Meriel Bradley: We are here today with Dan Cooper, now Dan when you looking at real
estate and you are looking at home staging what is it that is important for
us to understand?
Dan Cooper: Well to answer that properly I’m going to take you on a little tour to
Toronto and we’re going to go down to the Distillery District.
Meriel Bradley: And what we will find there?
Dan Cooper: Well that’s the home of Elaine Martin and she runs a very successful shop
called the Vintage Gardener.
Meriel Bradley: It look sounds exciting what will Elaine be teaching us today.
Dan Cooper: Well especially in my profession it’s key to make sure that home are stage,
they show properly, the look like modern home and it’s quite easy to do
and Elaine happens to be the master of taking into a count the season as
well so she can show you what to do as we had in the spring to make your
home really set aside apart in that particular season.
Meriel Bradley: Well that’s sound exciting and I’m looking forward to a taste of spring.
Stay with us as we hit the road, you are watching Daily Web TV. I’m very
excited to be here today because I’m with Elaine from Vintage Garden and
now Elaine it’s an inspiring being here.
Elaine Martin: I love the Distillery District the history here and the buildings and it’s
terrific for a garden spot.
Meriel Bradley: And you have a great project for us today.
Elaine Martin: This is a really fun thing to do specially with the children because it’s like
magic.
Meriel Bradley: Now what do you call it?
Elaine Martin: Forcing Branches to Bloom and you do it during this thoughts we typically
get a January or little warm up in February and that’s the day I grab my
secateurs and head to the garden because I can cut the branches that bloom
in April or May and I can make them bloom inside the house.
Meriel Bradley: So it really easy this magical transformation?
Elaine Martin: Absolutely. So the branch that looks did and here some I cut and this is for
Sophia and looks like a dead stick to me and suddenly as you put it in the
water and you begin to force it, the bud start to swell and look green and
then magically one day they come out in full blossom.
Meriel Bradley: So how do you do this? What’s the first steps, you go out into the
garden—
Elaine Martin: It has to be you have to pick the right day, so it should be sunny and it
should also be going up at will 10 degrees.
Meriel Bradley: Okay.
Elaine Martin: It can be very, very called can be minus 20 and going up 10 degrees.
Meriel Bradley: And will going over zero.
Elaine Martin: It doesn’t have to be going over zero. And what we are doing is we’re
tricking the shrub the plant and they taking the spring is taking place. So
that’s why we wanted to be sunny and that does really want the
temperature going up.
Meriel Bradley: So you pop one your boots, out you go, you cut your branches and you
bring them in and what do you do?
Elaine Martin: I use a crutch pruner, this is a lovely little secateurs that what you do is
you clamp on the stem and you push it in once and that holds it and then
you pump so it doesn’t hurt your hand and you don’t have to push all the
way through it works like a pump, you just pump it and it cuts to a very
think branch.
Meriel Bradley: Wow.
Elaine Martin: Once I bring it in the house even with the cut that I’ve made I have it to
cut again and the stub forms on the bottom of this and my serious that it’s
to protect the branch it’s a built in mature nature kind of thing so that it
would lock in any moisture or nourishment that it does have. That can
come up— five to six inches of the stem.
Meriel Bradley: Really that much?
Elaine Martin: So when you’re outside you have to think about already what vice you are
going to put when you come back in the house because you’re going to
need to cut it long grow outside that what you want it to be. So now I’m
going to give it a clean cut again. And there are two things that I can do
now to soften the bottom the of the stem, I want to soften as at much as I
can to get as much water going up to those buds as quickly as possible as
it would if it is real spring. One way in the way that our traditional ways to
bash that kind of it with an old hammer. So I usually do it on a bread
board and it’s noisy so cover your ears and here we go.
Meriel Bradley: Wow.
Elaine Martin: Softens the hole by base of the stem and when I put it on the water now it
pop it goes to the stem. The negative part of that of course is that is we are
going to put it on the glass base that’s not very attractive.
Meriel Bradley: No.
Elaine Martin: No.
Meriel Bradley: So is there an alternative?
Elaine Martin: There is, so I quite discover this on my own one day to our thinking about
in girl guides then we use to cuts the sticks in order to start the fire we
made them fact called them fast sticks.
Meriel Bradley: Fast sticks.
Elaine Martin: And we’ve cut up the stem, and it does the same thing so now the interior
of the branch is exposing to the water which is going to help the water to
go up but now it looks like unsightly, yes.
Meriel Bradley: So you do that with all of your branches.
Elaine Martin: All the branches.
Meriel Bradley: And they go in the vase now if you using a big base you have to stock it
really full?
Elaine Martin: You can stock it very full, you can just use a couple of branches and of
course they’re going to lend to the side and I usually tie them to look
pretty with and organza ribbon or what usually do is in the summer time I
hunted the garage sales and I found this wonderful frags.
Meriel Bradley: Oh that’s a frag?
Elaine Martin: It’s called a floweriest frag I don’t why they call the floweriest frag. It has
little holes in it so you can put that at the bottom of the base and then you
can put each of the branches in here it’s still is expose to the water but
then they don’t follow over on it as many as terrific for roses as well.
Meriel Bradley: Yeah I would so just holds everything together, now is your favorite
branches? What could I bring in and experience the magic?
Elaine Martin: Will the sepia flower is the one I always start with because it is the first
one to bloom in the spring so it’s always the first one also that will force
and sometimes it can take just three days. So the sepia is great because it’s
perky and it’s yellow and it’s fast but my favorite is magnolia and
magnolia initially looks a lot like piece of willow, people mistake if piece
of willow because the bud is very fussy.
Meriel Bradley: Right.
Elaine Martin: And Magnolia blooms very quickly in the spring as well right after the the
sepia and it’s really magical because this lovely big blossom suddenly
comes out likes slow ton photography.
Meriel Bradley: So you can just watch it.
Elaine Martin: And it’s so pretty.
Meriel Bradley: Sounds magical and definitely something I want to try and if you want to
try with Elaine where can people can find you and I know your on the
gorgeous Distillery District.
Elaine Martin: Well we are in the Distillery District in downtown Toronto and we are in
building 57 and there is direction on our website which is
vintagegardener.com.
Meriel Bradley: And is there a phone number?
Elaine Martin: 416-364-6232.
Meriel Bradley: And I know you do lots of classes if someone can come in and—
Elaine Martin: We do classes.
Meriel Bradley: And absorb all of your wonderful knowledge.
Elaine Martin: Exactly all that information’s on the website, you can took to my class and
we are not afraid to show our secret for you can make something beautiful
and take at home.
Meriel Bradley: Thank you so much and be sure to visit Elaine at her store or on her
website. I’m Meriel Bradley and you’ve been watching Daily Web TV.