FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - Romantic Roses

This week on FLOWERS Titti and I have chosen the theme Romantic Roses. This time of year it will be plenty of roses in flower. Or so we thought but the weather in Sweden has been a bit cold and Titti told me that roses were in short supply in her garden and here in London we have had quite a lot of rain. Cold and rain is not the best conditions for roses. So when I went out in my garden to see what was available - I was met by very sad, soggy and brown edged flowers that was not at all ready for the camera.......! 

In the end I did find a few - like this little beauty called Rosa 'Ferdinand Pichard'. It's a little bit of an unusual rose - no two flowers are ever alike. It's pale pink with crimson stripes and splashes all over the petals and has a wonderful strong and sweet scent.

What I also did find was plenty of peonies and I decided to mix in a few with the roses. I think they are at least as romantic as roses and they didn't seem to have minded the British weather. This one is called Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt' - named after the French stage and screen actress.

As a contrast to all the romantic flowers I have used clear glass laboratory containers, beakers, jars and measuring jugs. All vintage and the clear glass nicely shows off the stems.
    

I found two other roses on my local rounds  - this one called 'Blue Pacific' - it has a light lilac colour but no scent. It's used a lot in bridal bouquets - so it fitted right in with our romantic theme.

  

The last rose is a little white spray rose - it has tinges of green on the edges of some the petals and I think its lovely.

The painting in the background in a lot of the images is by my dear sister-in-law Amy Trachtenberg.

In contrast with the romantic theme I added a few black props - a book with a black cover, three vintage knives with black handles, a black Jane Means ribbon tied around the knives, a small metal tin, some black dice, black and white bakers' twine and a small Marimekko bowl. 

  

This last image is of one of my favourite flowers at the moment - but my favourite changes with every season - this is just common cow parsley. 

Titti over on HWIT BLOGG will also be posting about Romantic Roses so please go over and have a look at what she has done.

Here is a link to all the previous FLOWERS Titti and I have done over the last six months. 

You can also see all the images on my Pinterest.

Have a Wonderful Floral Day!

See you later in the week.

xoxo Ingrid

Floral Media: Ten More Ways to Create a Green Christmas

Create a simple window-box that lasts all winter using tiny pine trees. Yet another post by the brilliant Erin Boyle who you usually find on Gardenista.

If you haven't come across Gardenista before and you are even vaguely interested in gardens, garden design, plants and flowers, it's a must! It's absolutely brilliant blog with new posts throughout the day, great to look at, fun and interesting content; and an amazing source for anything garden related.

Make a simple holiday wreath out of willow and dogwood branches. Start with making a basic frame and then add some eucalyptus branches. Very beautiful in all it's simplicity - I would be tempted to keep it up for the rest of the year. This one is from the Free People BLDG 25 Blog. 

Why not plant up a basket with winter flowering plants - like Minna Mercke Schmidt has done here. Easy, seasonal and it will last all winter.

Some more festive green decorations by Erin Boyle. I think this is very sweet and so easy to make. Big is not always better!

Here is a simple and stylish way of wrapping presents - Patricia from All Seasons blog has personalised wrapping paper - this one has the name of the blog on it then she has used simple twine, wooden tags and some ivy berries. 

Here I'm going with a bit of whimsy! What about a making a skirt out of pine branches - maybe not to wear - only for some decorative fun! Kate from Kate's Creative Space has created something out of very basic materials.

Christmas is Claus Dalby's favourite time of year and he makes some very festive decorations filled with candles and lots of sparkles - to light up those long dark nights in Scandinavia.

This DIY Alternative Christmas tree is also from Free People BLDG 25 Blog. They have used bits of nature collected from outside along with some other fun things.

Over on my Pinterest I have a board called 'Branches and Trees for Christmas'. There are nearly 300 images and they are all 'green'. I love Pinterest and I think it's the most amazing source for inspiration. Please, take a look and tell me what you think! 

I hope you have enjoyed my second post with inspiration for creating a Green Christmas. You can find the first one here.

Have a Wonderful Inspirational 'Green Christmas' Day!

See you soon!

xoxo Ingrid

[Photography: 1. © Claus Dalby, 2. © Free People BLDG 25, 3. © Minna Mercke Schmidt, 4. © Claus Dalby.]