Blue Bell Flower Shops

Blue Bell PA News

Aug 10, 2017

Good To Grow: America in Bloom contestant Lewisburg overflows with flowers

The Savannah Garden Club is not alone, as there are several other garden clubs that work to keep the city beautiful. The Blue Bell Garden Club offers to design and plant containers for business owners interested in working with the color scheme, plus planting pansies and annuals in public gardens. The Lewisburg House & Garden Club works with the elementary schools and the Greenbrier Garden Club landscapes the city’s entrance signs. These clubs do so much more than I could ever mention here, including coming together for the annual home and garden tours along with the Greenbrier Historical Society. This is a good time to plan a visit and a fun way to explore the private gardens around town.I can’t forget to mention my fellow Master Gardeners of Greenbrier County and the work they do to support the Demonstration Garden on the State Fairgrounds. This garden is always a highlight of my trip to the fair. There are fruit trees, herb areas, raised beds and the most beautiful zinnias I have ever seen. Each year during the fair, I’m lucky enough to spend an afternoon or two volunteering in the children’s section of the garden. Children can explore and learn a little about a flowers or insects and begin their love of gardening in this interactive space.With all of these volunteers, gardeners and clubs working together, plus that fertile Greenbrier County soil, it’s no wonder the city has been nominated again this year (for the fourth time) as an America in Bloom participant for the 3,500 to 9,999 population category. Lewisburg won this honor in 2014. What is America in Bloom? Its vision statement reads, “AIB envisions communities across the country as welcoming and vibrant places to live, work, and play benefiting from colorful plants and trees; enjoying clean environments; celebrating heritage; and planting pride through volunteerism.” Judges were in town in early July, and the communities winning this prestigious national award will be announced in the fall. Good luck, Lewisburg!As I continue my walk up Washington Street, I am happy to know, in this little city filled with people who welcome me into their homes and gardens, who offer me food and drinks, and who always have an empty chair and time to chat in the afternoon, the sense of community is real. One of the many reasons Lewisburg is cool and bursting with blooms is because of the dedicated efforts of the many groups working together to create an inviting city for visitors and residents. Just like in the garden, where different plants mix together to create a beautiful scene, the gardeners of Lewisburg come together to create a bloom-filled West Virginia small-town gem.Jane Powell is a longtime West Virginia Extension Service Master Gardener through the Kanawha County chapter and has a garden with sunny spots and shady beds, where she grows perennials, vegetables and herbs. She is also the communications director for a community ... (Charleston Gazette-Mail (subscription))

Dec 15, 2016

Norristown Garden Club's Holiday House Tour moves to Collegeville area for 2016

Christmas charm to the kitchen, courtesy of Gwen Barrett, who created the memorable arrangement of stacked pancakes in the Spachts’ Blue Bell home for the 2015 Holiday House Tour. “We just pulled off the colors of the room, and fruits for the kitchen centerpiece made sense,” Barrett said, adding that the oversized cranberries were supplied by Ray’s Greenhouse in Souderton. Books that had lined the shelves in the Daller family’s favorite room in the house, the library, were given the boot to make way for greenery and rustic elements that seemed as naturally inclusive as the genuine Staffordshire ceramic dogs that routinely share a shelf here. “They inspired us to get our books organized. The books that didn’t get stored in an upstairs guest bedroom were donated to Liberty Thrift Store,” said Bridgie Daller, laughing. Evans pointed out an acorn garland hanging in the library and a stack of books from which sprouted a fresh geranium bloom. “A member’s husband drilled the holes for us,” she said, showing that the geranium was, in fact, thriving in a tube of fresh water. “That’s the kind of dedication we find in our members.” Daller allowed that she was interested in hearing the reactions of tourgoers on Friday. “I think all of the club’s ideas are wonderful. We keep things pretty simple and fairly primitive, and I think a lot of people like what’s dusty and old,” she added with a laugh. Further down the line, “A Collegial Christmas” at the Ursinus College Home on East Ninth Avenue rewrote the story of yesteryear with an unexpected approach. “Years ago it was on the tour and was very traditional, but now it’s not,” Evans explained. “It’s a single man who is the college president and living there now, and the committee thought a different style for him was more fitting.” The style invoked at the Ursinus College house was the Japanese art of flower arranging called ikebana, Evans noted. Simplicity typically defines the discipline, but it’s more complex than it may appear, she added. “It could be sticking a single flower in a vase, but there is more to it.” The 2016 Holiday House tour continues in Collegeville with “Home Is Where the Heart Is” at the Smith family’s Nicholas Lane home and “The Home of Five Golden Rings” at the DeBald family’s Sixth Avenue residence before reaching into Schwenksville for “Christmas at Ashbourne Manor,” courtesy of the DiFilippo family on Ashbourne Way. All of the homes reflect the club’s goal to showcase a variety of architectural styles, Evans had said. “Our goal is to have an historic home, a contemporary home, a small home, a larger home, a traditional home and so forth,” she said. “We also attempt to choose houses that have contrasting styles of furnishings or feature colors that are different from each other. Norristown Garden Club’s tour, no matter the type of home, always emphasizes creative holiday ideas and highlights fresh flowers and greens.” The Norristown Garden Club has nearly 300 members who live over a wide area, including Harleysville, Springfield Township, Doylestown and all points in between. A Holiday House project requires about 100 people to work on decorating, and roughly another 125 to serve as hostesses during the event. For more information, visit NorristownGardenClub.org. (The Times Herald)

Dec 15, 2016

Ring in the holidays with these gorgeous ceramic bells

Highland Park studio, set up behind her house. A mixture of loose and primitive with modern and early styles, her ceramic blue bells drip from a serendipitous self-discovered glaze technique. $100-$250. mmhp.squarespace.com    OtherworldlyArizona artisans produce one-of-a-kind ceramic bells from molds prepped with powdering oxides, which create the beautiful and sundry coloration patterns in Cosanti’s otherworldly bells and chimes. The late architect Paolo Soleri designed many of the original molds. $289. cosanti.comMarbledCeramic artist Cameron Petke makes a modern interpretation of the Eastern temple bell. Sizes range from 12 inches to 26 inches, and the wheel-thrown bells come in a maze of outer surfaces: masking-glaze-resist to smoked beeswax, smoked fire, Japanese marbled neriage or a technique he calls “graffiti,” shown here, with numerous layered markings and firings. $500-$1,500. bakedclaystudio.com  SumptuousCeramic artist and designer Jennifer Prichard’s massive dangling white bell art piece channels New York’s Hamptons. Made of up hundreds of sumptuous rope-strung, hand-wrapped bells, it dangles from the ceiling without sound. Price upon request. jpricharddesign.comSweet Born and raised in Brazil of South Korean heritage, artist Re Jin Lee makes a sweet trio of tiny white ceramic bells that range in size from 3 inches to 4.5 inches and are roped with a thick, braided, jute loop yarn. $98 each bell (driftwood stick not included). bdbny.com   Mixed mediaVan Nuys artist Brenda Holzke’s prize “Sounds of the Canyon” bell installation art piece utilizes stonewear clay, hemp, leather and metal. It’s for indoor use only. Price upon request. brendaholzke.com home@latimes.comFollow our design and gardening boards on Pintere... (Los Angeles Times)

Oct 17, 2015

Plant this time of year to enjoy the simplicity, beauty of spring bulbs

There are many different colors of the variety, too. For the shade, Spanish blue bells ( Hyacinthoides hispanica), sometimes called wood hyacinths, are one of his suggestions. They have short, pretty pink, white or blue flowers and will form a colony by naturalizing. “It's wonderful, it will tolerate a good bit of shade,” he says. “It will spread, and it's critter resistant. It doesn't taste good to them.” One of the eternal questions of bulb growing is, when do gardeners remove the foliage? Heath quotes a University of Delaware study, which concluded nothing is gained by waiting longer than eight weeks. By that time, the bulbs have absorbed enough energy to bloom again. He has other suggestions for the foliage: “Never bend it, never tie it in knots, never braid it. The leaves are there because they need sunlight and air.” Lilies are often thought of as spring-planted bulbs, which is fine, he says, but they get a better start with fall planting. They should be planted deep, 8 to 10 inches down. “ ‘Black Beauty' is incredible; it's my all-time favorite,” he says. “It's a later bloomer, deep red with a white eye, specked and freckled, and they have a heavenly fragrance. They will multiply annually, too.” Heath wants his bulbs to make gardeners happy, but sees even further-reaching benefits. “I hope they get smiles. Plant bulbs and harvest smiles. I hope they get pleasure, and they can share that pleasure with other people. If we had more people smiling in the world, we'd have less strife in the world.” From Holland fields As a child, Hans Langeveld ran between long rows of bulbs just across a narrow canal from Keukenhof Garden in Lisse, Holland. He was there with his father to look over the endless fields of flowers. “I used to love it. The smell was fantastic,” he says. “I've got good memories from that time.” Langeveld is a third-generation bulbsman who's co-owner of Longfield Gardens in Lakewood, N.J. He hopes gardeners will discover the simplicity of planting these spring bloomers. “First of all, bulbs are easy,” he says. “The bulbs have all the reserves inside without too much additives like fertilizer.” He likes to plant his bulbs in concert with perennials. When the bulbs are done blooming, the foliage of the perennials will mask the foliage as it turns brown. The plants also keep the soil temperatures a little cooler during the summer, which the bulbs appreciate. Daffodils and day lilies are a great combination, he says. Langeveld has experimented with mixes and loves planting muscari (grape hyacinths) together with tulips or daffodils. “Muscari combines with pretty much any color of bulb that we have,” he says. “It's an excellent companion planting. Since the plant is long blooming, it will put on a show when the other bulbs flower.” He's introduced “Perfect Pairs,” which teams different bulbs together. He's growing single tulips with doubles, tulips with daffodils and more. Gardeners can make their own combinations, too. The company used to sell a mixture of muscari and ‘Moulin Rouge' tulips, which now can be purchased separately. “It makes a spectacular show,” he says of the mixed bulbs. “It almost creates fireworks.” Langeveld has some ideas for plants that animals will leave alone. Alliums are from the onion family and are pretty much deer-proof. ‘Gladiator' and ‘Globemaster' have pretty purple, ball-shaped flowers, and ‘Graceful' blooms with a smaller white flower. After they bloom, he says, the seed heads make great dried flowers. Fritillaria come in many forms. “I like the big ones — they put on a show,” Langeveld says. “They grow incredibly fast.” ‘Rubra Maxima' grows 3 feet tall with brilliant orange blooms. ‘Lutea Maxima' is as t... (Tribune-Review)