Flowers of the Month - May 2017

Today is the last day of May 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'.

I post about four times a week so by the end of the month I have quite a few images to look back on.

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.

At the end of the post is a little message to all of you! 

3 May - Creative with Flowers - Pink Ranunculus

5 May - A Bunch for the Weekend - Bluebells

7 May - Florets -Floral Quote - Sweet Peas and Clematis

10 May - Creative with Flowers - A Flower in a Bottle

12 May - A Bunch for the Weekend - A Few Late Tulips 

14 May - Florets - Floral Quote - Forget-Me-Nots and Grape Hyacinths

17 May - Creative with Flowers - Pale Purple Sweet Peas

19 May - A Bunch for the Weekend - Pink Peonies

21 May - Florets - Floral Quote - White Rose and Solomon's Seal

24 May - Creative with Flowers - Purple Stock Flowers

26 May - A Bunch for the Weekend - Pale Pink Anemones

28 May - Florets - Floral Quote - Pink Roses

29 May - Tiny Blooms - Pale Pink Ranunculus

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

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer'.

I also wanted to tell you that I'm now taking a few months off from posting on my blog. It is a little bit longer than usual but a lot of big changes are taking place right now that takes up a lot of my time. All good - just time consuming! 

Have a wonderful summer holiday and I will see you back here in the autumn. 

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 around 12 400 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 - # 151 - by Louesa Roebuck and Sarah Lonsdale

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 while arranging and styling flowers.

"Wandering around one of David's many industrial remnant lumber piles, being careful of snakes, I found a bed of tiny densely blue forget-me-nots. I love them so - not native, invasive, and totally perfect to me, blue, blue, blue. They can get wild and leggy, they last forever, they summon so many corny, sentimental meanings, and did I say blue?" 

~ Louesa Roebuck and Sarah Lonsdale ~ 

[Louesa Roebuck: American, San Francisco and Los Angeles based artist and floral designer and author of Foraged Flora (2016).]

[Sarah Lonsdale: English, California based design editor, writer, co-founder of Remodelista and author of three books.] 

[Quote from: Foraged Flora by Louesa Roebuck and Sarah Lonsdale.]

[Flowers: Forget-me-nots and Muscari.]

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

*****

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

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer' - I will be back tomorrow morning with another 'Floral Media'. 

I'm looking forward to seeing you back here then.

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

*****

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 now have just over 12 400 followers and around 200 boards all relating to flowers, flower styling and flower arranging. There are boards on individual flowers and boards showing how to arrange flowers. 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/

Tiny Blooms - # 41 - Pale Blue Grape Hyacinths

This week on 'Tiny Blooms' I'm featuring a bunch of grape hyacinths in a gorgeous pale blue colour.

I have put them in a floral blue and white Victorian jug that picks up the blue colour in the flowers.

Here is a little "statement" that I add - to briefly explaining my thinking behind these particular posts:

"This series of blog posts - called 'Tiny Blooms' - are about small flower arrangements. Small - might be the size of the flower or the amount of stems I'm using; or it could be the size of the container. 

It can also be that the arrangement is minimal both in presentation and that it's simple, quick and easy to do. Apart from that there are no other strict rules - I'm allowing myself a lot of creative freedom!"

I love to match the colour of the flowers with a similar coloured vase or container. Here the colour of the grape hyacinths are very similar in colour to the floral pattern on the old jug. The little vintage ink glass bottle also picks up the pale blue colour and the contemporary black metal plate makes an interesting contrast.

Grape Hyacinths also called Muscari are easy to grow in the garden and will spread quite easily. They are a welcome sight in the early spring.

Stems are usually short so these flowers are perfect in jars, small vases or jugs. 

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

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer' - I look forward to seeing later in the week - when I'll be back with more floral delights.

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

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

[Flowers: Grape Hyacinths from my local flower stall in North West London.]

[Vase/Container: Vintage Victorian blue and white floral patterned milk jug bought at a London antique market.]

[Other props: From stylists own prop collection.]

*****

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 now have just over 12 000 followers and around 200 boards all relating to flowers, flower 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/

Creative with Flowers - # 7 - Blue Muscari and Iris

Here are two blue charming early spring bulbs - Muscari or grape hyacinths as they are also called and Iris reticulata 'Harmony', a stunning little early flowering mini spring iris. 

The grape hyacinths are planted in a plastic lined basket. Once they have finished flowering you can plant them in the garden or in a more permanent container. 

I tied a ribbon in almost the same colour as the flowers around the middle of the basket to lift the dark colour. The ribbon and the matching blue tags are from Jane Means. 

The little iris I also tend to grow in containers - always raised off the ground - or they will otherwise be nibbled by slugs and snails.

Iris is not strictly a bulb - but the reticulata irises are what is called bulbous irises - so you can more or less treat them like a bulb. 

After many years of growing these irises I have quite a lot so I often cut a few and use them as cut flowers. Being such a tiny plant it's such a pleasure to have it close up in a little vase or container on a table next to you. 

Like I have done here - I have used some small vintage blue ink bottles - perfect for little short stems. You can fit from one to three stems in each and you can display them as single vases or grouped together on a little tray or saucer. 

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

I'll be be back on Friday with another 'A Bunch for the Weekend'.

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

Tiny Blooms - # 26 - Muscari

This series of blog posts - called 'Tiny Blooms' - are about small flower arrangements. Small - might be the size of the container or it could be the size of the flowers or the amount of stems. It can also be that the arrangement is minimal both in presentation and that it's simple, quick and easy to do. Apart from that there are no other strict rules - I'm allowing myself a lot of creative freedom!

Muscari or as they are also called Grape hyacinths is a 'tiny bloom' usually with stems about 20 cm tall. They come in a variety of blue colours as well as white.

You can sometimes find them as cut flowers but more often you would pick them yourself in a garden. When you do just pick a small posy and leave the rest to be enjoyed where they are growing.

So what do you do with a tiny posy - well you can put all the flowers in a tiny vase or you can use small bottles with just one stem in each.

Or you can do what I have done here - make a hand-tied bouquet - tie some blue raffia around the stems - make a big bow and put the flowers in a small vase just leaning to one side - put the vase on a tile or saucer in a similar colour and you have a quick, easy and beautiful 'Tiny Blooms' flower arrangement.   

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

I'll see you on Wednesday with Part 2 of 'Flowers and Ribbons' where I'm using flowers, ribbons and jam jars. 

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

Floral Media - A Classic Spring Combination from McQueens Flowers

I think by now we are all longing for SPRING!! Here is a short video with a classic spring combination from the top London florist McQueens Flowers.

They have used a handmade chunky container in a neutral colour that adds contrast and texture to the whole arrangement. To start off they are using knobbly pussy willow branches as a framework to support the other flowers and keep them in place. There is quite a few but they are not too tall - in the end just tall enough to sit just above all the other flowers. 

Next they have added eight blue hyacinths as well as several small bunches of blue muscari also called grape hyacinths. Last they add nine white anemones - all three flowers are evenly spread throughout the arrangement.

Remove any broken or damaged leaves on the hyacinths - but leave the bulb part at the end of the stems. The muscari usually comes with lots of it's narrow leaves mixed in with the flowers - add some of those to each little bunch. 

This is a lovely little spring arrangement that is quick and easy to make. Just follow the simple instructions and you'll have one for your table!!

  Have a Lovely Floral Wednesday!

I'll be back later in the week with more floral delights from 

Of Spring and Summer.

Ingrid

~ xoxo ~

[Video provided by McQueens Flowers.]

You can also find me on:

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

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

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

A Bunch for the Weekend - # 62 - Pale Blue Grape Hyacinths

This weeks 'A Bunch for the Weekend' - is a small bunch of pale blue Grape Hyacinths.

This is once again one of those situations where I saw some flowers that are out of season - BUT are so gorgeous and reasonably priced I just couldn't pass them up!

HOW TO:

You'll need:

- about 40 stems of Grape Hyacinths or Muscari as they are also called.

- a small container that will hold the stems quite tightly together - in this case I'm using a small vintage jug in a blue and white floral pattern.

- a few props in matching colours - in this case they are all light blue like the little flowers.

For conditioning the flowers - you'll also need:

- a pair of florists scissors

- a florist bucket filled with fresh water

Condition the flowers by removing any leaves that would end up below the water line in the vase. This is to reduce any growth of bacteria from deteriorating leaves. Also remove any broken or bruised leaves.

Cut the stems at an angle - this is to increase water absorption.  

Put in a clean container with fresh water and leave in a cool, dark place over night or at least for a few hours, to let the flowers absorb the maximum of water, before making the final arrangement.

You might have to re-cut the stems while making the final arrangement to suit the size of the vase or container and to get the right proportions.

Method:

Muscari has short stems so just trim as little as possible or the stems will be a bit too short.

They have long narrow sword shaped leaves; keep any fresh looking as a colour contrast to the flowers. In this case I didn't keep any of the leaves - they did not look as fresh as I had wished for and as the camera picks up any small defects I left them out. 

Change the water every 2-3 days and if possible re-cut the stems. The flowers can last for about 4-8 days. 

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a great floral day!

I will be back on Saturday with 'Flowers of the Month' - a round-up of this months flowers. 

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

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

You can also find me on:

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

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

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

Florets - Floral Quote - # 58 - by Ngoc Minh Ngo

"Grape hyacinths are tiny blue marvels that carpet  the woodlands in mid-spring. Fill a glass full of these beauties to enjoy their clusters of tiny, urn-shaped flowers in finely drawn hues of blue at home. Though they bloom in April their spicy-grape fragrance has been described as "the perfume of clove and sun-warmed Concord grapes of late September."

~ Ngoc Minh Ngo ~

[Ngoc Minh Ngo: New York based photographer, landscape designer and author of Bringing Nature Home.]

[Quote from: Bringing Nature Home by Ngoc Minh Ngo.]

[Flowers: Muscari or Grape Hyacinths.]

[Vase: Vintage 1920's light green glass.]

[Other props: Vintage French linen cloth, painting and beads.]

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

Have an Amazing Floral Sunday!

Back next week!

xoxo Ingrid

FLOWERS by ingrid & titti - Spring on Your Doorstep

What is more welcoming than a few pots of colourful flowers by your front door when you come home?

Stone or terracotta pots, some lined wooden boxes or baskets, vintage metal urns or containers like old weathered buckets are all perfect to plant up and place just outside your door.

I planted up a few containers this spring -  I used a mixed collection of terracotta pots, two vintage metal urns, a cast concrete pot and an old zinc bucket.

Even a group of smaller containers on an outside windowsill - look great and will cheer you up after a long day away from home.

If vintage and recycled old stuff is not your thing - there are plenty of more contemporary and stylish containers that, when filled with flowers will do exactly the same job as anything old.

Watering and feeding the pots and containers will be essential  you will have to make sure that any containers you use have some drainage - so you might have to drill some holes. 

If your front door is in the shade the flowering plants might not last as long or flower as much as if they were placed in the sun - most plants need at least a few hours of sun every day. 

On the other hand if the pots are placed in the sun they will have to be watered more frequently. 

It's also a good idea to deadhead all the plants - picking off any spent flowers will encourage the plant to produce more flowers.

The flowers that I have used are a pansy called Viola 'Raspberry', a light blue Muscari also called grape hyacinths, a bright pink Bellis and some light pink Marguerite daisies.   

Here is a link to all the other FLOWERS - that Titti and I have done.

Titti over on HWIT BLOGG is also featuring beautiful spring flowers for your doorstep - so go over to her blog and have a look at what she has done.

***

Have a Wonderful Day Floral!

See you later in the week!

xoxo Ingrid