Monday, August 13, 2012

florals: a signature bunch

First things first, please excuse the fuzzy photography courtesy of Samsung and my exquisite photography skills.

Flowers are such an easy way to make your room feel finished. Even if you haven't gotten around to real dusting (you know, the kind where you actually pick everything up?), flowers distract and delight. 

My very favorite vase is a crystal rose bowl. I love the way it creates an easy, sculptural bouquet. Roses are my current favorite. (Please note, I hate roses on Valentine's Day, but they are just lovely the rest of the year.) Starting with long stems, it feels sacrilegious to cut the stems down by half, but that is what makes the blooms gather in such a full, abundant way... I like to cut one to size, then line up the other eleven, and cut them to the same length before arranging them.





Sometimes the roses are looking a little wilt-y at the market, so I like to get a little creative. The below shot includes carnations (yes, they are commonly known as "filler flowers") done tone-on-tone in a fresh green with hydrangeas. This was one of my favorite arrangements of the summer. I got a little carried away with the hydrangeas' leaves. These leaves are so sturdy, so shapely that while they get in the way of my go-to flower arrangement (they make tucking the stems in tricky), they are perfect to wrap around the base of the vase (obscuring the view of the stems) as well as folded over the edges of the bowl like tissue in a gift wrapped box.


(You might notice the grapefruit negroni in the foreground... it truly is a weekly staple!)

I am the first to admit that flowers are an indulgence. But, you can easily make a good bunch last twice as long by rearranging them every few days, and clipping a few centimeters off the bottom of the stem. 

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