Flowers of the Month - January 2017

It's the last day of January and it's time for another round-up of what I have been up to this last month. 

In 'Flowers of the Month' I feature all the different flowers and floral arrangements that I styled, photographed and posted exclusively on my blog 'Of Spring and Summer'.

The title of the post under the image - is also a link to the post - if you would like to see it again or you missed it.

1 January - Florets - Floral Quote by Selina Lake

4 January - Creative with Flowers - Pale Blue Hyacinths and Pittosporum

6 January - A Bunch for the Weekend - Cyclamen, Pittosporum and Holly

15 January - Floral Quote by Paula Pryke

18 January - Arrange Your Flowers! - Basic Tools for Flower Arranging

20 January - A Bunch for the Weekend - Bunches of Tulips

22 January - Florets - Floral Quote by Willow Crossley

23 January - Tiny Blooms - Tulips in Mini Vases

25 January - Creative with Flowers - Double Pink Tulips and Vintage Green Glass Bottles

27 January - A Bunch for the Weekend - Golden Acacia

29 January - Florets - Floral Quote by Judith Blacklock

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a fabulous and floral Monday!

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer - I will be back here tomorrow morning - Wednesday - with another Creative with Flowers. I'll see you then.

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

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

P. S. Did you know that you can subscribe to receive a notification via email whenever I have a new blog post. Just fill in your email address at the top of my blog on the right.

P. S. If you are looking for more floral inspiration you can go over and have a look at my Pinterest boards. I have 12 000 followers and I have just over 200 boards all relating to flowers, floral styling and flower arranging. There are boards on individual flowers and shows how to arrange them. Other boards show different ways of using vases and containers. Simply click on the link below and it will take you straight there.

Pinterest:   https://www.pinterest.com/ofspringsummer/

Florets - Floral Quote - # 137 - by Judith Blacklock

Florets - Floral Quote' is a series of blog posts where I feature quotes by authors - mostly well known but you will also find some obscure ones.

All of them have written one or several books about flowers, gardening, interior styling or interior design. Many are experts in their field but what is the most important is that they are all passionate about flowers.

I love books and in my ever growing library I look for quotes that I hope will be both helpful and useful for everybody who is arranging and styling flowers.  

" Fragrant Freesia can be bought as a single or double flower; the double last longer. I like to buy Freesia when the bottom flower is about to burst open and there is good colour showing on two further buds, which should be plump. The end buds on the raceme will not open, so if they look untidy, shrivelled or opaque, simply nip them out with the fingers."

~ Judith Blacklock ~  

[Judith Blacklock: British, London based florist; founder of  Judith Blacklock shop and flower school and author of fifteen books.]

[Quote from: Buying and Arranging Cut Flowers, The Essential A-Z Guide 2016.]

[Flowers: Deep pink Freesia.]

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

*******

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a fabulous and floral Sunday!

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer' - I will be back here on my blog tomorrow Monday with another 'Floral Media.

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

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

P. S. Did you know that you can subscribe to receive a notification via email whenever I have a new blog post. Just fill in your email address at the top of my blog on the right.

*****

P. S. If you are looking for more floral inspiration you can go over and have a look at my Pinterest boards. I have just over 200 boards all relating to flowers, floral styling and flower arranging. There are boards on individual flowers and shows how to arrange them. Other boards show different ways of using vases and containers. Simply click on the link below and it will take you straight there.

Pinterest:   https://www.pinterest.com/ofspringsummer/

A Bunch for the Weekend - # 81 - Pink Freesia

I'm back after the summer break with another 'A Bunch for the Weekend' and this time I'm using a bunch of Freesia in a gorgeous pink colour. 

It's always a pleasure and lots of fun to buy a bunch of flowers for the weekend and this series of blog posts, called 'A Bunch for the Weekend, will show you how you can make quick and easy flower arrangements for your home. 

Buy the flowers where it's convenient and easy for you whether that is from a flower stall, farmers' market, the supermarket or a florist. 

Always try to buy seasonal flowers - they will be a lot cheaper.

Make sure you condition the flowers as soon as you get home. Remove any foliage that will end up below the waterline in the vase. Trim the ends of the stems at an angle and put in fresh water as soon as possible.

Freesia is a delight to work with - it's scented, has few leaves to remove, has strong stems, comes in many different pretty colours, it's easy to remove spent flowers and it's long-lasting. 

Freesia often has lots of shorter stems full of little buds. These stems are usually positioned low down on the larger stems so you often need to remove them. 

Instead of putting them straight on the compost heap I sometimes gather them up and put them in a little container and arrange it next to the main vase. 

These buds hardly ever open up but they work as a linear and interesting contrast to the main arrangement.   

I have used a medium sized vintage laboratory jar for the large arrangement. I made a spiralled handtied arrangement this time as I thought the stem would look pretty through the glass jar.

Freesia flowers work very well on their own and you don't really need anything else mixed in with them. Just by themselves they have so much texture, colour and beauty.

Here is a trick for you! 
Freesia flowers open from the bottom and by removing some of the buds on the long arching raceme you can stimulate the opening of buds further down the stem.

I happen to like the long arching stems so I only remove buds on some of the flowers to encourage more buds to flower.   

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a fabulous and floral weekend!

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer' - I will be back on Sunday with a new 'Florets' - this time it's a floral quote from Selina Lake's latest book called Botanical Style. It was published just a few months ago and has quickly become one of my favourite books for floral inspiration for the home.

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

[Images and text © Ingrid Henningsson/Of Spring and Summer.]

P. S. Did you know that you can subscribe to receive a notification via email whenever I have a new blog post. Just fill in your email address at the top of my blog on the right.

For more floral inspiration you can follow me on:

Pinterest:   https://www.pinterest.com/ofspringsummer/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofspringandsummer/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ingrid.henningsson

Floral Media - Flower Agenda - week 9-12 - Freesia

I'm back this month with another 'Flower Agenda' - where the Flower Council of Holland feature a special cut flower every month. This month it's all about the Freesia.

Freesia was first found in South Africa where the flower is called 'Cape-lily-of-the-valley'. It was given it's name by the South African botanist Ecklon in 1830. He named it after his friend Dr Friedrich Freese. 

The freesia are grown from tubers and they come as single or double flowers. It also comes in a wide variety of colours - white, yellow, orange, red, blue, pink and purple - as well as bi-coloured and multi-coloured. Many varieties have a beautiful sweet scent and they carry on growing in the vase. 

Here are some care tips: 

- Use a clean vase and fill it with water at room temperature.

- Add flower food for a longer vase life.

- Trim the stems diagonally with a pair of sharp and clean flower scissors.

- Don't place freesias in a draught, in full sun or near central heating.   

- Also don't place freesias near fruit or vegetables that emits  ethylene gas which will cause the flowers to age more rapidly.

- Remove wilted flower heads to encourage further flowering and change the water in the vase every two days. 

Traditionally a spring flower but is now available all year around and its one of the world's most popular cut flowers. 

It can be used in many different ways - in bud vases with just one or a few stems in each vase. Mixed with other flower in larger bouquets where it will provide fabulous colour and texture to the whole arrangement.

The freesia has wonderful long arching stems that gives interesting long, lovely lines and the flower buds keep opening along the stem ending at the tip in little green buds. 

I hope you have enjoyed my little feature on freesias and why not try some this season yourself. 

Have fun with your arranging and I will be back with another Flower Agenda next month - when I will be featuring Gerberas.

[All images are provided by the Flower Council of Holland.]

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a fabulous floral day!

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

For more floral inspiration follow me on:

Pinterest:   https://www.pinterest.com/ofspringsummer/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofspringandsummer/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ingrid.henningsson

Flowers of the Month - May 2015

2 May - A Bunch for the Weekend - Tulipa 'Orca' - Orange Double Tulip

It's the end of May and I'm back with 'Flowers of the Month' - where I'm featuring all the different flowers and floral arrangements I have posted during May.

The title of the post under the image - is also a link to the post - if you would like to see it again or you missed it.

4 May - Floral Media - Houseplant of the Month - Hibiscus

6 May - DIY Tips and Inspiration - Pink Peony

9 May - A Bunch for the Weekend - Colourful Tulips

11 May - Floral Media - Flower Agenda - Peony

13 May - FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - Floral Tea Party

16 May - A Bunch for the Weekend - Pink Spray Carnations

18 May - DIY Flower Tips and Inspiration - Stock Flowers




23 May - A Bunch for the Weekend - More Scented Pink Stock Flowers




25 May - Tiny Blooms - Sweet Peas




27 May - DIY Flower Tips and Inspiration - Freesia




29 May - A Bunch for the Weekend - Peonies and Alchemilla mollis

I hope you have enjoyed all the flower arrangements from the last month as much as I have enjoyed created them. 

Have a Wonderful Floral Sunday!

See you next week. 

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

[Styling and photography © Ingrid Henningsson/Of Spring and Summer.]
[Images of Hibiscus and peonies in white bottles provided by The Flower Council of Holland.]

DIY Flower Tips and Inspiration - # 5 - Freesia

This time 'Do-It-Yourself  Flower Tips and Inspiration' is all about the lovely flower Freesia.

• When you buy Freesia look for plump buds and make sure at least one flower is open or about to open.
• The flowers open from the bottom of the stems towards the top.
• Not all the buds will open up along the raceme - to stimulate buds further down to open - you can remove some of the smallest buds at the very top of the flower stem. You can easily snip them off with a pair of scissors.
• Also remove any wilted flowers to encourage further flowering.
• Freesia are sensitive to ethylene gas so don't put them near any ripening fruit.
• Freesia comes in many different colours - pure white, lemon, yellow, orange, gold, amber, pale pink, deep pink, lilac, pale purple and purple.
• They last for about 5-7 days.
• Buy some and enjoy their wonderful scent! 

Have a Great Floral Day!

I'll see you later in the week with more Do-It-Yourself flowers from 'Of Spring and Summer'.

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

[Styling and Photography © Ingrid Henningsson for Of Spring and Summer]
[Ribbons by Jane Means.]


You can also find me on:

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/ofspringsummer/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ingrid.henningsson

Instagram - https://instagram.com/ofspringandsummer/

Flowers of the Month - April 2015

1 March - FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - Happy Easter! 

It's the end of April and I'm back with 'Flowers of the Month' - where I'm featuring all the different flowers and floral arrangements I have posted during April.

The title of the post under the image - is also a link to the post - if you would like to see it again or you missed it.

4 March - A Bunch for the Weekend - Bright Yellow Daffodils

6 March - Take 3 Flowers! - Tulips, Freesia and Eucalyptus

8 March - Floral Media - Houseplant of the Month - Ivy

11 March - A Bunch for the Weekend - Parrot Tulips, Lisianthus and Bear Grass

13 March - Tiny Blooms - Double Daffodils - Narcissus 'Double Ducat'

15 March - DIY Flower Tips and Inspiration - Tulips

18 March - A Bunch for the Weekend - Pink Tulips and Ruscus

20 March - DIY Flower Tips and Inspiration - Muscari and Myosotis

22 March - FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - All on a Plate

25 March - A Bunch for the Weekend - Mixed Ranunculus

27 March - Tiny Blooms - Stock Flowers

28 March - Floral Media - Flower Agenda - Gerbera

I hope you have enjoyed all the flower arrangements from the last month as much as I have enjoyed created them. 

Have a Wonderful Floral Thursday!

See you later in the week. 

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

[Styling and photography © Ingrid Henningsson/Of Spring and Summer.]
[Images of Ivy and Gerbera provided by The Flower Council of Holland.]