Blooming Pumpkin ~ chicken friendly floral arrangment

Now that we've passed the Autumn Equinox the girls and I are ready to begin our fall decorating! I love having fresh flowers in the house straight from the garden! The change of the seasons is a wonderful time to go out into your yard and gather up some of your late summer bloomers, berries, seed pods and create a fresh, festive and sustainable fall floral arrangement for your dining room table, kitchen island or a friend to celebrate!
 My blooming pumpkin does just that and it's chicken friendly too!
Here's how I put mine together:

Pick or purchase a pumpkin to your liking. I chose a medium sized pumpkin and cleaned it out  setting aside the pumpkin seeds and the lid for the Cottage Hens.

 Make your opening large enough that a quart mason jar ( or similar sized vase ) will fit inside easily without the top showing after it's filled.
* If you use a smaller pumpkin try the 16 oz mason jars for a vase.

This view shows dahlia, hydrangea, butterfly bush, autumn joy, pumpkin on a stick, a sprig of grass and some wild sunflowers. 

This is the other side of the arrangement. If your pumpkin is going to be placed where it will be visible from all angles be sure to make it pretty from all sides.  Because the dahlia and the hydrangea blossoms are so large and I wanted to hide the opening of the top of the pumpkin I cut them shorter and placed them near the bottom.. Taller flowers like the sunflower, grass plumes, zinnia Mexican sun flower and pumpkin  on a stick were cut longer at varying lengths for height and fullness.

 I've placed ours on the kitchen island where we can all enjoy it. It's the first thing we see when we come in the door!

Remember, fresh, local blooms aren't fussy about where you put them. Just relax and have fun with the process of flower arranging. When it looks pleasing to you, you're done!

 Yard flowers look naturally beautiful together in the garden and they'll be just as delightful in your favorite vase or a bloomin' pumpkin!

I'm sharing this post with the Homestead Revival Barn Hop and Heidi's Simple Country Living Garden  and Tilly's Nest Down Home Blog Hop!

* when your flowers fade, don't forget to toss that pumpkin into your chicken run!

It Won't be Long...

Lacy Lou and Hazel in the middle of some serious " girl talk ". 

 You know it's coming. I know it's coming. The plants know it's coming and, the " girls " know it's coming too! It won't be long before the first frost sneaks up on us and puts the garden to sleep for good!

But would ya look at that nasturtium blossom? Hand painted by God HIM self! So delicate. So PERFECT!I discovered it today while doing my chicken keeping chores.

 The  nasturtium vines are still quite awake and climbing up the outside of the coop. Look what else I found!

When I opened the door to grab the feeder I saw this! I think I heard it say, " hey, do ya think I'll be safe in here for the winter?" While this plant is still wide awake and thriving, the rest of the garden is definitely beginning to get droopy eyed.

The Oak Leaf Hydrangeas leaves were burning bright in the mid-day sun. It's leaves turning from every shade of purple to bright red while the blossoms have take on a faded tea stained color. 

Summer Blossoms

 

I'll admit, it's a little hard getting into the Christmas decorating spirit when things still look so Fall-like around here.

The sun was shining straight through the tall ornamental grasses causing the blades to look a bright lemon yellow. 

The Sink Garden is at a stand still until next spring, but I love how it looks through all seasons.

 The Endless Summer Hydrangea blossoms have faded to a soft lavender.

And the once pink and white Clematis has morphed into a feathery cotton ball.

The tree squirrels have been busy building their nests high in the trees. No doubt where they'll be " squirreling away"  the bird seed they steel from our bird feeders. ( rascals ) They are quite busy all winter long here in New England.

How beautifully leaves grow old.  How full of light and color are their last days.  ~John Burroughs

Most of the leaves in our yard have fallen to the ground and been raked away. I suppose at some point, I WILL have to say so long to Fall... Oh well, there's always next year!
Besides, it's not officially Winter until December, 22 ND!  So there!

I'm linking to Tootsies Fertilizer Friday !