From the Archives - 24 November 2014 - Take 3 Flowers!

This is the second post in a brand new blog series - called 'From the Archives'. It will be previously posted blog posts that I feel are still relevant for some reason or another. 

It will always be a post from the same calendar month as we are in or it could be some of my favourite flowers from the same season - that still lifts my spirit. 

Flowers are so ephemeral - but their beauty caught on camera never fades.........!!

I'm back with another blog post in the series 'Take 3 Flowers!' - where I will show you how to make easy but beautiful and stylish flower arrangements - just using three different flowers. Often one of the three will be some kind of foliage.

Using just three flowers will sometimes be a challenge - but it will also keep the cost down. Cut flowers can be expensive but foliage on the other hand tends to be cheep. You can use lots of it to help fill out the arrangement and to provide support and structure for the other flowers.

Using flowers in closely related colours and then finding a vase or container in a similar colour can be a challenge - but boy what a pleasure when it works!

I love using Eucalyptus as foliage at this time of year and like here combined with a beautifully coloured Hydrangea and some dramatic dark berries - you don't need to add anything else. 

You'll need: 

- 1 stem of Hydrangea in a dark blue or purple colour - with a large flower head

-  5 stems of Viburnum berries

-  7 stems of small leaved Eucalyptus foliage - there is one called 'Baby Blue' that has small roundish leaves

- a large vase or container - in this case I have used a tall grey French vintage enamelled water jug

Here in the UK you can still buy Hydrangeas - mind you they are quite expensive - so I just picked one stem with a very large head in gorgeous green, purple and blue colours. 

A few stems of Viburnum, with dark blue almost black berries, will go a long way and I love the little red stems.

Eucalyptus is such an useful foliage, so I'm using it again - but this time one with a different size leaves - small and round. 

For conditioning the flowers - you'll also need:

- florists snippers or scissors

- a florist bucket

As always - condition the flowers by removing any leaves that would end up below the water line in the vase. Cut the stems at an angle - to increase water absorption. Put in a clean container with tepid water and leave in a cool, dark place over night or at least for a few hours before making the final arrangement.

Sorry, about always repeating this last bit - but it's probably the most important thing you can do to make your flowers last longer! So I'm afraid you have to put up with me always repeating myself.

Pick a large container in a colour relating to the flowers. Start off with the Hydrangea. It will have a woody stem so you will need to split the stem by making a second cut up the stem. Place it towards the front - resting on the edge of the container. 

The Viburnum berries will also have woody stems - so make that second cut up the stem on those as well. Place the berries behind the Hydrangea - a little bit taller than the Hydrangea - kind of framing the big flower. 

Lastly - trim and split the stems on the Eucalyptus, if the stems are thick and woody, and place them behind the dark berries - just kind of sticking up at the back and the sides - giving the whole arrangement a bit of movement. 

Some colouring pencils in relating colours - in a vintage pewter jar

It's such a pleasure to be able to work with beautiful plant materials and the beauty of Hydrangeas never ceases to amaze me and it will probably always be one of my favourite flowers.

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

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

From the Archives - 3 November 2014 - Ornamental Cabbage

A blogpost from deep in the archives - posted last time also on 3 November - still just as relevant as it's seasonal and one of my favourite autumn flowers/plants.

It was also the beginning of a new and very popular blog series called 'Tiny Blooms'.  

***** 

I'm starting another blog series or column - that I'm calling 'Tiny Blooms' and it will be about small arrangements. Small or tiny might be the size of the container or it could be the size of the flowers or the amount of stems in each container. It will also be that the arrangement is minimal both in presentation and that it's quick and easy to do. Apart from that there are no other strict rules - I'm allowing myself some creative freedom here!

In this the first 'Tiny Blooms' - I'm diving straight in and almost breaking some of the rules. 

I'm using some rather long-stemmed ornamental cabbage - you should have seen them before I got hold of them, they were twice as tall - BUT there are only three of them.

I have also reduced the flower head taking off the greener outer leaves and just leaving the really stunningly colourful ones in the centre. I also love the amazing colour on the stems and wanted to show part of them.

So after conditioning the flowers - I reduced the heads by taking off a lot of the lower leaves - I trimmed the stems so that they are in proportion to the container - and in this case allowing for some of the beautiful stems to show - rather then having the flower heads rest on the edge of the container - as you probably normally would do.

I tried to tie some purple raffia around the stems - to hold the three stems together - but in the end decided that it didn't work - the heads looked too squashed together - instead I just let the three stems lean to one side. I didn't want a stiff arrangement and as I said before I wanted to show the stems. 

I changed from purple raffia to black twine and tied some around the neck of the cream ware container - just with a double knot and leaving the ends to casually hang down. 

Voilà - a seasonal, quick and easy arrangement - using some colourful 'tiny blooms'.

  Have a Lovely Floral Day!

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid 

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