J Schwanke’s Life In Bloom

"J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by the following... That flower feeling.

At home.

At work.

Or anytime.

CalFlowers is a proud sponsor of "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom," where flowers and wellness go hand in hand.

We have fresh in all our stores, from soups and steaks and all things flour to all things flowering.

Custom fresh arrangements designed by our in-store florists at Albertsons Companies.

With additional support from the following... Dollar Tree.

We're looking at ways to reuse, repurpose, and recycle, including upcycling thrift-store vases.

We'll also recycle leftovers and even a flower arrangement on today's "Life in Bloom."

I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

Have you noticed the topic of recycling can cause some people to tune out?

Their eyes glaze over, and their mind wanders off in other directions.

It can be an overwhelming topic, laced with personal guilt for not doing one's part.

To me, recycling means using resources to their best advantage, in multiple ways, whenever possible.

Even small efforts in this direction can provide personal satisfaction.

And when everybody's efforts are added up, the effect is compounded.

Today, we're exploring ideas in recycling around flowers that are simple and beneficial on a personal scale and have the benefit of simultaneously contributing to the bigger picture.

So, these are the containers we're gonna use for our collection.

But we need to paint them first.

So, we'll use a wax technique on our box, and then we'll paint these little compotes that I found at a secondhand store.

So, our first step is to put some wax on our wooden box.

I'm using an old candle, and I'm rubbing the edges and particular places where I don't want the paint to adhere.

Putting the wax on before we paint will allow us to scrape off the wax, and we'll have a wonderful shabby-chic texture.

We'll flip our three vases upside down, and we'll use three different colors to paint those vases.

Make sure that you stay back and use short blasts.

If you use a heavy stream, the paint will run.

So, we want to do light coats.

Two light coats or three, even, is better than one heavy coat.

Allow the paint to dry in between coats.

Now we simply take a putty knife and scrape away the areas where we applied the wax... which gives us that wonderful shabby-chic look.

I've already done it on the other sides.

So, you can see how it just peels away.

Wherever that wax was, it's easy for us to scrape off the paint.

We'll put our liner back inside, and now we can fill our containers with flowers.

We have a collection of four containers, and our flowers and plant selection reflect those colors.

We'll start with our little compote.

I love this gravel because it has such mixed colors that incorporate all the colors of the collection.

We'll fill it up and place a succulent off to the side so that we can still see the gravel.

Next, we'll add our hyacinths and our mums.

Adding the focal flowers first helps give us a nice basis.

Then, the other detail flowers can fill in between.

Statice, hypericum, carnations all go together to make this wonderful collection look very unique and textural.

Our final arrangement is the box.

We've soaked a piece of flower foam and slipped it down inside the liner that will protect the inside of that wooden box.

We'll start with our China mum first and then our big puffs of green dianthus.

I love "green trick" dianthus because it looks like moss.

Using it towards the corners will give extra texture.

We'll add our roses and carnations, pompoms, statice.

Even one more hyacinth can be tucked inside there so that all of these mixtures coordinate and complement one another.

I love to repurpose and recycle different types of things.

We've got a couple projects today -- one where we'll be using a teacup that has a broken handle.

And we have another one with a pot that unfortunately got broken.

But I've got a plan for it.

Throughout the garden, I have different repurposed things.

I have a little willow dome that I built in an arrangement one time, but the stems were fresh.

So, I seeded it in the garden and now use it for a fairy garden.

I have an apothecary jar that lost the bottom.

And so, I've placed that in the yard and made a little place for a frog house.

There's all sorts of fun things that you can do with repurposed and recycled items -- this planter, for example.

We're gonna set our teacup in on a side and make it look like the plant's growing out of the teacup.

We'll start with rocks.

And there's holes in the bottom of my container so I have good drainage.

Then we'll add our soil.

We're gonna put our cup in on this side.

So, now we'll plant our little peperomia so it looks like it's coming out of the pot.

Tuck our dirt in.

Then I have a little heart-shaped succulent I'm gonna place down here at the bottom.

Now I'd like to add some ground cover.

I'm gonna use some colored gravel for one level, but the other level, I wanted something that looked white.

And what better thing than eggshells?

I have eggshells left over from breakfast every day.

So, I save my eggshells.

I bake them in the oven at 200 for about an hour, and then I'm able to crush them and use them as a ground cover that also has calcium, and it can improve my potting soil.

Now it's almost like a living piece of art, and we can place it in the garden.

I suggest placing it somewhere where you'd look down onto it, and you can see it every day.

It's a wonderful way for us to use that teacup.

Repurpose and recycle it.

So, now let's work with this guy.

This pot got broken, unfortunately.

And it broke into quite a few pieces.

I was able to glue this piece back together, and all the other little pieces were still hanging around.

So, I figured it's a great opportunity for us to utilize it as a fairy garden.

I need a base so that I can work with it in a bigger expanse.

So, I'm using this container, which is actually a recycled saucer that's made from plastic, stone, and wood.

That's the way the company makes them.

And it allows you to drill it with a regular drill.

So, I was able to drill holes in it so that it would have drainage.

That's gonna be important.

We're gonna set our pot on one side, and then we can plant down here and all throughout it.

We're gonna add some stones for drainage.

We'll use this piece and place it into the pot so that we can create multiple levels inside our fairy garden.

We'll fill up the inside with dirt.

I'm gonna use one of these pieces inside here to block that off.

You can use moss around the back side to help hold everything in place.

Moss is a really great addition because it will hold moisture, and it will also act as an erosion barrier to prevent things from sliding around.

Now we'll add a couple plants.

I thought it would be fun for us to use succulents in this.

I've got a couple of other ones that I've reclaimed out of another container that were long and dangly.

But I think that will be fun up here.

So, I'll go ahead and add some more plants, and I'm gonna add a little stairway, too, using the other pieces that we have.

Then, we'll add our fairy-garden pieces to that.

I love having all the accessories.

I want to make sure that it's nice, because if you have a nice fairy garden, the fairies will show up, and they'll populate your garden.

It's a perfect way to repurpose or recycle a broken pot like this into a lovely fairy garden.

So, here's a great idea to use found vases to create a display of flowers in your house.

I like little, tiny vessels, and I think it's fun, because you can find a bottle like this somewhere, or I use a lot of spices.

So, when the spices are empty, I can reclaim the vase, and I can use it for flowers.

These actually fit neatly all along the windowsill right in front of my kitchen sink.

So, I'll have a little garden of flowers that I can look out through.

So, what we'll do is, we'll fill these up with water, and we'll add a few flowers to each vase.

Remember, with any flower arranging, it's great to enjoy the process and enjoy placing the flowers in place, even if it's just a stem or two.

It's no secret that I'm the flower expert.

I know a lot about arranging flowers.

However, there are many things for which I claim no expertise.

But I'm not afraid to ask for help.

I saw an idea for building a garden potting bench using discarded pallets.

It's not an especially complex project, and I sometimes have pallets hanging around.

So, I asked my neighbor Troy, who is very handy and has most tools known to man, if he would help me with this project.

So, I knew when I was gonna do this -- I'm the flower guy.

Mm-hmm.

I can't build stuff.

And so, when I showed you these plans, you were like, "Oh, yeah, I can do that."

Yep.

We've built this out of a pallet.

A couple pallets, yeah.

You actually got these for me, but people might have access to pallets.

Yeah, yeah, you can go on Craigslist.

You can go on Facebook, look for free pallets.

You can go to your local box home-improvement stores, ask them, "Hey, I see pallets out back."

Oh, wow.

And they'll give them to you.

And they'll give them to you?

Yeah.

Okay.

Wow, that's cool.

I love this because it's a potting bench.

You made it the right height for me, too.

So, you could shrink up these sides.

You could make them taller or shorter if you wanted to.

Oh, exactly, yep.

So, yeah, I love it.

So, we're gonna attach the top now.

Yep.

Right?

We got some brackets.

Okay.

And we'll attach the shelves.

So, now we're gonna put the shelf in.

Yep.

And so, those go down here on this part?

Yep, and then we'll just braid-nail them in there.

And that's just these pieces that you popped off of here.

Right, off the other pallet.

Okay, so, now we had choices.

You could paint this.

You could stain it.

Yep.

You could do different things.

But I like it natural, and you had an idea for the top.

Yeah, burning it.

Right?

Or distressing it.

So, when you burn it, what happens?

It closes the grain and just accents the grain package a little bit better.

So, are we gonna pour something on it and set it on fire?

Nope, a little propane torch.

Okay.

Oh, okay.

Like a flambeau.

I like anything with fire.

[ Chuckles ] Alright, so, now we can move it into place, and we can have margaritas.

[ Laughs ] Alright!

So, do you want to salt edges for me?

Yep, I can do that.

Okay.

So, what I did was, I found this recipe online, and basically it talked about taking a cucumber, and then you blend it until it's completely blended.

Mm-hmm.

Then you strain it through a coffee filter to get a cucumber water.

Sounds horrible.

Right.

So, then, that cucumber water, you add -- which is the bright green here -- you add it to our tequila.

So, then, the tequila, I also had -- so, the tequila, I made a cucumber tequila, as well.

So, you take the tequila, and you peel a cucumber, and you use the peels and then take the guts out of the middle of it, and then you put that in there and let it steep for a week.

So, that's in there, too.

And then there's a little bit of triple sec in there, and it said important to mix them all together and let that be in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Then, we have fresh lime juice.

We have a little bit of simple syrup.

And it says you can top it with a little bit of sparkling water if you want to.

Mm-hmm.

So, we're gonna put it all in a shaker with some ice.

This new table is working out great.

Mm-hmm.

Perfect height.

See?

Right!

For us tall guys.

Bartender -- I know, right?

I like a tall table.

Now, see, you can come help me bartend anytime.

Do you like a fizz in yours?

Yeah, a little bit.

I like a fizz in mine.

But that's just me.

You can smell the cucumber already.

Right?

Okay, so, first of all, cheers to great neighbors.

Cheers.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

And here, let's see what we think.

Yummy.

That's delicious.

That'll get you in trouble.

Right.

Well, hey, again, thank you for helping me create this.

Thank you for always being part of my crazy ideas that I have and for being a great neighbor.

Anytime, J.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Morning glories bloom from early summer to the first frost of fall.

With slender, climbing, vine-like stems and heart-shaped leaves, their trumpet-shaped flowers come in colors of pink, purple/blue, magenta, or white.

Most morning-glory flowers unravel into full bloom in the early morning.

These fragrant, colorful flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

The flowers usually start to fade a few hours before the petals start showing visible curling.

Many morning glories self-seed in the garden.

They have a hard seed coat, which delays germination until late spring.

Germination may be improved by soaking them in warm water.

This climbing plant will thrive when supported with structures like trellises, pergolas, or arches.

Grow morning glories in a sunny spot.

They need a lot of sun to bloom their best.

We all have leftovers.

And a quesadilla is a really great way to transform your leftovers.

I have some chicken and some peppers and some onions here, and I have a tortilla shell.

So, these were leftovers from the other day.

And we'll just build a quesadilla right here.

I used to get frustrated when I would make quesadillas because I would try and make them big, all in one tortilla, and put another tortilla on top.

And I always had a hard time managing it in the grill.

So, this way, I can just make it on one side, and then we'll lay the top over, and then we can cook it.

Cheese is the best part.

And then, we just fold this over, and we can grill it on both sides.

So, now it's all done.

We'll cut it in half and plate it up.

I've added some fresh cilantro, sour cream, and a lime wedge.

It's a wonderful way to recycle your leftovers.

We all want our flowers to last as long as possible, and some flowers last longer than others.

I've got an arrangement here that we created about ten days ago.

And so, you'll notice that some of the flowers in the arrangement are still good.

And what I'll do with those is, I typically come back around, and I'll pull out the good ones, and then I'll use those in another arrangement.

As you can see here, our lily is pretty much gone.

And sometimes those petals will fall onto the table.

I love when that happens because I think it reminds us of the fleeting time that flowers have.

So, those blooms can fall off onto the table.

I think that's a great part of arranging flowers and having them around the house.

So, you can see our tritoma and this peony is starting to go.

But we've still got beautiful carnations in here.

They're gonna be wonderful for another week or two.

So, we can utilize those other flowers in another flower arrangement.

Let me show you how we can do that.

I use a tape grid when I have a shallow container like this with a large opening.

The tape grid helps provide structure and support for the flowers.

It's a great trick when you're using a larger bowl that's shallow.

I'll start with my hosta leaves because that also gives me structure in the arrangement.

And then I can add my hydrangeas next.

Between the hydrangeas and the hosta leaves, I've got great structure for placing other flowers.

I'll place a couple PeeGee hydrangeas and stock into the middle of this bouquet.

Those are my new flowers.

Then we can start grabbing flowers from out of the other arrangement.

Carnations are one of my favorites because they last so long.

I've had carnations that have lasted over 30 days.

So, bringing them and repurposing them and recycling them in another arrangement is a great idea.

I like to spin through the arrangement and make sure I grab everything that's usable.

The snapdragons and astilbe also look great.

We can even bring over some of the greenery, as well.

Senna, geranium, and phlox also last a long time as a foliage.

So, they're great to transfer to the other arrangement.

Now I've got a beautiful arrangement that's created from recycled stems and brand-new ones.

It's a wonderful way for us to repurpose and recycle.

Hopefully, this show has provided a couple of ideas to extend your enjoyment of flowers, as well as using resources wisely.

For "Life in Bloom," I'm J Schwanke.

We'll attach the shelves.

So... Sweet!

Got some brackets here.

So, we were talking.

We've been neighbors for 25 years.

Yeah -- good neighbors.

Yeah, good -- well, yeah.

That's the best neighbor to have.

Yeah.

Right, right?

Yeah.

A joke I want to tell people -- I tell people that if my house was on fire, I would call the fire department, but you would be putting it out with a hose before they got here.

[ Laughs ] Yeah.

But that's what friends do.

I know, right?

It's so true.

It's very true.

So, at the end of our show, we have this cool, little state of Michigan... Mm-hmm.

...that we say, "'J Schwanke's Life in Bloom' is made in Grand Rapids, Michigan."

And I put a little flower on that.

You made that for me.

Yep.

Yep.

And that was -- I think that's the first thing you made for me.

"J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Visit J's website, ubloom.com, for flower projects and crafts, complete recipes, behind-the-scenes videos, J's blog, flower cocktails, and more.

"J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by the following... That flower feeling.

At home.

At work.

Or anytime.

CalFlowers is a proud sponsor of "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom," where flowers and wellness go hand in hand.

We have fresh in all our stores, from soups and steaks and all things flour to all things flowering.

Custom fresh arrangements designed by our in-store florists at Albertsons Companies.

With additional support from the following... Dollar Tree.

Closed-caption funding provided by Holland America Flowers.