Flowers and Fabrics - Tulips

Lovely, lovely tulips or Tulipa as the are called in Latin. The Latin name comes from the Turkish tulbend that means turban. Tulips have been grown in Turkish gardens for centuries and were widely used as a decorative motif in their ceramics.

My inspiration for this blog post - that I have called Flowers and Fabrics comes from - you've guessed it - flowers and fabrics. 

The four different coloured tulips all come from my two closest farmers' markets. At the moment the choice is limited - mostly daffodils and tulips -  BUT I am not complaining! I know I am very lucky to have one just a short walking distance away and the other within a short bus ride.  

The fabrics also come from a shop just 5 minutes away. The newly opened The Village Haberdashery. I have mentioned the shop in previous posts and I am doing so again. I just love having a  fabulous fabric store so close by!

For this flower arrangement I used a cream vintage jug that has a wide pink stripe around the middle and it's about 20 cm tall. I used 5 light pink tulips, 5 of the medium pink, 5 of the ones with a light edge and 11 of the purple tulips.

I first conditioned the flowers by:

 - Stripping of any lower leaves that would sit below the water level.

- Stripped off any leaves that are torn or bruised.

- Cut about 2-3 cm off each stem with a sharp scissors or knife.

- Cut the stem at a sharp angle to expose the largest possible area to water.

- Place immediately in water to give the flowers a good drink and leave for at least a few hours.

I then arranged the tulips directly in the jug mixing the colours as I went along. There were too many stems for me to do a hand tied bunch - my hands are too small to hold that many flowers. Also if you have to hold a big bunch of tulips you run the risk of crushing the stems and the leaves - so not a good idea. 

I then thought it would be interesting and fun to see how the same arrangement would look in front of the three different fabrics. 

The arrangement with the pink and white striped fabric is my favourite.

Which one is your favourite?

Thanks for visiting my blog and making lovely comments.

I'll see you back here very soon.

xoxo Ingrid

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