Here Comes Summer

After a week of sweltering temperatures followed by a dreadfully soggy British bank holiday I can only assume that it must be summer. Oh, and we have been getting some lovely summer flowers in the shop too. Thought I'd share some of my favourites with you....

First up there's Lisianthus, or to give it its proper name Eustoma. I like it so much that I included three shots of it here! It comes in so many different varieties that I may even dedicate a whole post to it sometime - there's green, cream, white, shades of pink and purple and whites edged with pink and purple. And ok, you can get it all year round, but it works so well with all the other summer flowers I just had to include it here. 

Next up are Snapdragons, or Antirhinum.  They have a lovely pointy shape thats great in vases and they come in lots of great hot pinks and oranges as well as softer pastel shades. To me they are so typical of english country gardens, I will definitely be growing these when I retire to a tumbledown cottage in some quaint village by the sea. And I'll let you into a little secret, the flowers don't really have much of a scent but I love the smell of the leaves. They smell like peas.
 

Delphinium are another tall linear flower that scream summer. If money was no object I would fill huge vases around the home with these blue beauties. Such great intense hues, some shot with lilac and mauve but they also come in the sweetest soft ice blues - which is one of my favourite colours at the moment for bridal flowers - just check out my Pinterest wedding board for proof.

And then, how could I breathe the word summer without mentioning Peonies. "Oh sweet many petalled love!" These blooms are stunning, they start off in tight round buds, sometimes taunting the impatient florist, and then they slowly, or more often quickly, unfurl to reveal their full blousey beauty.

From your Sarah Bernhardts to your Shirley Temples, there are so many lovely varieties to choose from. And they smell... divine, not just the leaves either ; ) They have a fairly short life and a short season so get them now and enjoy them while they last. 

Hydrangea are around all summer with a huge range of options to choose from in the pinks, blues, purples spectrums as well as white and greens. Russety shades seem to be around more towards the end of the summer and into autumn although thats probably more seasonal demand than actual availability. As always most flowers are available all year, but at a price, so it pays to buy when they're in season. 

And last but not least, Allium. Again another one that speaks of cottage gardens to me. I'm besotted with their perfectly formed spheres on clean long stems. They look amazing in modern arrangements as their bold striking shape is so eye catching.

Just be warned that they are in the onion family and so the cut stems can be a bit pongy. You'll certainly know about it if you don't refresh the vase water, or its been a particularly hot few days. Still, I won't hold it against them.  

What are your favourite summer flowers? Do you think I've missed any out here?

Purple Rain

I love the colour purple. Its strong, deep hues, a combination of reds and blues, are both rich and cool at the same time. One of the most requested colours for bridal flowers lately, I thought I'd give a quick run through some of the options available if you're thinking of using purple in your wedding.

Incredibly versatile, it can be soft and pretty with pinks, creams and lilacs but can also work with creams and vibrant sunny yellows, and I love it with orange (its opposite on the colour wheel) and lime green. Mix it with reds and you have a very seductive combination.

These above and the lilac flowers below are Eustoma, more commonly known as Lisianthus. Sometimes mistaken for a rose and also known as a chinese rose, its not related but you can see where the confusion arises. Like the rose it does have soft blousey petals but its perfect spiralling buds are all its own.

If you like natural country garden style flowers these below are Veronica. They work really well with Lisianthus, thistle and spray roses for a cottagey feel. They look sweet popping out of mixed spring bunches too and are relatively inexpensive and widely available pretty much all year round.

When you're choosing flowers, whether for a vase at home, a gift or a wedding it helps to think about the effect that different types of flowers have on your arrangement. Your florist will advise with this but its usually a good idea to have a combination of linear and rounded shapes.

Clematis below has a beautiful lightness to it. Its stems curve and climb and can lend a lovely rhythmical  movement to your arrangement so that it flows and looks natural.

Hydrangea in contrast are quite a weighty flower with large heads of lots of little flowers. As a general rule, its a good idea to keep your heavier focal flowers towards the base of arrangements and lighter smaller blooms towards the top. In vases, space and foliage help to balance out different shapes.  

This Hydrangea is a lovely variety with the most amazing variation of colours on one head. And no, this is not a trick of the light, these flowers actually have green, pink, lilac and blue tones on each tiny head. Amazing aren't they?

If you prefer cleaner lines there are still plenty of options out there if you're looking for purple flowers. Vanda orchids come in a few different shades of purple from the more commonplace vibrant pinky purple, to dusky browny purples that would work well in vintage themes, and this new variety which is a great strong "Cadbury's" purple. 

Tulips are perfect for classic, clean bouquets and do come in purple, although they look more pink here they are definitely more on the mauvey/magenta side of purple. As always I'd recommend sticking to using using them when they're in season as not only are they cheaper they're also much stronger and longer lasting.

So there it is purple - the colours of kings and queens and er, Prince - the tiny put him in your pocket prince of pop. Hence Purple Rain. And it has been raining quite a lot here, just not purple. That'd be worrying.

Spring Flower Workshop Part II

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a floristry workshop at Make and Do in Caversham.  The idea for the workshop was to demonstrate some spring flower arrangements in upcycled vases. 

I decided to use containers that we all have lying around at home - such as tin cans, jam jars and glass ramekins (if you enjoy a posh pud now and again as I do, you are bound to have a few of these lurking in your recycling bin). But rather than recycle them, we were going to reuse and upcycle them by looking at different ways we could add some pretty. 

We started the session with a small hand tie of Tulips and Genista, spiralling the stems and tying lightly so as not to crush the delicate stems, and cutting to size to suit the proportions of the tin cans.

Then I demonstrated how to make a little front facing tied posy suitable for a jam jar - using groups of Hyacinths, Muscari, Feverfew, Tete a Tete and Paperwhites.

Before moving on to work on a petite oasis arrangement in a ramekin. These sort of arrangements are great for using odd stems from larger bouquets, or a few cuttings from the garden - be sure to condition the flowers and foliage well before using them in oasis.

We used Ranunculus, Lisianthus, Waxflower and a few heads of limey green button Chrysanthemums. Roses would work equally well.

Lastly we looked at ways to decorate the containers. I'd brought along tin cans painted with tester pots from Farrow & Ball, and wrapped jam jars with wool in aqua shades. Hannah from Make & Do had used Enamel paint to give her jam jars a tint of pink.

The class then decorated their vases with fabric trimmings and ribbons from Make and Do's well stocked shelves.  At the end of the afternoon, they had 3 little spring arrangements to take home and hopefully picked up a few tips on how to recreate them at leisure.

It was such a lovely afternoon, hopefully we'll do it all again soon, but with a summer theme. 

Perhaps in time to inspire your Jubilee tea party decorations?..

Vintage Blooms & Buttonholes

Back in September I was asked to take my skills on the road, and invited to host a floristry workshop at a Birthday party in Islington. I'm always happy to share my love of all things floral, and set about gathering some beautiful dusky pink Roses, interesting foliage and hydrangea in muted antique tones to complement the vintage theme of the workshop.

 I started off with a demonstration of some of the basic techniques to make a buttonhole or corsage, and the girls got cracking with wiring and taping flowers and foliage to create their own unique buttonhole.

Then we moved on to making small grouped handties or posies, the type of thing they would be able to make from a few salvaged blooms, or cuttings from the garden. I'd asked the group to bring along a small container like a jam jar, a quirky vintage find like a teapot or china cup to display their posy in.

Delving into buckets of waxflower, hydrangea, thistle, snowberries, lisianthus, and cool water roses, the girls rustled up an array of pretty little posies. The workshop was a great success and got the Birthday girl's afternoon of treats off to a great start. Here she is below in an action shot making her own posy.    

If you'd like to arrange a workshop, or to discuss the different options please drop me a line to blueskiesandbunting@gmail.com.