19 June 2012

Purple and White Sweet Peas


Sweet Peas


How can anybody resist sweet peas? It is such an irresistible flower that has both beauty and scent. 
The botanical name is Lathyrus odoratus. Lathyrus is the Greek name for pea or pulse and odoratus means fragrant. So that would make it 'fragrant peas'!

Here are some adorable purple and white sweet peas in three vintage vases. 
The vases are all different but they all have something in common which is a blue and white floral pattern. One vase is low and round, one is tall and narrow and one is not a vase at all but a little sweet jug with a handle.

 The bunches of sweet peas that I bought at the local farmers market were all mixed colours. When I conditioned the flowers I separated them all into different bunches all of the same colour or as close as possible.

While I was conditioning the flowers I also found that the flowers were all different lengths. That often created problems when you are creating an arrangement. It is hard to support short stems in tall vases so using three vases in varying sizes was very helpful. I was able to accommodate both tall and short stems.

What you also will find with sweet peas are that they are quite fragile. They need gentle handling or a lot of both flowers and especially buds will fall off.

It is quite nice to place the the three vases together making a small group of flowers in a limited palette.      

Old vintage china vases often leak so be very careful on what surface you put them. It might not be obvious to start off with, you might not notice anything until the next day. But trust me on this one - as I have ruined many surfaces making the mistake of not putting something under the vase. I often use old vintage silver plated little trays that I have picked up very cheaply at the flea market.

Have a lovely fragrant day!

See you soon!

Xoxo Ingrid



11 comments:

martinealison said...

Effectivement comment ne pas craquer devant un tel spectacle celui de pois de senteur...
J'ai peint une fois un panier rempli de pois de senteur sur un très grand format 80 x 80 cm... Il n'est pas simple de rendre la légèreté et la douceur de leurs courbes... j'avais été très heureuse avec.

Aujourd'hui je suis aussi très heureuse d'admirer votre merveilleuse photo.

Gros bisous

Robin Larkspur said...

Sweet peas in such gorgeous colors and perfect blue containers. Glorious!

Frances said...

What a lovely close up portrait of some of my very favorite flowers. Your vintage china suits the fragile petals so very well.

Thank you also for the conditioning and tray tips.

xo

Vicky said...

Lovely!! I love purple flowers and your wonderful pictures.
Hugs. Vicky

Home and Lifestyle said...

The lathyrus is a wonderful flower, I love the smell!!

Many hugs for you,

Ingrid

Janneke said...

Oh, sweet peas are one of my favorite flowers, and also in the colour blue.
The fragrance is out of this world.
I have lots of them in my garden, but they are not yet flowering.
Like your posts very much.
Janneke

Unknown said...

Sweet peas are SO sweet. I have few growing in pot and I hope they are starting to give me some flowers soon.
Have a great midsummer.

silvia said...

How can anybody resist sweet peas? How to better resist such beautiful pictures?
Silvia

Anonymous said...

I love this arrangement! :) Lovely flower arrangements all around. By the way, I have a question about your blog; could we connect via email? When you have a moment, please feel free to reach me here: anna.t@arcadianhome.com.

Warmly,
Anna

Madelief said...

Your sweet peas look absolutely beautiful Ingrid. I am hoping they will be in bloom in my garden soon!

Happy new week!

Madelief x

NinaH said...

One can´t! Resist those that is....;-)
Kul att nu orka sig surfa runt lite mer och kunna besöka andras bloggar igen! (Inte minst din!! Även om vi "skymtat" nu o då på fb.....))
Hoppas midsommaren var trevlig?!
Önskar dig god fortsättning på "säsongen"!

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