you should start a UA-cam channel for all your new adventures!🙂
@@mariankay6482 My son attends NMSU & I just picked up Big Jim & Sandia peppers. Nice to know the history. Means more to me now. I will look up family members mention on my next visit. Thanks for sharing.
I agree with Marion, you should vlog your NM garden journey.
@@No.DROUGHT.about.IT.
You can find June Rutherford in an internet search. She's a very coloroful woman! She reminds me of the Proverbs 31 woman more than any woman I know!
Artichokes are Absolutely Beautiful in Bloom. We live in Yuma, Arizona & we are a Huge Agricultural Area. To see them planted in a Huge Field was Breathtaking! Laura you make my morning to see you Always Soo Excited!! Hugs 👍😘💞💞💞
I love artichokes, but they are expensive.
They look too much like the thistle weeds growing around my yard. I have to disagree with Laura. Also, it's too much work to eat an artichoke.
I am not a fan of that dinosaur plant.
My mom retired to Yuma for a few years. We forced her back to Michigan tho. ♥️
@@Edu_Kate But they are so good
You are my garden hero. You make me feel like I can do this gardening thing :)
She’s my garden hero to love that👏🦋🙏
You can do anything that you can dream believe that👍🍄🌸🌸
Hi Laura! You often talk about the importance of including the 4 colors in every garden bed. What are some of your favorites for green, yellow, blue, and red foliage?
Does anyone else wave back at Laura at the end of every video? I have to believe I’m not the only one! Great video, Laura! 👋
and I really like the greeting in the beginning to.
I do too
The comment section in Laura’s videos are the best! People are so genuine and knowledgeable. I love this community!
PLEASE PLEASE, DO tell us the variety of these GORGEOUS artichokes, Laura!!! My daughter grows artichokes to eat and your variety looks much more compact--AND PROLIFIC, than hers. We are in the Pacific Northwest. I have learned so much from you about gardening, pruning, planting and fertilizing both indoors and out. Thank you SO very much for sharing your talent with us!
Laura, we used to preserve blooms with the glycerin method. I always thought that glycerin preserved the bloom color the best and with the least amount of a desiccated look. I would give that a try, Laura. (This was the ‘80’s…lol) But, it still is a valuable option for flower preservation. The artichoke blooms are a stunning color!😱
@@FernsAndForest the nice thing about glycerin is that it leaves the blooms almost supple. I wonder how freeze drying would work after glycerin? Because if I remember correctly, the glycerin “dries” blooms by replacing the water with glycerin. So they aren’t truly crunchy…Now I have to do an experiment!! Lol!
Laura, you so inspired me that I installed a drip irrigation system in my garden this year. Oh my goodness, has it been a time/plant saver! Everything has done better this year from the consistent water. I’ve had a few learning experiences, hydrangeas needed more water and potted plants needed less, but all in all, with a few tweaks, I’m so happy with the results! Thank you for helping me to overcome my timidity and trying something new!
I live in New England and have been considering some drip irrigation. When I water consistently, my roses are bursting with blooms but that's not my usual. What part of the country are you in? Was it expensive to get started?
I agree its been great watching this channel as i too now have drip running to two gardens. Now that its 100+ every day i love how beautiful plants look and i dont have to hand water!
Maxine, these guys are from eastern Oregon (Ontario). It’s high desert, lots of farming in the area, which is all only possible d/t irrigation. The soil there is alkaline.
@@maxinemann2490 Hi! I live in western Washington State where we are very wet late fall through spring but our summers have become hotter and drier, especially in the last 20 years. I ran about 300 feet of drip irrigation tubing in my back yard and if I remember correctly, with all the fittings, tubing, timer, etc, it was around $600.00, possibly a little more because I really didn't keep track. I had to go back to the Home Depot store quite a few times to get everything that I needed. I wound up ordering the "Rain Bird" pressure regulator, backflow preventer and adapter kit on line because it was much easier than piecing it all together. Just go for it! You'll learn as you go along. Hope this helps.
I have only dried artichokes once and based on my success with peony’s I didn’t want them to close up from hanging upside down so I set a 1” trellis on sawhorses (you could set them in the slats of your wooden rack) set the artichoke flowers in random openings (stem side down, flower side up) and let them dry. The flowers faded a bit but they remained more open and didn’t dry into a closed ball style.. when they were dry I did spray with a light dusting of gold and put them outside in my fall arrangement - they were beautiful and lasted until I took the arrangement apart in early spring.
I love when Laura say I have never grown these we will see what happens, or its a novelty because its seems no matter what her hands touch they are pure magic, and they are so beautiful, and it makes me want to get out there and try it.so thank you laura .
When you said you needed some red out in the spot on the new property, I instantly thought, “Ninebark!” Then you mentioned it as an option. Yay! Arching, small leaved varieties dotted around the property would emphasize the casual, freeform design you are going for, and a nice contrast with the upright tree trunks, grasses and rounded bushes you have in place so far.
Haha I just put up a video using silica gel today! So funny you are too, great minds think alike!
Artichokes are such stunners! Our neighbors grow them and let them flower. One of our favorites to stop and see each year! 💜
From Walnut Canyon National Monument forester...use 1 part Borax and 2 parts plain ground cornmeal in a shoebox...bury plant in mixture for a week or more as needed, thinner petals such as a rose dry quicker than a more fleshy artichoke. Should remain the same colors as when you put it in the mixture. Good Luck!
I think I have enough borax to do one flower! I use it for ants on my paver patio. Hope it works!
So beautiful!!! Love it when Benjamin helps out. Precious moments.
I vote the winecraft black smoke bush behind the heliopsis!! That would look GORGEOUS
Good morning !🌻🐝
Those Artichokes are beautiful😃 I love how excited you get when you see a plant producing things you need for your arrangements 🥰 You have a such a gift, even placement of plants in your landscape
I'm so excited for the new property and all the new flower beds!!
Those artichoke blooms are stunning, so striking! 🌸💜
I had a dried flower shop years ago and it works best to use rubber bands to hang things upsidedown. When doing a bunch just put the end of the rubber band on one stem, wrap the rubber band by the other end and just go around and around the bunch then put thatbend over top of another stem then hang the bunch up. This goes super fast and as they dry the rubber band stays tight. As the artichoke you did the right thing. That is the only way I dried them and that is why they are so expensive. It takes lots of gel and time! Great job!!
Can’t wait to see you do an arrangement with those artichoke blooms! 💛
Hi Laura: Artichokes are a big part of our garden look here in Tuscany...they survive well in our zone 8B or 9A area, and repeat bloom every year. Winter rains and chill no problem, and very few pests. By early April they are thriving again, and add lovely color to the garden when in bloom...we won't let anybody cut them to eat...they are too pretty as growing beauties! And the foliage also adds a different look to the other greens...we love them! You might try covering them to protect from heavy freezes, especially with the chill winds you get...they are actually very hardy. Love your videos, and with the Proven Winners bounty now available here, we really have no excuses not to create a "Laura" garden in Italy! Keep up the good work.
Her knowledge of gardening and plants are impressive I must say ☺️
I noticed your silica gel crystals had some dark flakes in them. Depending on the brand, this could be an indicator that your crystals are in saturation (say if you left them out in room air for a long period of time). You can "recharge" them by popping them in an oven for a bit, spread out on a cookie sheet, until the darker crystals turn a lighter color, essentially dehydrating the silica gel. This may help your flowers dry much faster. I purchased my own silica gel crystals off Amazon shortly after watching one of your earlier videos. Worked great for my spring tulips and daffodils and I'm looking forward to trying out some dahlias soon. Love all your videos!
Agreed - I bought some WiseDry silica gel crystals off Amazon after watching an earlier video and was inspired before this video was even over to go cut some blooms (zinnia, anemone and dill flowers) and use the crystals to dry them. The instructions say the orange crystals turn green when they have been saturated. The instructions also say to cover the container with the flowers/crystals while drying - which I assume is to prevent moisture from the air getting into the crystals.
Those Artichokes are beautiful! Love the color, hope they keep their color in the drying process! I have never seen an Artichoke bloom, just in the food arena to be eaten. Good luck in the experimental process, anxious to see the dried Artichokes! 😃💜💚💜💚🌿
The artichokes look amazing. I had no idea they were so beautiful. Would Aaron be willing to give us a little overhead peek with the drone of all of the new plantings and such? It's such fun to see the new areas take shape.
It’s like watching a painting develop! Benjamin is just adorable. I panic seeing him without a brimmed or legionnaires hat though, skin cancer is such an issue here - it’s always a good habit to encourage if you’re willing 💕
Thanks for showing us how you do your irrigation. Takes the mysteriousness out of it and is very helpful.
Good morning everyone! Breakfast with Garden Answer 👍
It's great to see more perennials (for those of us non-annual people LOL) going into your estate. I look forward to watching as your garden matures and the perennials come into their own glory!
Love love the yellow flowers that look like daisies. I love gerber daisies and those yellow flowers remind me of a daisy. Thanks so much for sharing love your videos
I'm watching and walking and enjoying my morning 🌄 Laura fix.
Benjamin is such a good boy. Mama's big helper👍
I vote for the black smoke bush behind the Heliopsis! what a fantastic contrast, and textural interest, and if you locate something taller there your eyes will automatically follow the path to your beautiful cut flower garden (subtly directing to a destination!). LOVE THE Heliopsis drift! bravo!
Happy 😊 a bit of garden answer before bed.
I had no idea that artichokes made such beautiful blooms!
Hi Laura, If you have a dehumidifier (probably not since your climate is so dry) you could dry the artichokes in the same room as the unit. I dry all sorts of things in front of mine!
THANK YOU for showing the details and parts of the irrigation setup! It is incredibly helpful for my trips to the hardware store to buy what I need 😊
Not going to have perennials in the new garden space, Laura plants perennials 😁 knew you couldn’t resist. Nice to see the steps for irrigation ,I’m still struggling with mine, must research local supplies 😍😎🇫🇷
Lifetime of work for you guys. Benjamin is such a great helper! He is so cute!!!!
I have Tuscan Sun Heliopsis in my garden. I love them so much.
Good morning. Love this.video as always. I've been an event florisrt for 31 years. We've had the best luck preserving brides bouquets by having them freeze dried. I recently watched a video using a freeze drier to preserve herbs. They also came out beautifully. This might be a piece of equipment to consider.
Have a wonderful day,
Joann
I just love the way the Heliopolis look in your new garden too! On my way to pick some up for my sunny side of my garden. Great video and love those artichoke plants. You baby boy is so cute too!
So awesome to see the new space getting planted up! I'm new to gardening and often get overwhelmed coming up with ideas of what to plant in a big space. Seeing this come to life is such an inspiration!
Big, open space can be intimidating! In this video, you see how Laura planted up just the start of the grass path with the hydrangeas and sage. Both small, manageable areas. Start your open space thinking of it as a puzzle with small pieces to make beautiful. You'll do great because you have Laura showing you how!
I can't wait to see the meadow! So excited to see how you go about planting and what plants you choose!
I was saying that myself as Laura was talking about planting meadows. I need the details about how one plans and plants a meadow and how do you maintain one???
@@21shalimar exactly! I'd love to put a small meadow garden in and need some direction to follow. Fingers crossed we'll see soon 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
Drying Flowers. I used to dry a lot of different flowers and found fine, white sand was one of the best ways to dry them. Like your silica gel it keeps the flower shape and colour well, but sand dries the flowers more slowly than silica and the flowers are not so fragile after being dried. It does take a little longer, but sand is also a lot less expensive. This may not work well for more humid areas, but like Laura I live in a hot dry climate here in southern Australia.
My artichokes haven’t started to bloom yet. I’m worried they won’t have time. I love your green thumb. Lol the take 2!
Beautiful! August garden/drone tour? Would love to see your full space. Some of my areas are getting a little tired looking… Am I the only one?
Me too!! Maybe a drone tour? Although with all the new space, maybe it would be easier to do 2 videos each month: one of the new property and another of the area around the house. I have appreciated how Laura has included mini-tours as she works in various areas so perhaps that's even easier.
I like it when you plant up the new property. It's looking better each time you plant and mulch does wonders! Now those artichokes are beautiful! I never knew they flowered like that. I'm interested to see how the drying works out. Beautiful, Laura!
Those artichokes are beautiful! I never knew they were such lovely, interesting plants. Since gardening is always an experiment, I think I’ll try growing some artichokes next year.
So surprised that for it's height, Aaron hasn't planted a couple of Cedar of Lebanon trees. And for their beauty, you could also plant a couple of the Wedding Cake Dogwood trees. Both should work in your zone and are absolutely stunning trees.
The Cedars would be great for the space you have. 40 to 100 feet tall Aaron lol.
As beautiful and mage stoic as those Cedars are the number of sticky cones ours dropped was in the hundreds and I just had nowhere to get rid of them. We ended up leaving a huge mound of “mulch” under our 80’ tree. Beautiful tree but needs space and oh so many cones.
I googled the cedar of Lebanon tree- GORGEOUS.
I think that could be a great center piece tree(s) for them. I can picture it
@@annemarievanstone1734 glorious tree
@@annemarievanstone1734 lol. Some things are worth a little mess. Besides it could probably have enough space to just BE.
They are truly a gorgeous and majestic tree. I'd love to have one. But lol sadly it would take up our whole half acre roflol.
Excited to see what the artichokes look like when they’re dried! They’re so pretty! 😍
New property plantings will be beautiful! 👩🏼🌾 And can’t wait to see the artichoke experiment. Had NO idea those blooms were so beautiful! 💁🏼♀️
Have you decided what you will do to separate the grass paths from the flower beds? With such a large place maintenance on bed edges could be a ton of work! Give us the good and the bad.
Baby Benjamin is adorable and really patient!
Those artichokes are wonderful and we totally miss you Na Benjamin planting. What to see more. Thanks Laura
The artichoke blooms are beautiful. I love seeing Benjamin helping in the garden. He is soaking up the knowledge!
Wow,...I too have never seen an artichoke bloom,...just absouloutly gorgeous!!! It will be so interesting to see how they dry!
Very interesting with the artichokes!! I love seeing new things planted out in the cut flower garden area. 😍
I had no ideal. The “chokes” are gorgeous 😊
Just loving how your new section growing with the new plants
I had NO idea artichokes were so beautiful while they were growing up. Lol. Thank you Laura! Love from Pennsylvania.
I feel your pain with those little goat head weeds, uuuuggggg. The yellow added SO much visual interest. Love it 🌻💛
Love the drift of Heliopolis!!!
Going to be beautiful in that space.
Wow! Those artichokes are gorgeous. I hope they do dry that stunning color. Great work y’all.
It is so amazing watching your garden come to life🥰 I so hope the artichokes dry, they are gorgeous. I had no idea they bloomed.
Everytime you do more plantings I can see your vision. It's coming along out there. And artichokes are new to me too. My friend would dry wedding bouquet,s in silica gel & they turned our beautiful. I hope they hold that amazing color.💜
You can definitely feel that change of season is in the air, same is here. We still get midd 90F (34-36°C) during day, but days are noticeable shorter and as evening approach, temperatures drop more significantly and nights are cooler. But I don't mind, late summer-early autumn is my favourite time of year, you in US call it Indian summer, here we call it grandmother summer, it's still warm but not hot any more, flower garden is still beautiful and veggie garden is full of produce we worked for during spring and summer. and for those with good eyes for details, I drive trough forest on my way to work and back, and trees started to prepare to show their true colours, they are still green, but different shades of green started to appear. 🤩😊 And we're happy autumn is coming for our favourite gardener, that mean more planting and development of your new space, and for us, new ideas what can we improve in our gardens 😊
Find something beautiful and pop it in somewhere is my M.O. Also known in my life as “impulse plant buying with no idea where they will go” but you make it sound so much better. 😎
I’m so excited seeing more items being planted in your new space.
It's astounding how much the new land has changed!! It's looking phenomenal! QUESTION: What will be your solution for keeping the grass, in the walkways, from creeping into the gravel, in the driveway, and vice versa?
I am always amazed how much work you get done. A gardening machine!
I did not know how beautiful artichoke blooms were. Awesome !!!
First, your hair color in the sunlight is gorgeous!
Second, I had no idea artichokes bloomed into those beautiful big flowers! I can’t wait to see how they look.
And last, all those Tuscan suns look so great. That area is coming along so well.
So beautiful, Laura!
When I read the title ‘Planting Heliopolis...’
*Me* OooOo... I’ve never heard of that before! Must be a new variety! 🤩
_Watched the video_
*Me* Oh. 🤣🤦🏻♀️
The artichoke flowers are so beautiful. Almost an iridescent glow to them! I’m excited to see if the color stays when it’s dry!
I don't understand why people go on youtube to press the un-like bottom. if you don't like something don't watch it. Jesus. This channel is awesome she is so respectful and doing her best, that's why many follow her. Jesus stop that is just awful. anyways fabulous.
Good morning everyone 👋
Greetings from Windermere, Florida zone 9b 🇺🇸
That's a beautiful cheerful perennial choice. You are wise to pick some easier care plants.
Happy planting and Happy Weeding 😊...if there is such a "thing" 🤣
Wonder why did she hesitate in the first place, am so happy when my perennials started to show up comes Springtime, I couldn't do without them in my garden
Good. Night north india
Those arborvitaes have grown so tall.. it's a wall of green now!! The west side looks so lush and lovely!
Coherent even if it is not super balance, I love that you are more relax in this area. Although, just like you Laura, I love symmetry oftentimes.
The blue of the artichoke flowers is mesmerizing
Excellent video as usual! I really am fascinated with the artichokes and am looking forward to seeing how they turn out!
Omg ive never seen a winged weeder thats awesome i need one for sure
Such vibrant blue! I never knew artichokes had such flowers!
The redbud is so glorious 😍 the plants around it accentuate its beauty loving the transformation 'gorgeousness' definitely the right word
Another really fun video with "my west coast friends"! Thanks for sharing.
I say it everytime, so much fun to watch your garden elvolve! The artichoke flowers are stunning in their own way! Beautiful color! Can;t wait to see how your experiments work!
I'm blown away by those artichokes. I've never seen a live plant and they are gorgeous. Those blooms? OMG! They remind me of something you would see in a sci-fi movie on an alien plant or some strange underwater world. Incredibly beautiful. I might try growing those myself some time.
I had ZERO idea that artichokes even bloomed! Such a beauty!
I'm so thankful you like to experiment! I've never seen an artichoke plant and always thought they were grown in a warm temperate zone. They're beautiful and grow in my zone -- 5. The blue strands of the flower remind me of Sully's fur on Disney's Monsters, Inc. Maybe Benjamin would like that movie!