Florets - Floral Quote - # 96 - by Malin Hidesäter and Anna Skoog

" Beloved Tulips - Sometimes it is really hard to decide because there are so many different tulips to choose from. But why pick one when you can have several? Double, single, feathered or flamed - just mix and match. Place the flowers in your cream jug, crystal vases or china cups. Grandmother's coffee set may finally come into use!"

~ Malin Hidesäter ~

[Malin Hidesäter: Swedish florist, flower expert, stylist, TV presenter and author of two books - Flower Power and

Krukväxter.]

[Quote from: Flower Power (2007) by Malin Hidesäter and Anna Skoog.]

[Flowers: Pink tulips and waxflowers .]

[Container: Zinc container.]

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

This is the last installment of Tulip Week and I hope you have enjoyed it and found it informative. It has been a great week and I have very much enjoyed putting it together.

Have a fabulous floral Sunday!

I'll see you again next week.

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

You can also find me on:

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Tulip Week - Day 6 - Styling and Decorating with Tulips

Today on Tulip Week - Day 6 - I'm doing a little bit of styling with tulips. In fifteen images I'm combining tulips with some unusual containers, fabrics and other ornaments as well as a few mixed arrangements.

In the first image I have used fourteen little clear vintage glass bottles and put one or two flowers in each. But instead of spreading them out around the house I've grouped them together - that way they will have much more impact.

In the image above I've used a bright pink watering can as a vase and filled it with tulips in a few different pink colours. A different and fun way of presenting the flowers.

A handful of tulips in each of the two vintage milk bottles. I've decorated the bottles very simply with some contrasting twine.

In this one I've used a collection of vintage and new red vases and added some of the more unusual tulips such as parrot, fringed, double and multicolored. I have also put some of them on a black metal plate to pick up the black center in the darker tulips but also to anchor the whole arrangement.  

For these tall and very elegant tulips I'm again using a vintage milk bottle. An uneven number of flowers are arranged very simply with just a few leaves left on as a little ruffle around the long stems.

Red parrot tulips are so dramatic that they need nothing else to take the attention away from the flowers. Here they are arranged in a tall but plain and neutral grey metal vase.

I have used a antique blue and white floral patterned cup as a vase for some deep pink single tulips. They are cut very short just long enough to sit above the edge of the cup. The arrangement is finished off with the addition of three little mini dark blue glass bottles.

In the next few arrangements I've combined the tulips with different fabrics. Around the house we often have fabrics such as curtains, cushions, rugs, blankets and table cloths.

Yellow is not an easy colour to combine with other colours. Here I've arranged curvy edged bright yellow tulips in a vintage milk can on a light yellow fabric.   

Some fresh and bright white tulips in a green vintage bulb vase. In the background is an abstract patterned fabric that looks like buildings with rows of windows.

Pink and purple tulips in a vintage jug that has a wide band of pink around the middle. In the background is a striped fabric in pink and white picking up the pink colour in both the flowers and the jug.

In the next few images I've made some very simple mixed arrangements often using just one other flower. 

Multicolored orange tulips mixed with bright orange Ranunculus - becomes a dramatic and vivid arrangement. It needed a stark and crisp black and white chevron fabric to offset all the orange! 

Here is a mixture of pale pink tulips, pink hyacinths and Eucalytus foliage. An interesting mix of quite pale colours so not to overwhelm the flowers I have chosen to use very pale cream ware containers. The one with the flowers is actually an old mustard jar and the tall bottle in the background is an old Japanese sake bottle. 

Strong colours can be teamed with other strong colours like here where deep pink tulips are mixed with matching ornamental cabbage, also called brassica - the Mexican fringed shawl also matches in colour.

Some unusual green parrot tulips is happily mixed with blue hyacinths. Cut very short and arranged in a clear glass cube. The dark blue vintage bottles in the background makes the flowers stand out.

In the final arrangement I have mixed mix pretty pink tulips with gorgeous pink hyacinths. On the side is a casual metal wire basket with twine and a ball of torn rags for weaving rag rugs.

Have a fabulous floral Saturday!

Tomorrow is Sunday and it's Day 7 and the end of Tulip Week. I'll finish the week with my usual Sunday post of Florets - a floral quote by someone passionate about flowers. Guess what flower they will mention?

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

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

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FLOWERS by ingrid and titti - Tulip Day!

I've been doing tulips all week because of Tulip Week in Sweden and today on FLOWERS Titti and I are celebrating Tulip Day. 

I'm showing three very simple and slightly different ways of arranging the same bunch of tulips in two vintage pickling jars.

In the first one I have simply taken ten tulips of the same colour and I'm leaning them to one side of the large glass jar. 

You can do this with any bunch of flowers - it's a little bit of a more relaxed and contemporary way of displaying flowers.

In the next one I have added another ten tulips - still of the same colour and I have packed them quite tightly into the pickling jar. I have left the ones in the middle slightly longer and the ones around the edges slightly shorter.

I have also on purpose not made the flowers into a hand-tied bunch. Instead the stems are a bit unruly in the bottom of the vase also giving it a more relaxed look.

This is a good way to arrange tulips if you don't like the "wild" look - as the container keeps the flowers contained - even as they grow. 

In the last arrangement I have added a whole lot of Ranunculus in almost the same colour as the tulips. I first removed all the leaves so I only had the long stems to feed down among the tulips. 

They are spread evenly throughout the tulips giving the bouquet a softer look with the rounder, frillier and multi-layered  Ranunculus flowers.

In this the last arrangement I have used a jar with a slightly wider and more squat shape and instead of clear glass this jar has a slightly green tinge to the glass picking up the colour of the leaves and stems.

With the addition of a piece of fabric, that can be used as a tablecloth, that picks up the colour of the flowers and a little mini vase the arrangements are ready to be placed on any little table, sideboard or mantelpiece around your home.

My Swedish collaborator Titti Malmberg over on HWIT BLOGG is also celebrating Tulip Day - so go over and have a look at her interpretation.

Have a fabulous floral Friday and I will see you tomorrow again for Day 6 of Tulip Week. I'll be featuring a little bit about styling and decorating with tulips.

Ingrid

~ xoxo ~ 

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

You can also find me on:

Pinterest:   https://www.pinterest.com/ofspringsummer/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofspringandsummer/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ingrid.henningsson

Tulip Week - Day 4 - Books about Tulips

While I was studying horticulture, plants and gardening design I accumulated quite a collection of books on the subject. After that I lectured for many years at The English Gardening School and I had to keep up with what was published in the gardening and plant world. So - a few more books was added to my collection.  

So today on Tulip Week - Day 4 - I'm feature a few books about tulips.

The first one is called The Tulip and is written by Anna Pavord. Its more or less the definitive book on the history of tulips. Anna Pavord has been the gardening columnist for the Observer for over twenty years and has published many gardening books.

In the inside dust-cover it says "The Tulip is not a gardening book. It is the story of a flower that has made men mad. Greed, desire, anguish, devotion have all played their part in the development of the tulip from a wild flower of the Asian steppes to the world-wide phenomenon it is today." 

I have included two books in Swedish - well, I'm Swedish and I know I have a lot of visitors from Sweden to my blog.

The first one is by Sanna Töringe and is called Historier om Blommor and it's a collection of chapters on folklore, garden history and stories about flowers in art and literature. There is a chapter devoted to the tulip - very appropriately called Passion.

The second Swedish book is called Tulpan and the editor is Cecilia Wingård. It's a collection of chapters written by different people and it also covers the history of tulips, growing advise, folklore and planting plans.

I have also chosen to feature two gardening book devoted to tulips. One called Gardening with Tulips by Michael King and the other is called Tulip by Liz Dobbs. Both full of information about tulips, how to grow them.

I don't have any florist or flower styling books devoted to tulips but I have included two that do have a few tulip arrangement. Jane Packer's At Home with Flowers and Malin Hidesäter's book Flower Power both has quite a few pages featuring tulips. 

The last book to be featured is a books I love. It's called Tulips and the introduction is by Scott D. Appell, it's an over-sized coffee table book that is more of a photography book than a gardening book. It has the most gorgeous full page images of tulips taken by top photographers. Each spread has a close-up of the flower on one page and a quote on the other.  

This is not any kind of definitive list of books on tulips - it's much more my very own collection of books that I have read and used as reference books over the years. 

All the English books are still available on Amazon. The two Swedish ones are out of print so you will have to look for them on secondhand book sellers.  

The last thing that I want to mention are the three small prints of tulips. They are painted in 1643 and the originals are at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem in Holland. Me and my husband bought them back in 2002 when we visited a gardening show just outside Haarlem.

On my 'To Do' list is now yet another thing to do - "Take tulip prints to be framed"!

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a fabulous floral Thursday!

I'll see you again tomorrow with Day 5 of Tulip Week. It will be another FLOWERS by me and Titti and we are of course celebrating Tulip Day! 

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

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

You can also find me on:

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ingrid.henningsson

Tulip Week - Day 3 - About Tulips

Today is Day 3 of Tulip Week and I will be talking a little bit about tulips - different types of tulips and how to look after them. 

I'm also showing ten of my own images - and surprise, surprise they are all pink. Well, I'm not particularly girly but I still happen to like pink!

Tulips are available in the northern hemisphere from about October/November to May/June. They come in many different colours, shapes and forms. The ones mostly available are single and double tulips. Single tulips have six petals and double can have as many as twelve petals. 

You can also get parrot tulips that has ruffled petals, fringed tulips with serrated edges and goblet-shaped tulips called lily-flowering. You can also sometimes find what is called French tulips. They are specially grown for the florist trade as they have bigger flowers and much longer stems and the price is accordingly.  

Tulips come in a very wide variety of colours from pink, purple, white, red, orange and yellow to striped and variegated colours. 

If you look after them they can last for about 5-10 days.

Condition the flowers as soon as you come home by removing any leaves that would end up below the waterline in the vase, as well as any broken or damaged leaves.

Cut the flowers by removing about 2-3 cm from the bottom of the stems. You are often advised to cut off the white part of the stem and that can sometimes be more than 2-3 cm. The white part of the stem does not take up water as effectively as the green part.

Make sure you cut at a diagonal to create a bigger area for the flower to absorb water. Place them in cool water and keep them in a cool place until you are ready to make the final arrangement.  

Display your final arrangement out of direct sunlight, away from fruit and vegetables as well as radiators and electronic equipment that creates heat.  

To make sure your flower last as long as possible re-cut the stems every 2 days, clean the vase and fill the vase with fresh cool water.

Tulips are both phototropic and geotropic - they reach for the light and they are affected by gravity. On top of that they also continue to grow in the vase as much as five centimeters. So this is why they keep bending, reaching and move around in the vase.

Some people like their tulips straight and if that is the case, you can after conditioning the flowers, try wrapping them tightly in newspaper and leave them in water for a while. Some other ways is to use a vase with a just big enough opening that will support the flowers, another is to cut the stems short and use bottles or bud vases.

I have also found that a lot of people like their tulips to 'dance around' in the vase and let them do their own thing.

Whichever look you prefer tulips will always be a beautiful and welcome flower at this time of year.

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a fabulous floral Wednesday!

I'll see you again tomorrow with Day 4 of Tulip Week. I will suggest a few books that can give you some more inspiration and further information about tulips. 

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

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

You can also find me on:

Pinterest:   https://www.pinterest.com/ofspringsummer/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofspringandsummer/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ingrid.henningsson

Tulip Week - Day 2 - More Inspirational Tulips

Here are some very colourful images of tulips provided by The Flower Council of Holland as part of their promotion of cut flowers called Flower Agenda - week 1-4 it's all about tulips.

A riot of colour showing different ways of combining colourful tulips with ribbons, fabrics, wallpaper, bags and a multitude of vases and containers.

Why not be inspired by some of these new and trendy ways of displaying the flowers.

Enjoy!!

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a fabulous floral Tuesday!

I'll see you again tomorrow with Day 3 of Tulip Week. I will tell you a bit about tulips and how to look after them to make sure they last as long as possible.

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

[Images provided by The Flower Council of Holland.]

You can also find me on:

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Tulip Week - Day 1 - Inspirational Tulips

This week is Tulip Week in Sweden and on the 15th January is Tulip Day or Tulpanens Dag as they say in Swedish. It is also National Tulip Day in Holland the next day on the 16th.

I will be showing tulips every day and on the 15th - Titti and I will be doing even more tulips on FLOWERS. 

I'm starting the week off by showing ten images full of colour and inspiration - all the images are provided by Blomsterfrämjandet and Tulpanguiden - Swedish organisations that promotes flowers. 

I hope you will enjoy my week of tulips!!

Enjoy your flower arranging and have a fabulous floral Monday!

I'll see you again tomorrow with Day 2 of Tulip Week.

Ingrid 

~ xoxo ~

[Images provided by Blomsterfrämjandet.]

You can also find me on:

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ingrid.henningsson