In the spirit of Debra Prinzing, author of The Fifty Mile Bouquet, I’ve decided to take on the challenge of creating weekly flower arrangements from my own yard. I’m calling them my “Fifty Foot Bouquets.”

I love this time of year in Southern California. The big holidays are behind us, we’ve had some rain, and Mother Nature is taking notice of the warm afternoons. After a couple of weeks of unusually cold temperatures, (30s at night, 50s during the day) we’re back to warm days. Today I spotted buds on my Kaffir lily, and by next month, the lavender will be blooming, the apricot, pomegranate, and grapes will be sprouting leaves, and the freesias will be almost there.

I know that next month I will have plenty of material for an arrangement. I wasn’t sure what I would find today, but here’s a picture of what I came up with:

I found one English rosebud, some lion’s tale that wasn’t too far gone, some blooming jade plant, a sprig of lantana that rooted itself among my rosebushes, snippets of mandevilla, begonia, and pansy that I potted last fall, and some geranium leaves.

Not luscious, abundant, impressive blooms, I know, because really, I’m not a great gardener. I don’t use pesticides on my flowers, fruits, or vegetables and thus they’re not as lush as what you can buy in a store. But they make me happy, and really, isn’t that the whole point?