Sandra Lee certainly had the right idea with her semi-homemade concept – an idea that inspired this almost-fall bouquet fashioned from store-bought roses and some papyrus and sweet potato vine from the garden. The former adds some vertical architectural interest, and deep green color, while the latter is a bright beacon to remind us that summer is not quite over yet.
Our sweet potato vines have done spectacularly this year – and I’m not sure why since all we’ve had is rain, but they are flowing down from their canopy perch in the backyard and trailing all the way to the ground. They make an excellent cut stem for bouquets as well, adding this exquisite chartreuse and turning themselves upright after a few hours. I made the mistake of ignoring them for years because the angles of their stems were difficult to use – it turns out I just needed to be patient and allow them to right themselves – one of the many lessons of gardening that bleeds beautifully into other pockets of life.
