>> "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.

♪ >> Today on "Life in Bloom," it's all about collections -- living collections of trees and hosta plants in the garden, artwork featuring flowers in various forms, and even swizzle sticks and recipes.

♪ ♪ I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

In some circles, I might be known as a bit of a pack rat.

I do love a good collection, and I have many personal collections that I enjoy.

I've shared my flower frog collection on the show, as well as my Starburst Franciscan dinnerware.

Although she mainly collects experiences, as many people do today, I've even inspired my niece to collect the pattern Echo by the same creator, Mary Chalmers Brown.

I do try and be mindful of collections, however, and have become more particular to adding to collections or starting new ones.

Of course, this rarely applies to flowers.

I can always find a bit of room in the garden for another specimen.

Let's dive into some curated collecting and see where we wind up.

♪ As you can imagine, much of what I collect is based in flowers.

My home decor frequently includes flowers.

The most commanding piece of decor or artwork is the wallpaper featuring flowers.

It's created on a large scale so you can't miss it.

These designs are by Ellie Cashman, and I love them.

One is in the living room and the other in the bedroom.

I use them to accent a wall in a room.

It's almost like a giant painting.

I have also started collecting vintage paint-by-numbers paintings, usually with a flower motif, sometimes a garden scene.

I enjoy the graphic nature of these paintings.

Botanical artwork with a scientific flair is also great for decor in the home.

I have only a couple of prints of this type of artwork.

Trying to limit myself here.

This painting of carnations and lilies has special significance, as it represents my grandparents, "Carnation" Joe and his Lily.

It was painted for me personally as a wonderful gift.

I have also collected a couple pieces of this embroidered flower artwork.

A nice aspect to these is their smaller size.

You can tuck them here and there amongst your decor.

This is a collection of crewel-style free embroidery, as opposed to counted stitches.

Its origins date back to 17th-century England and even earlier.

But this grouping is representative of the craft popular in the '70s.

And flowers are a popular subject.

Hence, my interest.

Here are two special pieces of artwork that have been on the "Life in Bloom" set many times, the chrysanthemum painting, as seen in an episode based on that flower.

This smaller piece is an Edelweiss painting, and it's painted on the glass.

Edelweiss was one of my grandma Lil's favorite flowers.

While I always encourage everyone to enjoy fresh flowers when they can, even artwork with flowers provides similar benefits.

Scientific studies have shown that viewing artwork of flowers can have the same calming and de-stressing benefits.

♪ The next time you're looking for artwork or considering a change in decor, consider adding flowers to the mix.

It's an effective way to relax with flowers.

♪ One of my current favorite collections are wall pockets, or things that hang on the wall that would hold flowers.

This is actually a wall pocket.

It's a pocket of ceramic that hangs on the wall that would hold flowers or a plant.

I also love vases, though, that can hang on the wall, too.

So, I've got several things that cross over in this collection.

I have a large ceramic wall pocket that has a bird and lotus leaves.

It's huge and it has a lot of room for a lot of flowers.

So I can do some really dynamic designing with my flowers when I fill that wall pocket.

We also have other ones that are replicas of vintage wall pockets.

There's two in the bathroom.

One is a vase.

The other is a majolica one with a bird.

I love them because even if they're not filled with anything, they look decorative on the wall.

So, let me show you how we create a wall pocket.

First and foremost, hang it on a secure nail so that we're sure it's going to be able to hold the weight of the wall pocket, water, and flowers.

Next, we want to add water before we fill it with flowers.

And the reason that we want to do that is to make sure that the water doesn't reach the hole on the back so the water would run down the wall.

So, we add water first.

♪ And notice I didn't fill it up all the way to that edge because as I add my flowers and foliage, the water will rise.

Just as we do with most arrangements, we want to make sure that there's no foliage that falls below the waterline.

And we're adding our foliage structure first.

With that foliage structure in place, we can add our other flowers around it.

♪ If I have something with a big stem, I'm going to add that first because it needs extra room down inside there.

Smaller stems can go around that larger stem.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I bring in accent flowers last.

This dill is beautiful.

And it's feathery and looks nice around those other flowers.

♪ I'm going to add a focal flower, this beautiful dahlia, but I'm going to have it holed up higher so I don't cover the little owl space.

So, now we have a beautiful wall pocket that's filled with flowers.

A few parting thoughts.

Remember to check every day with your finger to make sure there's plenty of water inside.

The flowers get thirsty, and we want to make sure that we have enough water.

As the flowers start to fade, remember to remove them so they won't damage the wall surface.

A wall pocket is a wonderful way to enjoy a life in bloom.

♪ ♪ Here's our Bloom 365 Tip -- helping you enjoy flowers every day of the year.

When it comes to tiny vases, cleaning them can be a problem, but not with a dishwasher.

Simply load them in upside down, and when you take them out, they're gleaming clean and ready for flowers.

♪ ♪ One of my collections is a collection of swizzle sticks.

I like to choose swizzle sticks that actually have flowers on them.

So, this is pretty much the whole collection right here.

But you'll see daisies, a pineapple.

That counts as a flower.

We've got leaves.

We've got a vine.

We've got roses, a thistle, all sorts of different swizzle sticks that have a flower on top.

So, I thought a fun way to display them is to make flower faux cocktails.

I've got different cocktail glasses that we filled with water or we filled with an artificial snow.

That will allow us to add color and also hold our flowers in place if we want to do something special.

We'll start with a martini glass.

And I just want to add some color on the edges.

♪ Now, the interesting thing about this is that that color will start to bleed down through there.

I can rush it along if I want to by pushing it down, but generally, I like it to attribute itself by itself 'cause then it'll look better and more natural.

So, then we can add our flowers.

I'm using some Scoop Scabiosa.

♪ ♪ And then we'll add some Astrantia.

♪ And then we'll slip in a rose.

♪ And so we have a lovely faux cocktail that's filled with flowers.

Then we can display a couple of our swizzle sticks in that cocktail.

Now let's take a look at our purple one.

This one is reminiscent of the old-time sodas that we used to make in the flower shop.

We used to make these sodas with carnations.

And so then we'll add three carnations... and one in the middle.

And then let's go for a contrasting one.

The yellow one at the top.

Now, here's a fun way to do it, just by dropping a rose down inside a vase like that.

And we can complement it with our pineapple one.

We'll use a white rose here.

We can use our cream and white flowered ones there.

And finally, on the end, we've got a margarita glass.

And margaritas are green.

So, we'll use green hydrangea down inside here.

And maybe we'll even stick a leaf out the side.

♪ This is one of my favorites.

And we can just lay that one across the center like that.

So, you see, it's a fun way to create faux flower cocktails and display a collection of swizzle sticks.

♪ ♪ One collection many people possess but may not think of it that way is their recipe collection.

Whether it's a favorite aunt's cookie recipe, favorites from a vintage cookbook, or dishes you've perfected over the years, taking the time to gather recipes is doubly rewarding.

Firstly, for keeping track of them, but perhaps more importantly, to enjoy the rewards of your collection by preparing them.

Here's one of my favorite recipes.

It's a shrimp dip that's great on crackers or with corn chips.

Our first ingredient is shrimp.

These are small, de-veined shrimp, and I love these because they're in the freezer section, so they're ultra fresh.

We take a fork, and we mash these up in a bowl.

I just like using a fork.

♪ So, we've got those all mashed up inside there.

Our next thing -- softened cream cheese.

♪ Three heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise.

So, we're going to mix up our cream cheese and the shrimp and the mayonnaise.

♪ Okay.

Now we're going to use a container of sour cream.

♪ We'll mix that in.

♪ Next, we'll add what my mother used to call is a "schlug" of lemon juice.

A schlug is probably about four tablespoons or so.

That looks like a schlug, okay?

♪ Next, we need some Tabasco sauce.

And I just put four or five drops in there.

10.

You know, it's like the schlug.

♪ Next, horseradish.

That's one of my favorites.

And we need about three tablespoons or so of horseradish.

♪ And finally, for our pink color, we're gonna use organic ketchup.

♪ Now, I use -- that's probably about two tablespoons, but, again, this is gonna be more about the color than anything else.

I want it to be a nice pink color, like the shrimp.

♪ It's a little bit pale.

♪ ♪ I like them served with corn chips.

But you can use crackers or potato chips, whatever you'd like.

♪ This is one of my favorite dips and I make it several times a year and it's really hard for me not to eat the whole thing myself.

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you enjoy collecting your recipes.

It's recipes that create a life in bloom.

♪ Hostas are herbaceous perennial plants growing from rhizomes, with broad, or ovate, leaves, varying widely in size from species from 1 to 18 inches long and 2 to 30 centimeters broad.

Leaf color in wild species is typically green, although some species are known for wonderful waxy leaf coatings that give a blue appearance to the leaf.

Some species have a white coating covering the underside of the leaves.

Natural mutations of native species are known with yellow-green-gold-colored leaves or with leaf variegations that are either white or cream or yellowish for the edges or the centers.

Variegated plants often give rise to sports that are the result of a reshuffling of cell layers during bud formation, producing foliage with mixed-pigment sections.

♪ I've long been fascinated with tiny flower arrangements, and I always look for tiny vases that can hold flowers.

And sometimes they even tell a little story.

Let me show you some of my favorites, and let's make some tiny flower arrangements inside them.

I'll share some of my favorite tips and tricks for these miniature flower creations.

I had purchased tiny flower vases and started a collection.

And then I realized that they were most probably toothpick holders.

Not all tiny flower vases are toothpick holders, though.

But sometimes that was the original intention.

And many times the interesting storyteller versions are made in Japan and feature figurines or animals.

However, any vase that will hold water can hold a flower arrangement.

Adding flower food to a bottle of water helps create a wonderful vessel for adding water to the tiny vases.

Spray flowers, like roses or chrysanthemums or even mini carnations, are great for making arrangements because we can take off the individual flowers and add them to our bouquet.

That's one stem, and now we have six different flowers.

♪ ♪ Sometimes a vessel will have a large mouth.

And that makes it hard for a few flowers to sit inside.

But what we can do is bundle the flowers together.

We might take a few pieces of Eryngium, a couple of our spray chrysanthemums, and a few of our miniature carnations and create a little bundle like that.

We can cut off the stems and then use craft-covered wire or a binding wire to put it together into a little bouquet.

♪ That bundling holds it together and will allow it to set in the vase without falling out.

Sometimes we can use less flowers.

Maybe we only have one beautiful zinnia and that will drop down into a container and be an arrangement all on its own.

Remember to check your water every day because there's not very much water inside these little tiny vases.

And with our flowers inside there, they get thirsty.

Anything that will hold water can become a flower vase.

This is a shot glass, but it has a wonderful painting of a tall leprechaun on the outside.

Surprise your friends or guests by placing one in a guest room or have it inside the bathroom.

Or it's even a wonderful gift.

Tiny arrangements are always a surprise.

Now that I've introduced you to my wonderful collection of tiny vases, what tiny vessel do you have that might be filled with a few flowers?

Use your imagination.

And don't forget to share your fun projects with me.

♪ ♪ Today, I'm going to make an arrangement using branches cut from my collection of trees.

Inspired by Claes Oldenburg, who collects trees on his estate in France, where he displays his famous artwork, I thought a tree collection sounded like a wonderful idea.

I love trees almost as much as flowers, and planting trees is a wonderful investment in the future.

There's a famous quote that states, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

The next best time is today."

Inspired by the different textures and colors and the wonderful foliage additions they can add to any arrangement, I've decided to plant at least one tree every year going forward in my life.

In my collection so far, I have an Autumn Blaze maple.

A Vanderwolf Pine, a gingko, a redbud, two different witch hazels, and scarlet dogwood are among the collection, and my favorite, a coral bark Japanese maple.

♪ ♪ Today I have two photos to share with you from viewer Jeannie Greene.

Her arrangement contains Rudbeckia hirta -- that's black-eyed Susans -- and a Banksia protea.

♪ And she delighted me with a close-up so I can see the detail in both the protea Banksia and this unusual tubular-pedaled Rudbeckia.

Thanks, Jeannie.

I love to see pictures of arrangements inspired by the show and created by our viewers.

Our nickname for them is "Schwankes."

Send your pictures to J@ubloom.com.

That's the letter J at the letter U bloom.com.

And watch for more Schwankes on upcoming shows.

Hopefully you've acquired some ideas on starting your own meaningful collections.

If you already have your own wonderful collections, remember to take some time to review and enjoy them every once in a while.

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

My mom was pretty unique.

This was her recipe, and she developed it.

And so one day my Aunt Lorraine was making the shrimp dip.

She called me and she said, "My shrimp dip doesn't turn out like your mom's.

You know, I'm doing everything, and it just doesn't seem to be that way."

So I had her read the recipe to me, and my mom had left out the mayonnaise.

So I went to my mom and said, "Hey, you left out the mayonnaise on Aunt Lorraine's shrimp dip."

And she said, "I always leave one ingredient out of my recipes so no one can make it as good as I can."

[ Laughs ] So, I thought that was always funny.

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

>> Visit J's web site, 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.

♪ Closed-caption funding provided by Holland America Flowers.

♪ ♪