Budget Blooms: Myrtle Magic: a house log

Thanks to two fairly major road trips, August nearly slipped away before I could share my monthly bouquet (a especially sweet Christmas present from the hubs). Simply like last month’s lush lilies, this month’s blossoms did not hail from the grocery store. Again we bucked the normal $3-5 bouquet and headed outside, this time to snip one fairly hot pink branch from the crape myrtle on the side of our house. Here is my lovely free flowering branch living it up in a blue glass vase on the mantel in the living room:

For those of you who live too far north to enjoy Crape Myrtles (remarkable trees that runneth over with pink or white blooms fairly much all summer long), might I recommend moving to the south to enjoy them? They are planted along nearly every road and around virtually every shopping center and they truly make a former northerner like myself feel like I am in a Disney movie. I practically expected birds to land on my arms and fashion me a dress out of curtains when I moved here back in 2005.

The pop of hot pink truly wakes up the whole living room, and the raspberry tone mixed with the soft blue vase is an unexpectedly excellent pairing- especially in our otherwise light and airy home. Gotta enjoy how something so small can make such a big impression.

So what about you folks? Have you snagged any cheerful flowers courtesy of your backyard or your local grocery store? We’d enjoy to know what blooms are tickling your fancy these days and what bouquets your backyard is bearing without breaking the bank.

Wanna see our first grocery store bouquet from last January? Itching to check out February, March, April, May, June, and July too?Simply follow the links for some fairly sweet low-cost-o (and even free) bouquets.