FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - Flowers in August

My Swedish collaborator Titti Malmberg and I are back with a new season of FLOWERS.

Over the spring and summer there has been quite a lot of changes in Titti and my lives. Titti has made a move - away from the island of Öland - where she had lived for many years. She has moved a bit further south on the mainland but still lives along the coast.

I have started to train as a florist and did a Certificate in Floral Design during the spring. I will continue with a more advanced level soon. In the summer months we have had some long overdue work done on our house and garden and at times it has been like living on a building site - but hopefully it will look great once its all done.

The theme for this FLOWERS is 'Flowers in August' - and I have chosen to feature three late summer flowers - Dahlias, Sedum and Snapdragons.

I still have limited access to all my props and my 'photography studio' - but I was able to find a pretty basket, a large glass jar and two white vases.

Using a basket to display your flowers in you will need to put the flowers in a waterproof container of some sort. I just used a low wide glass jar. The flowers look pretty just resting on the edge of the basket.

The light pink Snapdragons or Antirrhinum, which is the botanical name, is a lovely contrast to the dark pink Dahlias and the still green Sedum.

I arranged the large pink and yellow Dahlias in two vintage vases. The two white vases are the same colour, has narrow necks and both has deep ridges all the way around but they have different shapes.

The Dahlias came with plenty of leaves and quite a few buds - but I removed all that as I just wanted the large flowers. I also cut the stems short as I wanted the flowers to sit just above the top of the vase.

I used three Dahlias in each vase - remember the rule of uneven numbers - use three, five or seven flowers - it looks more natural and is easier on the eye.

Three flower heads fitted snugly in the neck of the vase and gives the arrangement a feeling of being large and generous.  

The last arrangement is a little bit of an exploration on an idea that I had. I started off with a very large straight-sided vintage pickling jar. 

I divided up the flowers and cut the stems three different lengths. I filled the jar with just a little bit of water. The short ones went in the bottom of the jar, the medium length went half way up the jar and the longest at the top. 

The longer stems are hidden by the shorter flowers - so what you have is 'a jar full of flowers'. This is not an arrangement that will last very long. Flowers needs air circulating around them so you run the risk of of the flowers inside the jar going a bit 'soggy'. But its a fun and different way of displaying flowers.  

Please, go over to HWIT BLOGG and have a look at how Titti has interpreted the theme of 'Flowers in August'. 

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a great floral day!

I will be back soon with more floral delights.

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

[Styling and photography: © Ingrid Henningsson/Of Spring and Summer.]

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