52 Vases: Week 22 Tank vase and found objects

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It is true I’m using a lot of branches lately and I had sworn off using them when I stumbled on several tree limbs of a flowering variety at the curb on my walk home.  Naturally, I stripped off some smaller branches to use. Then I found some pieris in bloom as well.  So…

 

I have had the tank vase for years. It resembles the glass blocks that are used in some home decor/structures in lieu of windows. I can’t wait til the branches bloom.

I encourage you to keep an eye open for found objects, beauty can be found unexpectedly.

52 Vases: Week 21 Using up leftovers

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Oh yea, we’ve had snow.  Several days of it.  But before that sneaky sucker punch of winter hit us, I went out to prune the rosebushes.  What was left behind were the glorious, red tinged tips of new growth.

The green is offset by the frosted green of the vase which in turn helps highlight the lovely red in the newly budding canes.  While this is not a material you might use regularly, it is after all very thorny, sometimes its useful to highlight the beauty in what might be considered trash.

 

The roses were all trimmed to knee height. And then came the snow!

52 Vases: Week 20 Miniature life

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While plants may be emerging (I see a few blooming daffodils this week! oh my) most of what is available in the garden is still in miniature…. hellebores, violets, and pulmenaria, along with delicate blooming branches.  These can be put together to make a still life which is what I did this week in a silver container thrifted at Goodwill.

Although what’s in style these days for weddings and table displays are huge draping arrangements in pedestal vessels, these delicate woodland miniatures may work just fine for a fairy-tale wedding and can be scaled up to a larger table.  This size would probably work for a table of six. And also work well for the DIY wedding — moss is beautiful!

 

a better look at the container

And contents

 

Thinking outside the bouquet for Valentine’s

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With the possible exception of ordering out of season flowers for a wedding, flowers for Valentines (especially roses)  are at their most expensive peak. Yet giving and receiving flowers creates a lovely romantic dance that we should all engage in – even if it is just with ourselves.

I’ve pulled together five tips on gifting flowers for this day of lovers (some might actually save you money).

  1. Think creatively. What is your beloved’s favorite color and find flowers that match that. Red roses too expensive? What about red tulips? Or something with a scent (most florist roses are scentless). Or use this year’s color of the year – ultra-violet. Your local floral shop can help think outside the traditional bouquet.

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  1. Make it precious – think small. Find an exquisite vase or antique perfume bottle and carefully choose a selection of small blooms or fleurets. My last post had an idea of a delicate arrangement. Or send your beloved three roses instead of a dozen, each tied with a beautiful ribbon.

 

  1. Go big and focused instead. One, two or three tropicals can have extensive impact when paired with some grasses and a big leaf.

 

  1. Extend and personalize your purchase. If you’re picking up a bouquet at the grocery store or Trader Joe’s shake it up a bit.  Find (or buy) some extra greenery or branches (pussy willow or curly willow are both nice). One of my floral mentors insists on using three kinds of foliage.  Take the bouquet out of the bag, add the branches, and rewrap the flowers, tieing them off with a nice ribbon.
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Starting with a more or less standard size grocery story bouquet. One type of foliage.

 

Greens and sticks — this adds two additional kinds of foliage
Added to the bouquet
Wrapped, baby diaper style and finished with a ribbon
Adding the additional foliage and sticks makes the bouquet personalized.
  1. Want to buy local? Get yourself to a flower shop specializing in locally grown. Or if you are lucky enough to have a farmer’s market there may be a local flower stand there (just a note, farmer’s markets are usually a weekend thing). Just remember when buying local, growers are dependent on the seasons and may not have all flowers available to wholesale to a local shop. So dahlias in February? You are probably out of luck.

 

Bonus:

It’s fun to put together a bouquet using the language of flowers. For example, put together a bouquet of  red roses (passion,) red tulips (love). Alstromeria (devotion), stock (beauty) and ivy (let us bind together).  A card reinforcing the message is all that’s left to deliver your floral poem of love.

The first year my husband and I dated, he had two roses delivered to my workplace. A red rose for passion and a yellow rose for constant friendship.  Two roses, not a two dozen.  The surprise of it, and the memory of it, are still keenly with me. It doesn’t take much to have an impact. It just takes thoughtfulness.

Below, an example of an another out of the box Valentine’s arrangement featuring lilies, carnations and tulips.

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52 Vases: Week 18 Deep winter

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Yes, it’s deep winter here. Rain and clouds every day.  I’m in the process of writing an article for our local plant society journal on the topic of garden to vase.  There’s a surprising amount of plant material available even if most of it is greenery.

I have two takes on the almost the same material this week. One emphasizing line, the other more massed.

Winter arrangement 2

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A leftover intercalary post

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In reviewing the blog, I discovered a leftover “persimmon” post that I’m going to add now. The persimmon went bare months ago but the warmth of the color is a nice reminder of what the garden an yield.

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From garden…..

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To Vase

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Featured: persimmons, alstromeria, hydrangea, dahlia.

It’s a New Year – 52 Vases Week 17

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My daughter gifted me with an interesting horseshoe shaped vessel. I used it in my last post but now have the opportunity to try it out with some garden blooms – wintersweet, skimmia and hellebores all from the garden.

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I was surprised that a cosmopolitan city like Dakar (Senegal) did not really have flower shops so I wasn’t able to construct much while we were away.  Although it is much greyer and colder here, cut flowers are much more available. And of course I can glean things from the garden.

52 Vases/Weeks – Some “intercalary” posts

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I am current traveling and obviously don’t have access to either my garden or my collection of vessels.  However, my daughter gifted me with a wonderful iron (?) container and I intend to use it at least once on my trip. Here’s what I came up with. unfortunately I can’t identify any of the flowers although the foliage is familiar to me as a houseplant.

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I don’t intend for these posts to really count toward my goal as “intercalary” is a kind of in between time.  In certain past times, the days between Christmas and New Year’s, or Christmas and Epiphany were considered intercalary, or outside of normal time.  Some of my travel days are occurring during this period as well so it seems fitting to consider these arrangements outside of the ordinary.