A Bunch for the Weekend - # 108 - Happy Easter!

It's time for another 'A Bunch for the Weekend' and this week it's also Easter! It's a wonderful time of year in London - my Wisteria is about to burst into flower - with its gorgeous purple pendulous flowers. Trees and shrubs are also turning a shimmering green - and I have hayfever.........!!

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

"It's always a pleasure and lots of fun to buy a bunch of flowers for the weekend and in this series of blog posts, called 'A Bunch for the Weekend', I will show you how you can make quick and easy flower arrangements for your home. 

Buy the flowers where it's convenient, easy and most affordable for you whether that is from a flower stall, farmers' market, the supermarket or a florist. 

Always try to buy seasonal flowers - they will last longer and they will be a lot cheaper.

Make sure you condition the flowers as soon as you get home. Remove any foliage that will end up below the waterline in the vase. Trim the ends of the stems at an angle and put in fresh water as soon as possible."

What would we do without yellow daffodils for Easter? Well, in Sweden they are even called "Easter Lilies". So here I'm following the classic Easter theme using yellow and orange daffodils. 

As a colour contrast I have added a lot of blue and white china like little cups and some small plates. The cups are used as vases with the stems cut very short. 

The flowers on the little plates are cut even shorter and are a temporary decoration as they have no water and will not last very long. 

The flowers on the plates have barely opened up and have a much milder yellow - a beautiful contrast to the deep blue colour in the floral pattern.

I would like to wish everybody a very Happy Easter!

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

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

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

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

[Flowers: Yellow and orange daffodils from my favourite local street flower stall in North West London.]

[Vase/Container: A quite big clear glass jar, Victorian blue and white floral cup and plates. All bought at one of the many London antique markets. There are also two new Royal Copenhagen cups with a redesign from a very old pattern.]

[Other props: Vintage 1930's coffee pot, a vintage basket in the background and a vintage stool - all from stylist's own prop collection.]

[Styling, photography and text © 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 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 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/

Florets - Floral Quote - # 146 - by Paula Pryke

'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.  

"Pale creamy yellows are the essence of early spring. Nature is a great designer - you only have to look at the wild yellow daffodils and soft yellow primroses growing in woodland and on roadside verges for colour inspiration. Early flowering bulbs such as narcissi and hyacinths are also highly fragrant and this is one of the added pleasures of the season. Spring yellow from cream to bright yellow offer an easy palette for the flower arranger as they mix happily with fresh lime-green foliage which is in plentiful supply at this time of year."

~ Paula Pryke ~ 

[Paula Pryke OBE: British, London based florist, founder of Paula Pryke Flower Shop and School; and author of sixteen books.]

[Quote from: Living Colour by Paula Pryke, 2001.]

[Flowers: Yellow daffodils from my favourite local flower stall in North West London.]

[Vase/Container: Purple glass vase from stylist's own prop collection.]

[Other props: Fabric, vintage buttons and necklace from stylist's own prop collection.]

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

*******

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

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer' - I will be back tomorrow - Monday morning - with another 'Floral Media featuring a short flower arranging video with the American florist Sarah von Pollaro.

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 12 000 followers and around 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 - # 144 - by Rachel Siegfried

'Florets - Floral Quote' is a series of blog posts where I feature quotes by authors - mostly well known in the flower world but you will also find some more 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 for everybody who is arranging and styling flowers.  

"Narcissus make up for their limited choice in colour with an amazing variety of forms. These range from the well-known trumpet form of the daffodil, to the more unusual split corona - which looks more like an exotic orchid. Lending themselves to informal arrangements, narcissi look lovely when a few varieties are combined in a simple jug or vase."

~ Rachel Siegfried ~ 

[Rachel Siegfried: British, Oxfordshire based flower farmer and floral designer, founder of Green and Gorgeous and author of The Flower Book (2017).]

[Quote from: The Flower Book by Rachel Siegfried.]

[Flowers: Yellow daffodils. Flowers from my local flower stall in North West London]

[Vase/Container: White glass vase designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.]

[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 next week with more floral delights.

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 12 000 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/

Flowers of the Month - February 2017

It's the last day of February 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'.

It has been a very busy month so there are a lot of 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.

1 February - Creative with Flowers - In the Pink Zone!

3 February - A Bunch for the Weekend - Dark and Moody Tulips

5 February - Florets - Floral Quote by Hans Blomquist

8 February - Creative with Flowers - Romantic Tulips

10 February - A Bunch for the Weekend - From the Archives

12 February - Florets - Floral Quote by Paula Pryke

13 February - Tiny Blooms - Snowdrops

14 February - Happy Valentine's Day!

15 February - Creative with Flowers - Pink Ranunculus

17 February - A Bunch for the Weekend - Pink Tulips in Zinc Vase

19 February - Florets - Floral Quote by Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo

20 February - Tiny Blooms - Pink Limonium in Pink Mini Bud Vase

22 February - Creative with Flowers - Double Multi-Coloured Tulips

24 February - A Bunch for the Weekend - Rustic Country

26 February - Florets - Floral Quote by Vic Brotherson

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

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer - I will be back here tomorrow morning - Wednesday - with some more flower arranging tips. Look out for the next instalment of 'Arrange Your Flowers! I'll be featuring my top three cutting tools for flower arranging. 

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

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

[Styling, photography and text © 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 12 000 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 - # 139 - by Paula Pryke

'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 for everybody who is arranging and styling flowers.

"Bright yellow is the happiest colour of the spectrum and it is no coincidence that yellow daffodils are the most popular cut flower. Some of my favourite bright yellows include ranunculus, mimosa and forsythia. I prefer to use yellow flowers monochromatically - mixed with other shades of yellow - as its brightness and lightness can dominate other flowers in mixed coloured arrangements. Also I like to team up yellow flowers that have dark brown centres (like sunflowers) with deep brown foliage and flowers. On the colour wheel, the opposite of yellow is violet and mixing yellow with purple or blue works well."

~ Paula Pryke ~ 

[Paula Pryke OBE: British, London based florist, founder of Paula Pryke Flower Shop and School; and author of sixteen books.]

[Quote from: Living Colour  (2001).]

[Flowers: Daffodils.]
[Container: Vintage basket.]

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

*******

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

Thank you for visiting 'Of Spring and Summer' - I will be back next week with more floral delights from Of Spring and Summer.

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 almost 12 000 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/

A Bunch for the Weekend - # 74 - Bright Yellow Daffodils

Easter is over but the daffodils just keep coming! Luckily I love bright yellow daffodils at this time of year.

I have used a large vintage pickling jar - its simple, understated and does not take anything away from the flowers.

Flowers like this that is striking in colour as well as shape and texture doesn't need any other flowers - they are just fine on their own.   

Make the bouquet as a spiraled hand-tied bunch or just do it straight in the container. Whichever way make sure all the flower trumpets are facing out. 

If you are making the arrangement straight in the vase - use the shorter flowers around the edges - resting on the edge of the vase and the longer in the middle.  

It makes an attractive dome-shaped silhouette that looks nice from all sides. 

Remember to always cut the ends of the stems before you put them in water. Daffodils are often transported dry to markets and flower stalls. The reason for that is to delay flowering - as soon as they are put in water the flowers start opening up.  

When you first buy the daffodil flowers they don't look like much - long green stalks and not much of the flower is showing. BUT they emerge like butterflies into large yellow trumpets with frilly edges.

And I'm off to buy some more tomorrow Saturday!

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

I'll see you on Sunday with another 'Florets - Floral Quote' by someone passionate about flowers - as well as some more floral delights from Of Spring and Summer.

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

FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - A Floral Easter!

Daffodils is a classic spring flower and will often flower around the time of Easter. The bright yellow colour is a welcome sight in any garden or park. 

This daffodil that I have used here is one called Narcissus Tête-À-Tête and its only about 20 cm tall. Small and very sweet and perfect for using as single stems in any small vase or container.

I have a collection of clear glass bottles - from as small as 5 cm to quite tall ones. Some are new but most of them are vintage often picked up in charity stores or flea-markets for very little money. 

Some have company names embossed in the glass, others are old perfume bottles and some have worn labels on the side.

When I cut the flowers in my garden I made sure I cut the stem as long as possible. The flowers are not very tall and to get the right proportions you want to have the flexibility to pair up the right size flower with the right size bottle. 

Start by putting the flowers with the longest stems in the taller bottles. Match the other stems to shorter bottles and vary the height of the flowers so that there is variation in each container.

In this case I have put most of the bottles on a little white painted footstool with a vintage metal bird my son gave me for Mother's Day.

This kind of flower arrangement can go down the middle of your Easter table or gather the collection on a tray and place it on a side table. Small bottles like these are charming on a bedside table in the guest bedroom or on a coffee table.

Pick some daffodils from your garden and dig out some bottles and make little arrangements - what could be easier!

Titti over on HWIT BLOGG is also  doing a floral Easter theme - so go over and see what she is up to.

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a wonderful floral Friday and a very Happy Easter!

I'll see you on Sunday with another Florets - a floral quote from someone passionate about flowers.

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 - # 13 - Double Daffodil - Narcissus 'Double Ducat'

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 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 a lot of creative freedom!

This beautiful daffodil is called Narcissus 'Double Ducat' - it has massive double bright yellow flower heads and some of the petals has the smallest hint of green.

I used six stems and made a tight bouquet by holding the stems right under the flower head and creating a round domed shape with all the flowers facing outwards all the way around.

I tied some raffia around the stems and left the ends trailing down as a little textured feature.

As a colour contrast to the bright yellow flowers I choose a purple glass vase and left the stems on the daffodils long enough to just casually lean against the side of the vase.  I also added a piece of fabric with a purple zigzag pattern, two vintage purple buttons and a brightly coloured bead necklace.

A simple, quick and easy DIY spring flower arrangement.

Have a Lovely Floral Monday!

I'll see you later in the week with more flowers from 
'Of Spring and Summer'. 

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid 

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

[Flowers from Forever Green Flower Company.]