Florets - Floral Quote - # 157 - by Emma Sibley

'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, green plants, 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 and plants.

I love books and in my ever growing library I look for quotes that I hope will be both inspiring and be useful while arranging flowers or green plants in your home.

"In recent years we have seen a growing trend for house plants as more and more people appreciate the benefits of being surrounded by greenery in the home. All around us we can see a multitude of fashion and lifestyle campaigns styled using tropical palms, ferns and foliage, and there is also an increased abundance of places selling plants for the modern gardener."

~ Emma Sibley ~

[Emma Sibley: British, founder of botanical styling company Terrariums and co-author of Urban Botanics, an indoor plant guide for modern gardeners.]

[Quote from: Urban Botanics, beautifully illustrated by the Dutch artist Maaike Koster with text by Emma Sibley. Published by Arum Press.]

[Houseplant: Sedum morganianum.]

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

FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - Late Summer Palette

FLOWERS is a series of blog posts that Titti Malmberg, of HWIT BLOGG, and I create a couple of times a month. Each time we work to a theme and we post at the same time.

We met on the internet and became friends. Titti lives just outside the beautiful coastal town of Karlskrona in Sweden, and I live in London, a vibrant big city.

In FLOWERS blog posts we share inspiring tips and ideas, and show that arranging flowers does not have to be difficult and expensive.

This time on 'FLOWERS by ingrid and titti' -  the theme is 'A Late Summer Palette'. 

Autumn has such an amazing colour palette and these two Dahlias are no exception. As a third little side arrangement I used a jam jar where I added a few stems of pink Sedum and a few little short stems of dark Cotinus foliage. Both from my garden. 

I also gathered some golden hops from my garden and displayed them in a little basket. 

The big leaves are from a plant called Vitis coignetiae. It's a very vigorous climber that can grow several meters each season - so you need to give it plenty of room to grow. The leaves turns bright red later on in the autumn. 

Later flowering Dahlias will mix well with autumn berries and autumn coloured leaves. Dahlias are not very long-lasting but while they are flowering they are magnificent. So enjoy them while you can! These Dahlias are from Forever Green Flower Company.

I have used two vintage giant pickling jars for the Dahlias. The two small wicker baskets with handles and the hessian adds to the late summer palette.

My collaborator Titti Malmberg over in Sweden has also been busy creating a post with the same autumnal theme. So why not pop over to her blog, HWIT BLOGG, and see what beautiful creations she has come up with. 

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

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer' - I will be back on Sunday with another Florets - a floral quote by someone passionate about flowers.

~ xoxo ~ 

Ingrid

[Styling, text and photography © Ingrid Henningsson/Of Spring and Summer.]
{Flowers from Forever Green Flower Company.]

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FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - Flowers in August

My Swedish collaborator Titti Malmberg and I are back with a new season of FLOWERS.

Over the spring and summer there has been quite a lot of changes in Titti and my lives. Titti has made a move - away from the island of Öland - where she had lived for many years. She has moved a bit further south on the mainland but still lives along the coast.

I have started to train as a florist and did a Certificate in Floral Design during the spring. I will continue with a more advanced level soon. In the summer months we have had some long overdue work done on our house and garden and at times it has been like living on a building site - but hopefully it will look great once its all done.

The theme for this FLOWERS is 'Flowers in August' - and I have chosen to feature three late summer flowers - Dahlias, Sedum and Snapdragons.

I still have limited access to all my props and my 'photography studio' - but I was able to find a pretty basket, a large glass jar and two white vases.

Using a basket to display your flowers in you will need to put the flowers in a waterproof container of some sort. I just used a low wide glass jar. The flowers look pretty just resting on the edge of the basket.

The light pink Snapdragons or Antirrhinum, which is the botanical name, is a lovely contrast to the dark pink Dahlias and the still green Sedum.

I arranged the large pink and yellow Dahlias in two vintage vases. The two white vases are the same colour, has narrow necks and both has deep ridges all the way around but they have different shapes.

The Dahlias came with plenty of leaves and quite a few buds - but I removed all that as I just wanted the large flowers. I also cut the stems short as I wanted the flowers to sit just above the top of the vase.

I used three Dahlias in each vase - remember the rule of uneven numbers - use three, five or seven flowers - it looks more natural and is easier on the eye.

Three flower heads fitted snugly in the neck of the vase and gives the arrangement a feeling of being large and generous.  

The last arrangement is a little bit of an exploration on an idea that I had. I started off with a very large straight-sided vintage pickling jar. 

I divided up the flowers and cut the stems three different lengths. I filled the jar with just a little bit of water. The short ones went in the bottom of the jar, the medium length went half way up the jar and the longest at the top. 

The longer stems are hidden by the shorter flowers - so what you have is 'a jar full of flowers'. This is not an arrangement that will last very long. Flowers needs air circulating around them so you run the risk of of the flowers inside the jar going a bit 'soggy'. But its a fun and different way of displaying flowers.  

Please, go over to HWIT BLOGG and have a look at how Titti has interpreted the theme of 'Flowers in August'. 

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a great floral day!

I will be back soon with more floral delights.

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

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

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Flowers of the Month - October 2014

I'm back again with 'Flowers of the Month' - where I'm highlighting all the different flowers I have used during the month of October.

The name of the flower - under the image - is also a link to the post where I featured the flower.

Chrysanthemums, Stock and Snapdragons

White Snowberries

Dahlias and Agapanthus

Crab Apples

Dahlias

Pink Snowberries

Dahlias

Sedum, Ferns and Ivy

Sunflowers, Chinese Lanterns and Crab Apples

Ornamental Cabbage and Chrysanthemums

Dahlia, Hydrangea and Vitis Grapes

Hydrangea

Sedum, Chrysanthemums, Heuchera Flowers and Grasses

Chrysanthemums x 2 and Soft Ruscus




Gerbera, Roses, Cornus and Crab Apples

I hope you have enjoyed the month of October in all its autumn floral glory!

Here is a link to the month of August flowers.

Here is a link to the month of September flowers.

Have a wonderful Floral Day!

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

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

A Bunch for the Weekend - # 27 - Autumn Flowers and Grasses

This week on 'A Bunch for the Weekend - I'm featuring some autumn flowers from my garden and some Chrysanthemums from the farmers market.

I had a few Chrysanthemums left over from a previous project - they were still going strong, looking good and not at all ready to go on the compost heap.

So I decided to try to find something in my own garden to combine them with. I found some Sedum in a dark, rich maroon colour, a few pink little flowers from the ground-cover Heuchera and some fluffy seed heads from the lovely grass Miscanthus.

You'll need: 

- 3 stems of Sedum 

- 3-5 multi-stemmed light coloured Chrysanthemums

- 3 stems of Heuchera flowers

- 6 stems of Miscanthus grass 

- a medium sized vase or container with maybe a coloured detail that picks up some colour in the arrangement - in this case I have used a vintage milk jug with a brown stripe across the middle

- a small light coloured jar or container 

- a few vintage books

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 place over night or at least a few hours before making the final arrangement.

Start off with the larger Sedum flowers - cut the stems so that the flowers are resting on the edge of the container. Cut some of the Chrysanthemums the same length - so they also rest on the edge and others a bit longer to go in the middle of the arrangement. Then feed the thin stems of the Heuchera flowers and the grasses evenly throughout the arrangement to give a bit of height and movement.

Make up a second small arrangement in the smaller vase using the offcuts from the multi-stemmed Chrysanthemums and give the small arrangement a more prominent raised position by putting it on a few books.

A quick, easy and seasonal arrangement for no extra cost at all. Brilliant!

Have a lovely Floral Friday and a Happy Weekend!

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid

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

Florets - Floral Quote by Hans Blomquist

"For me, plants and foliage are an essential element of any home: they bring an interior to life. Even better, they absorb carbon dioxide and are very effective at purifying the air, removing pollutants and toxins such as formaldehyde. I leave my plants to grow freely - I don't like anything too manicured or too neat, preferring a random, jungly effect. Some of my favourites are scented geraniums for their wonderful perfume, Sparmannia africana for its large, light green leaves and Muechlenbeckia complexa, which grows with great vigour and has a dense tangle of dark stems. In the natural home, foliage or flowers should be as close to nature as possible: think of a long branch studded with blossom in the spring, an armful of flowering grasses in summer, and bare, leafless twigs in autumn."

~ Hans Blomquist ~ 

[Hans Blomquist: Swedish-born, Paris-based interiors stylist, art director and author of two books The Natural Home, published 2012 and In Detail, published October 2014.]

[Quote from: The Natural Home by Hans Blomquist.]

[Flowers: Sedum, ferns and ivy - all from my autumn garden in London.]

[Container: Large vintage preserving jar.]

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


PS. I'll be taking a break from Florets for now. I have some new and exiting plans for a new series of blog posts - and guess what - it will involve lots of flowers!!   

Have a Lovely Floral Sunday!

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid