Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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A Quick DIY Bouquet

Oops, we totally fell off with the whole used-to-be-monthly budget blooms thing. But lookie what I found growing in the jungle that is our front lawn:

  Flowers 1

Allow me to put on my best Australian nature-show voice to set the scene for you: The air is still. Not a predator in sight. Something moves in the brush. A buzzard circles overhead. Somewhere in the distance a lion roars. No wait, that’s a baby crying. And just like that I’m out of character.

Flowers 2

I don’t know the real name for them (flower whisperer, I’m not), but I like the sound of Purple Ring Pops. So that’s how I’ve been referring to them. At first I just admired them on our way up and down the driveway. Then I thought a little snip snip was in order so I could take some of the stems inside to be ogled more regularly. Here are a few cuttings living it up on the back of the living room console table.

Flowers 3

Sidenote: Everything looks better with a white cardboard rhino in the background (from here a while back, bee tee dubs).

Flowers 4

I think this vase gets used more often than any other in the house (it’s from Crate & Barrel three years ago or so). Pink and purple sounds like it could sway into the unicorn/fairy princess realm… but somehow it works.

Flowers 5

Anyone know the real name of these blooms? Have you found any fun mystery flowers – either in a field, at the farmer’s market, at the grocery store or in your yard? Do you ever have that internal debate about whether you should leave flowers outside to enjoy when you’re out there, or snip ’em and bring them inside, where you spend more time? I usually leave things outside for a few days and then can’t help myself and bring in a few cuttings. Oh and did anyone notice I snapped these pics before our frame switcheroo (mention this morning) but it just took me longer to write this post than it took John to get his done? Maybe we should add Overachiever to his roster of middle names. John Overachiever Danger Soda Petersik. I like it.

Psst- Wanna see our first cheap-o bouquet from January of 2009? And February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September’s too? How about our 2010 blooms from January, February, March, April, May, June, and July along with one from a few months back? Can you even handle all of that glorious nature in one sitting?

Comments

  2. shannon says

    My recollection, though, is that balloon flowers don’t live long in a vase. I have some and they are pretty outside!

    Reply

  4. Kim says

    Darn it! I wanted to be the first :) Well, I fourteenth the balloon flower and it IS gorgeous when it opens. Congrats on the awesome free blooms! We got a surprise fig tree after we brought our yard back to life. Mmmm fresh fig and goat cheese pizza with balsamic….

    Reply

  5. Kate says

    Yay balloon flowers! I planted a teeeeny tiny balloon flower plant and two extremely hot summers and one extremely cold winter later my plant is HUGE – I got hundreds of blooms off of it this year. They turn into little stars too :)

    Reply

    • Kate says

      Threadbndr:

      That’s what I thought too. They were on a sort of flopped over vine (as in they weren’t climbing anything). They sure look like sweet peas to me! They don’t smell as good as the sweet peas on my balcony though.

    • threadbndr says

      They probably are second generations that have gone wild and resown themselves – maybe more than once. (The perfumed ones from the stores don’t breed true in following generations). There are literally 100s of cultivars available – lots of colors and some different scents, too.

  7. lemur_lass says

    For all those commenting that they are Platycodon or Campanula plants, really both are correct guesses. Both genera are in the Campanula or Bellflower family (Campanulaceae). It is difficult to tell you that exact species without seeing the flowers open (those reproductive parts are important), but know that it is a type of Bellflower or Balloon Flower. They are beautiful!

    Reply

  9. Suzie says

    They look like balloon flowers to me. If they’re mature (have been there for a couple of years) I think you can eat the roots. I’ve heard it’s yummy.

    Reply

  10. Lindsey says

    Those are beautiful and I love the budget bloom tips but your first couple of links aren’t linked! I would love to see them but can’t! Just FYI!

    Reply

  12. Jennifer says

    we found these in our nova home all over the landscaping! They have tubular roots and are easy to split and create many balloon flowers! Let us know if have luck with them as cut flowers… I have not. I think next year i am going to stake them up with a peony ring.. Mine droop all over the place. Someone in our neighborhood has them around their mailbox with iron fencing holding them up. It looks great.

    Reply

  14. Melissa says

    Those are beautiful flowers! It so funny you posted this today. This morning I went to let our pup out back and there was a random flower stem that popped up! We do not have this flower in any other part of our yard so we think a seed flew over from a neighbor’s yard. It just sprung up out of no where…I guess plants do that to you. :)

    Reply

  16. Nina Choi says

    So, I know everyone has told you the answer you were looking for already. But it reminded me of a really fun phone app called “Google Goggles” (try saying that 5 times fast!!!) where you can take a photo and it’ll bring up where it’s from, other images it may relate to and sometimes pricing – depending on what you’re taking a photo of!

    Also, it just provides a lot of fun for boring moments – when you try taking photos of people’s faces and see what it brings up! (it’s a free app)

    Reply

  19. katie says

    I can tell the other posters who are from the south. I have always known them as ballon flowers. I live in North Carolina and we have had then in front of our front porch for years. They came back again and again with almost no care. And we had the same purple color. Enjoy them!

    Reply

  21. Julia says

    Those look beautiful – can’t wait to see them open!
    And I wanted to let you know that your links at the end seem to be broken :( At least those for January to April 2009. They show up like this
    https://www.younghouselove.com/2011/07/2010/08/2010/08/2010/06/2010/05/2010/03/2010/03/2010/01/2009/09/2009/08/2009/07/2009/06/2009/02/nice-bloomers/
    in the URL bar of my browser and I get a “Whoops! That Page Isn’t Here” message.
    Love your blog though!

    Reply

  22. Rebecca says

    I have several balloon flowers in our front beds – have had them at each of our homes because they are so super easy to care for. Deadhead them, and they will produce flowers for most of the summer. Each year they get a little bigger, and it’s easy to grow more – just let a few of the dead flowers remain on the plants until the seeds inside have time to dry. Open up the part beneath the old dried up petals and tons of tiny black seeds will fall out. Collect, store in a dry place over winter, and plant them in spring – free flowers!

    Reply

  23. Karla says

    I’m going to be different and comment on the vase….LOVE it…HAVE it! And it’s little sister! ;)

    Reply

  24. Verena says

    I’m one of those annoyingly lucky people that has 5 different kinds of roses AND raspberry’s growing in the garden. Just like that.

    Reply

  25. Kendra says

    They are called Astra Blue flowers or their nickname which you have apparently been told about 65 times already, balloon flowers. I love them! I planted white and blue ones last year and they are super hardy! If for some reason they start looking bad at any point (say they come up beforeteh first frost) you can just trim them all the way back (I promise) and a few weeks later they will start blooming again…that is if it’s Spring or Summer. :)

    Reply

  26. Laura@JourneyChic says

    Those are so pretty! And I like that you put them on your console instead of a more obvious place (like the dining room table, which is where my hydrangea clippings are hanging out). I also struggle with the question “To clip, or not to clip?” Our hydrangeas are on their last legs, and I only just snagged a few blooms for our kitchen two days ago.

    Reply

  27. Marian says

    Actually, since I know you guys are iPhone holders, “there’s an app for that”!
    It’s called ‘Leaf Snap’ or something like that, where you open the app, take a picture of the foliage, and it will search it’s visual encyclopedia and come back with the name of the flower/plant and total background and care instructions for it. Pre-tty awesome.

    Enjoy!

    Reply

  28. Tiffany says

    Tackling the yard has been the toughest part of our new house! We are discovering lots and lots of crazy flowers and plants, mostly hollyhocks, and honestly, I think I have one of these balloon plants. Everything else, like painting, putting in bamboo floors, even building a new workbench has been totally doable, but this lawn has us running scared!

    Reply

  29. Samantha says

    I was just having this internal debate with myself the other day! I can never decide whether to leave blooms outside or cut them and bring them in. I usually leave them outside since we’ve just started doing our backyard (…it’s a little sparse so I need all the color I can get back there!). Love those purple blooms though!

    Reply

  31. Lisa in Seattle says

    See, this is why I find gardening so difficult. Nobody can agree what a given plant is called, or even what kind of plant it is. Based on all these comments, this is the likely outcome of my trip to the plant store.

    ME: I’m looking for balloon flowers?
    PLANT STORE EMPLOYEE: Um…
    ME: You know, Chinese bellflower?
    PSE: I don’t really…
    ME: Campanula?
    PSE: Are you sure…
    ME: Platyocodon???
    PSE: I’ve never…
    ME: *waving arms and shouting* PURPLE FLOWERS! Pretty purple flowers that open up and drop candy and money!!!
    PSE: *calls Security*

    Reply

  32. Ann says

    Yes, they are balloon flowers. I planted several of them in my front yard and they bloom every summer. I’ve discovered that they will rebloom if you cut them down after the first flowers die. I made the cut about 3 inches above the ground and they have come back and bloomed again. Of course, this is how they behave in central North Carolina, so it may not work in all areas.

    Reply

  33. Beth says

    Balloon flower aka platycodons. Perty, perty (in my best southern accent, y’all)! Mine used to winter-over in a container so maybe you can try to yank those puppies up and enjoy them somewhere less sporadic next year :)

    Reply

  34. NicolaDreams says

    Now Sherry, as a true Aussie, I have to ask, do you reeeeally think you can pull off an Australian accent? ;)

    Reply

  35. Lindsay says

    Just last week, I discovered these blooming in the backyard of my new house as well. I was equally excited! After some Google searching, I discovered they are a balloon flower, or Japanese bellflower. They’re even more gorgeous once the buds open. Enjoy!!

    Reply

  36. Fleur says

    As everyone has already stated, they are Balloon Flowers. I have the pixie version planted between my hostas on my front path. Home depot usually has them if you are interested in adding more to your garden. They are slow to break from dormancy in the Spring so very year here in MN I think I have lost them, but sure enough, they finally sprout up.

    Reply

  37. Sabrina says

    My husband says I have a black thumb. And tells everyone. I love balloon flowers, they pop up in our backyard. Our yard also looks like a jungle. I think our neighbor hates us because we spend all the time fixing the inside of our house and he is neurotic about his lawn and garden lol

    Reply

  38. Kim says

    Very pretty! They remind me of turks caps, which as far as I know are red. The blue ones looked like balloons to me too, but I like ring pops-so funny, that’s what they look like!

    Reply

  39. Eleanor@SavingOurWay says

    I lusted after those vases at Crate & Barrel a few years ago. I was very pregnant & funds were going towards baby stuff, so I couldn’t justify purchasing the vase.

    Except now – I know I really should have b/c it still makes my heart race a little seeing one in your photo!

    Reply

  40. Lisa @ Life in Green says

    Balloon flowers are great and are not fussy and just get better each year. They look awesome in larger clumps. Since they are a somewhat old-fashioned perennial you should be able to get them relatively inexpensively.

    Always loved the pink, white & purple combo my mom had in one of her flower beds growing up.

    Reply

  41. Emily says

    Once I’d stolen some seeds from a botanical garden but I’d forgotten the real name of the plant. It looks like a sort of chinese lantern. For years I just referred to the plant and all of it’s descendents as “Palbert”. It actually is a heart pea, because the seeds are black with tiny white hearts on them! I still call him Palbert though.

    Reply

  43. Kirsten says

    Platycodon/ aka balloon flower is a commonly used chinese medicinal herb. We prescribe it (in combination) for coughs and breathing problems, and in school we all learn to remember it because the beautiful flower looks like a happily inflated lung!
    Breathe easy!

    Reply

  45. Suzi D. says

    We live in an apartment, so I had to resort to cutting (thorny but pretty) wildflowers in the ditch by the highway that goes through town. Since we’re new to town, I’m afraid I’ll probably always be “that girl.” Ha.

    Reply

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