Bring In Those Bloomin' Branches

Inevitably, every Spring I will pass a neighbor’s home where they have just pruned a flowering tree, while it’s in bud, and they toss it to the curb! That magic and beauty the tree has worked so hard creating throughout the year is wasted at the dump, or (gulp) shredded before it puts on it’s spectacular show of color and fragrance.

Flowering tree branches are my favorite type of floral arrangement. The long arching branches heavy with flowers are elegant, sexy and…Oh, and did I mention FREE! And, they’re EVERYWHERE!!

So, when I was driving home from the gym last week and saw the back of a landscaper’s truck piled high with budding Bradford Pear tree branches, much to my daughters’ embarrassment, I stopped. It took me all of two seconds to ask the two nice gardener gentlemen if I could take few of the branches off of their hands. They could have cared a less. I told them they should make bouquets for their wives for Easter. At this point I was pretty sure they didn’t speak a lick of english, or they thought I was a loon and were scared. We exchanged smiles, bows and waves. I wonder if they took my advice?

Into my trunk they went (the branches not the nice gardeners) and down the street we drove…very carefully.

I considered this a rescue mission, not a dumpster dive and from it we ended up with two beautiful arrangements for Easter. Teddy even made a few bucks selling some too!

Don’t you see two beautiful spring floral arrangements in there?

My girls are mortified as I drive home.

Leave branches in “Staging Area I” because I am sopping wet from the gym and can’t deal with them at the moment.

Due to threat of frost, branches are then brought to “Staging Area II” (our disgusting basement). They open after two days. I think they are just wanting out of this area!