A Bunch for the Weekend - # 7 - White and Lacy

A Bunch for the Weekend - this week is all white and lacy. The mixed arrangement contains Orlaya grandiflora, white Sweet Williams, Alstromeria 'Rivale' and Gypsophila elegans 'Covent Garden'. 

All the flowers are white and have a lacy effect. I used an all white jug as a vase and I have combined them with layers of white vintage lace on the table and surrounded the arrangement with some smaller vintage jugs also mostly white but all empty instead of filled with flowers - just as a nice contrast. 

Wishing you a Fun and Floral Friday!

See you back here on Sunday for another floral quote.

xoxo Ingrid

[All flowers from: Forever Green Flower Company.]
[Styling and photography © Ingrid Henningsson for Of Spring and Summer.] 

Floral Media - # 24 - My Feature in Gatherings Magazine - Florals + Fabrics

This is my feature in Gatherings Magazine's spring Issue 2014 called - Artists + Artisans. 

All the contributors chose an artist or artisan as inspiration and mine was the textile designer Sarah Hardaker.

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The weighty linens printed with the most beautiful pastel colours by designer Sarah Hardaker were the perfect inspiration. They created a natural relationship to my floral styling and blended flawlessly with my vintage collection of little ink bottles and jugs.

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All the beautiful fabrics that I have used are by the English textile designer Sarah Hardaker. She designs her own range of bespoke fabrics and wallpaper and all her fabrics are printed in England using linen woven in Scotland by small family owned manufacturing companies.

Sarah also makes handmade cushions, bags and small gift items using her fabrics and she will often personalise them with names and initials.

A lot of Sarah’s designs are inspired by nature and she uses the flowers in her garden for design and colour inspiration.

Sarah says “You can’t beat nature for this, the beauty of a dark pink Gertrude Jekyll rose with lime green Alchemilla mollis – perfection.”

Using Sarah’s fabrics along with my flower arrangements I have created inspirational floral moodboards in two different colours - pink and green.

The flowers I have picked are a mixture of tulips, hyacinths and Ranunculus as well as little snowdrops. In both moodboards I have used a lot of different vintage jugs and small ink bottles instead of traditional vases.

Mixed in with the flowers and fabrics are also an assortment of ribbons - by Jane Means, washi tape, painted clothes pegs, colouring pencils and old postcards.

Have a Wonderful Floral Day!

See you soon!

xoxo Ingrid 

FLOWERS by ingrid & titti - Frilly Carnations

Carnations - are often thought of as a cheep, ordinary and out of favour flower. For years you were able to buy them at petrol stations and supermarkets - it's also often used as a funeral flower.

So that doesn't sound like a good beginning - does it? 

Well, the carnation has a rather distinguish past - Shakespeare mentions it in The Winter's Tale and painters like Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Durer often featured carnations in their paintings. Later on Dutch flower painters used them alongside highly prized flowers like tulips and roses. 

Carnations are, according to some top florists going through a revival at the moment.

On the plus side - lets mention that they are cheep, comes in all kinds of colours, are tough and easy to handle and can last for up to three weeks - not bad for such a common flower.
   
Weeks ago Titti and I had decided that we wanted to feature carnations in our next FLOWERS post.

What happened next was that I actually had some difficulty finding carnations - you wouldn't have thought so as I live in the middle of London and have access to dozens of florists and flower stalls just in my area!

The local florists and stall holders told me that they don't stock carnations for the simple reason - nobody buys them.

I'm not one to be beaten that easy - so I decided to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning and head down to Covent Garden Flower Market.

Surely they will have every flower you can think of there.....  

Yes and no - there are hundreds of different flowers - but I really had to hunt around for carnations. In the end I had to ask and only three wholesale flower sellers had any - out of about thirty and then in a very limited amount of colours.

I found some pink multi-coloured carnation flowers that I packed tightly into two pastel blue vintage jugs. I think it's quite fun how the pattern on the fabric echoes the fluffy shape of the flowers.  

I also found some in a darker, richer pink that I put in some old weathered garden pots. I wanted a rough surface  to contrast with the frilly edged carnations.

As these are outdoor pots with drainage holes in the bottom of the pot - I arranged the flowers in a smaller glass container and put it inside the larger one.  

Again packed tightly in the container and again just by themselves - not mixed with any other flowers or foliage. I wanted it to be a solid block of colour to contrast with the container.

How can we have a carnation revival if they are so hard to get hold of? 

What do you think of carnations - love them or leave them?
Are they available to buy where you live? I would love to know.

The other half of FLOWERS - the multi-talented Titti Malmberg over on HWIT BLOGG is also featuring carnations on her blog today. So why not go over there and have a look at what she has created with her carnations.

Here is a link to all of Titti's and my previous FLOWERS posts. 

Have a Wonderful Floral Day! 

See you back here very soon!

xoxo Ingrid

Florets - Floral Quote - # 54 - by Louise Curley

"Use your imagination when it comes to what to put your flowers in. Although you may have a suitable tall plain glass vase in your home, there are so many other containers you could use that will add a touch of individuality and quirkiness to your display. 

The only really essential requirement of a vase is that it is watertight. It is best not to pick something with a wide neck or one that is very big. It will take a considerable number of flowers to fill them, and they will be difficult to arrange and will tend to be quite floppy, because the container will not be able to provide enough support."

~ Louise Curley ~

[Louise Curley: British, freelance writer & journalist, gardener and author of The Cut Flower Patch. She has also been writing the blog Wellywoman since 2011.]

[Quote: From The Cut Flower Patch by Louise Curley.]

[Containers: Vintage bottles and jugs.]

[Other props: Fabrics by Sarah Hardaker.]

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

Wishing You A Wonderful Floral Sunday!

Hope to see you back here soon!

xoxo Ingrid