Two ways to dress up a garden party table

Sunset, June, 1999 by Kathleen N. Brenzel

You love your garden. That's why you want to share it - literally - by sending guests home from a summer party with charming souvenirs. Here are two ways to do that.

1. Blooms by the bunch

Two or three stems each of flowers that dry well - purple sea lavender (Limonium perezii) and L. latifolium - with a spray of deep green camellia leaves behind make up the little bouquet pictured above. Snip the stems to 3 inches long, gather the flowers as shown, and tie them with natural-colored raffia.

Other flowers to try: globe amaranth in mixed colors, sprays of lavender with coral bells (Heuchera), or yarrow. Other foliage: citrus, sprenger asparagus fern, or sword fern.

2. Button-size bouquets

Some plants bear diminutive but bouquet-perfect blooms with enough stem to help them last up to two weeks when cut. The ones pictured above right come in sunny fiesta colors; all, except where noted, are summer annuals that grow well throughout the West and should be in nurseries this month. For a softer look, try asters, fever-few, or miniature roses.

THE PLANTS

* Asteriscus maritimus (also sold as Gold Coin). Showy yellow daisylike flowers, about 1 1/2 inches across on foot-tall plants. Evergreen perennial in Sunset climate zones 9 and 15-24. (In colder climates, substitute coreopsis.)

* Creeping zinnia (Sanvitalia pro-cumbens). Not really a zinnia, but it looks like one; this plant grows only 4 to 6 inches tall and trails to a foot or more. Yellow or orange daisylike flowers, up to an inch across, have dark purple-brown centers.

* Zinnia angustifolia Starbright Mix. Inch-wide flowers are orange, bronze, gold, and cream on compact plants to 8 inches tall.

* Zinnia haageana Old Mexico. Mahogany flowers overlaid with shades of golden yellow are less than 1 1/2 inches across on compact plants (to 16 inches tall).

THE VASES: Tiny glass vases (3 1/2 to 4 inches tall) like the one above are available at some florists and florists' supply stores, or you can use straight-sided spice bottles. Embellish them with natural raffia ties.

THE STRATEGY: Set a bouquet at each place to send home with your guests. A center arrangement can display larger summer flowers in the same colors and shapes: gaillardia, gloriosa daisies, and Zinnia elegans with yellow or red blooms.