with thanks

Tis the season to tell those around us how much we appreciate them. Time to thank those who make our lives better, easier, more beautiful. A thoughtful thank- you always goes a long way.

Often I make a homemade treat. Most years I make batches and batches of my ho-ho-hot fudge sauce. But this year my garden club did a bulb sale to fund their local community projects. I enthusiastically signed up for dozens of paper whites knowing that my check would go far.

Reality set in when I picked up all those bulbs. I mean how many pots of paper whites can you have blooming in your home?

Then I thought I’ll place them in little gift bags and give them as hostess and holiday gifts. But then I realized do all the people I want to show I care know how to properly plant and care for a forced bulb, or would the bulbs sit discarded in their festive bags?

At our last garden club meeting our fundraising chair had the foresight to ask one of our horticulture experts to do a little bulb tutorial. Cindy Garner is so talented, she showed us how we all can easily make a variety of gorgeous displays with our paper white and amaryllis bulbs.

Here’s a secret all good entertainers know- when you see a good idea, jot it down and figure out how to make it your own. There is no plagiarism in cooking and entertaining. The important thing is to figure out how to make it work for you. Imitation is really the best form of flattery!

Start with a paper white bulb. You can pick them up at your local garden center. I then went to Michaels for my other supplies.

I picked a vase that I could easily slip the bulb into and some clear glass marble vase fillers.

Fill the vase with an inch or two of marbles.

Nestle the bulb (bottom side down) into the marbles.

I then trimmed three gold painted branches so once inserted rose about six to eight inches above the top of the vase.

Insert the branches into the vase.

I chose a subtle wired ribbon that I thought would complement the bloom and painted twigs.

Tie a bow around the center of the vase. Wired ribbon is easy to manipulate, so that even the least crafty can create a beautiful bow.

That’s it! All you need to do is inform your recipient to add water to just the base of the bulb, and to keep adding water so that it stays at that point (if it’s any higher your bulb will rot, any lower and it will dry out). The bulb will soon shoot up through the vase and into the twigs and bloom about two weeks after you’ve started watering it. The best part- once the bloom has faded you can remove the old bulb and insert a new one. That way you can have paper white blooms all season long.

Once your friends see this festive gift, they might copy you too. Tis the season!