Flowers In The Cockpit

[redbopeep]

At our house, I had a huge flower garden and always enjoyed fresh flowers in vases all around the house. This is something I've really missed.

David and I frequently attend wooden boat festivals and always enjoyed the small vase of flowers that people would place onboard--sometimes in a macramé hanger from the main boom, sometimes in front of the mast on the cabintop, etc.

So, though I've considered getting fresh flowers for the boat, I haven't done so until recently. A friend stopped by with a fresh bouquet of Gerber daisies. Oh, how wonderful they look in a vase made of a plastic Simply Orange juice jar! They sat prettily on top of the large steering housing at the back of the cockpit. And, they lasted for more than a week!

So, happy me, I've now started buying bouquets at the grocery if I can find one with a good supply of Gerber daisies in it. They make the boat look cheerful and homey.

[Aquaria]

... almost 4 months since redbopeep brought up this nice topic, and no responce.

Does it has to do with tradition or superstition? No flowers on board! *Do not sail on Friday! Do not whistle on the boat!

Maybe here in Northern Europe it is a matter of size of ship - most yachts do not have a permanent cockpit table and as most times yachts are tied up bow to the pontoon, nobody will notice the flowers in the cockpit.

This is different in the Mediterranean! Yachts are tied up stern to, so the outside world will be able to see what is on the table. Maybe it is a matter of representation. The bigger the yacht, the bigger the flower bouquet.*

Or could it be that most of us sailors have a yacht because they don't want to have a garden?

Uwe

SY Aquaria

No garden, but a yacht and a vase of wild flowers on the cockpit table once a year... on my wife's birthday!

[Sven]

Simple red roses in a cut down plastic bottle.

Worth it every time.

-Sven

[atavist]

I'm not so much into flowers but am definitely a big fan of greenery.... as I get further south I'm considering doing the hanging tomato planters thing... put them out on the shrouds at anchor (which is most of my time) and take them below for the occasional passage.... I once met a couple who had climbing beans inside their boat from little planters... the bean vines climbed their way up to surround the portholes to get light... I don't think they got many beans but they liked the greenery in the boat... ... I think Schooner Anne, from the 1000 days at sea blog, also had/has some kind of climbing vines inside which they liked having around....

... and then of course there is the labor free way of having greenery on the boat.... stop cleaning soon enough you'll have LOTS of greenery... both at the waterline and inside the boat.

[Aquaria]

Having permanent green plants on board is a different thing when doing long distance cruising, i.e. bringing your local plants across the seas and oceans to other continents or countries.

In most countries Customs, Immigrations or other agencies in charge for the fresh green perform a rather strict law about the import of fresh fruit, vegetables and plants. Most times the authorities are not amused when you carry these on board and you come from far away regions.*

Reactions were: leave it on the boat and make sure that it does not get ashore (as waste); Declare all fresh green (including plants) and hand it out as we will destroy it; Don't even think of having any fresh green on board when entering national waters!

Friends of us carried an Aloe Vera (Medical Aloe) on board on their way around the world. Most times it was no problem to have this living plant on board, but there were some occasions that the authorities insisted that it had to be disposed of properly. Well, they were able to keep it after they convinced the authorities that this special plant should rather be seen as a medicine.*

*Other reasons that makes it not easy to keep plants on board are the harsh environmental conditions they have to live in. Just imagine the temperature changes in the cabin, as most boats do not necessarily have air condition on board. They use water. They bring additional moisture due to evaporation into the boat, a thing we do not really want to have in higher latitudes.

Considering all that a cactus is the type of plant that fits best, but it needs to be safely tied down to its place in case of hard weather .* *And who wants to have a cactus on board! So, it is easier to have a vase (or tea pot or a cut off plastic bottle) with flowers once in a while. *

Uwe

SY Aquaria

[redbopeep]

ah...those flowers

Since I made the post, I've had fresh flowers in my lowly Simply Orange container most of the time. I ended up putting a bunch of lead fishing weights in the bottom of the container to keep the flowers from being blown over and the water from spilling out. So far I've found the flowers that last best in the sun and wind are the Gerber Daisies or something called Poms which look a lot like a daisy-ish Mum. Some lilies do very well, too.

Our bouquet even made it safely through our wild-ride a few weeks ago when everything not tied down below was going flying--I had jammed the bottle between a mooring cleat and the cockpit combing on the aft deck and it just stayed there, upright and all through all the wind and waves. Quite amazing.

It seems to be the women who enjoy the flowers--when in an anchorage we have many people dingy by the boat or when we're at a dock folks walking by...and it's always the women who say "pretty flowers!" ...and the guys say "nice boat"

[Qldcruiser]

Ah Brenda, my lady is cut from the same fine cloth as yourself. We have a permanent mounted vase for Annette's flowers and a large fruit bowl full of chocolates permanently fitted to the saloon table full of chocolates. And when in a marina or tied to a jetty she got me to adapt a broken winch handle to a vase so the cockpit flowers are mounted on our two 53's. I was informed when buying that I may like roughing but if I wanted her to play it was 5 star all the way.... and so it is (beside quietly, i like having a supply of chocolates on board).

We also I might add, some very beautiful fake flowers for longer trips to make things more homely.

Cheers

Robert & Annette

S/V Blue Lady

[Auspicious]

I regularly have fresh cut flowers on board when at anchor.

The "permanent" plant is an orchid that seems to have taken well to being at sea.