Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Taking Your Time
Creating to foster patience
'Nature, time and patience are the three great physicians.'
H.G. Bohn
Observing the seasons can inspire patience, telling the ageold story of miraculous death and rebirth. The display combines a man-made, conventional way of telling time with that of nature's counterpart.
Ever fleeting, always changing, shifting with the seasons: flowers weren't made to last. Time spent in admiration and observation is time well spent. The study of the life cycle from seed to mature growth, full bloom to decay is something that resonates throughout the natural world.
The 'slow flower' movement promotes the use of sustainable and locally grown flowers that are 'field-to-vase' rather than mass-produced and imported. Familiarity with the person who passionately grew the flowers, the place in which they are grown, the floral designer who arranges them and, finally, the customer, creates a powerful and personal chain of connections that has great meaning in today's fast-paced world.
In one of my favourite books, The Little Prince, the author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry writes that it is the time we put into caring for plants and flowers that makes them so important. The journey these flowers have already undertaken is vast, the process of arranging takes patience, and the length of time for which the flowers will bloom is short. This arrangement draws attention to the juxtaposition between time and effort spent for such short-lived beauty. It is a poignant reminder not to rush, to take time in the moment and to enjoy the practice as much as the result.
Small vessel, Wedgwood or similar style Chicken wire measuring 30 × 30cm (1 × 1ft)
Wire cutters Florist's pot tape Strong scissors or secateurs Lilac × 5 stems Blossom × 5 stems Narcissus × 5 stems Vuvuzela rose × 8 stems Ranunculus × 5 stems La Belle Époque tulip × 5 stems
METHOD
1. Two large, statement clocks with bold shapes and block colour provided inspiration for this arrangement. I wanted to cut across their rigid lines with something soft, blousy and full; something fleeting and seasonal in nature, to relate to time and transition. Lilacs were the perfect answer to create a plump, pillowy base.
2. First create a basic chicken wire structure inside your vessel (see here). Weave the five lilac stems into the chicken wire to create an even base for the arrangement. Space them evenly throughout the top, centre and bottom of the arrangement. Next up are a variety of blousy blooms and blossoms in buttery shades of yellow, peach and apricot. Narcissi and vuvuzela roses fill in the centre stage, and the ranunculus and Belle Époque tulips break out of the design with their bendy stems. Use the largest, fullest blooms first, following the shape already set by the lilacs. Fill any spaces with smaller flowers.
3. The mass of pale florets and buds creates a soft but dense asymmetrical shape, whilst retaining that transient feeling that it's all just a matter of time.
CHAPTER 2
Inspire Wonder
A multi-vase arrangement that sparks childlike imagination
'The mind I love must have wild places, a tangled orchard where dark damsons drop in the heavy grass, an overgrown little wood, the chance of a snake or two, a pool that nobody's fathomed the depth of, and paths threaded with flowers planted by the mind.'
Katherine Mansfield
Use collected vases and stems to tell a story inspired by wonder and mystery in an everyday home setting.
Imagination is infectious. That's how it feels in this colour-filled family home – the objects, tones, shapes and light cultivate it, stir it up and provide a space where anything is possible. As Tove Jansson says in Moominsummer Madness, 'There's no need to imagine that you're a wondrous beauty, because that's what you are.'
To capture this atmosphere of imagination and magic, I decided to use a collection of stems and vessels to create a full, impactful arrangement. The final design is very much greater than the sum of its parts. Like a chapter in a book, each vessel is wonderful on its own but, together, they tell a magical tale of far-flung places and secret gardens. Light, bright and playful mixed with dark and mysterious.
The flowers and vessels mirror the dominant colours of the room, yellows and rust, whites, blues and almost black. Warm, spring-garden blooms on the brink of summer jostle with unexpected flowers from houseplants: the great outdoors meets the indoors working together to conjure up a wild narrative to spark the imagination. Weave your own story when recreating this design, by incorporating small objects from your home to complete the scene. Working creatively with nature brings out the storyteller in us all.
Selection of vessels in a range of sizes × 15
Strong scissors or secateurs Prunus blossom × 5 branches Foxtail lily × 4 stems
Fritillaria persica × 3 stems Rose × 6 stems Anemone × 7 stems Icelandic poppy × 6 stems Anthurium × 6 stems Hellebore × 5 stems Daffodil × 9 stems Eucalyptus × 7 stems Privet berries × 5 stems
METHOD
1. Having gathered your eclectic selection of bottles, vases and pots, order them in your chosen location, to make sure you have the right quantity to fit snugly, but not too closely that you can't see the interesting mix of vessels. I arranged my collection on a mantelpiece. Position the taller vases towards the back and the smaller, shorter ones at the front.
2. Place the blossom branches first, using their long sprawling stems to form the highest points of the arrangement. Next, decide where to place the long-stemmed blooms: the cone-shaped foxtail lily and the dark, dramatic Fritillaria persica with its curves and bends. The foxtail lily gives perpendicular, architectural lines, while the fritillaria dances between them.
3. Use the roses, anemones and poppies to fill the design mid-height, again working with the tallest stems first. The straight, sturdy rose stems play off the wiggly Icelandic poppies and anemones beautifully. Now add the anthuriums, lower down and stretching into spaces where the light hits their glossy heads and, although they are dark, they quietly shine.
4. Finally, dot the hellebores, daffodils and privet berries – staples of the winter garden – among the lower vessels at the front of the mantelpiece. Drape the last few stems without a vase on the surface of the mantel. Intersperse small objects, figures or curiosities from around the house amongst the vessels as part of the story.
CHAPTER 3
Inspire Playfulness
A spring arrangement to bring joy
Perfect for a family home, this arrangement celebrates curiosity, imagination and creativity with joyful blousy blossoms. The perfect antidote to a long winter, it adds a little spring cheer.
In Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, the elephant's child was full of 'satiable curiosity' and it was this sense of curiosity I wanted to evoke with this arrangement. There was humour and a childlike playfulness in the hallway of this family home, which served as my inspiration for this fun and uplifting design. Alongside the light and muted tones, the brighter pop of colour from peach-hued roses continued the narrative that the blackboard wall and painting had initiated, as a source of my floral colour palette inspiration. Bringing together the subtle tones and form in the painting and objects in situ, this design evokes a feeling of imagination, creativity and curiosity, making it the perfect floral boost for a creative home.
This project works perfectly for social areas of the home – the hallway, living room or even a playroom – where the playful arrangement can be enjoyed by all. Use this arrangement to bring a sense of creativity and joyful energy into your home.
The hint of blue from the forget-me-nots connects the flowers visually to the sky blue in the painting. Their Latin name, Myosotis, comes from the Greek word meaning 'mouse's ear' – it was hard to resist this elephant and mouse scenario.
ºSmall, low terracotta vase Chicken wire measuring 30 × 30cm (1 × 1ft)
Wire cutters Strong scissors or secateurs Lilac × 7 stems Amelanchier × 5 branches Rose × 12 stems Ranunculus × 9 stems Poppy × 3 stems Narcissi × 3 stems Forget-me-nots × 5 stems
METHOD
1. Starting with a terracotta vase filled with chicken wire (see here), use only very little amelanchier foliage as an initial guide for the shape of the arrangement followed by the heavy lilac blooms, which provide the main shape and body. The density of lilac in an arrangement can be really useful for filling in gaps and adding a foundation of block colour.
2. Once you have your basic shape you can add the big blousy blooms of roses, ranunculus and poppies. Dot these throughout the arrangement, nestled amongst the lilac, following the lines that have already been set. The key is to distribute the weight of the heavier flowers even though the arrangement will only be seen from the front. When using a low vessel and creating height, place bigger blooms towards the back to help balance and to create depth and wholeness in the design.
3. Complete the arrangement with a delicate sprinkling of forget-menots for a tiny hint of blue.
CHAPTER 4
Meaningful Colour
A small table top arrangement to celebrate the qualities of pink 'The chief function of colour should be to serve expression.'
Henri Matisse
Embrace the warmth of pink as inspired from nature, leaving the social connotations of the colour behind, in this simple yet effective design.
From the very organisation of this book to my Instagram feed, by now you will know how important colour is to my designing process. Colour has the power to impact our mood – to lift our spirits, soothe, energise or welcome. Autumnal pink blooms and the soft plaster walls of this café invited me to play with one of my favourite colours: pink.
Researching quotes on the colour pink, it is depressing to find so much prescriptive nonsense about 'pretty girls' and 'lipstick'. Pink is ultimately one of my favourite colours: there's a shade of it for every season, a tone to fit every scheme. It is present in nature from sunset to sunrise, when the sky and the Earth join forces in one big illuminated pink glow. It can calm and nurture. If there's one thing that makes me mad, it is the gendering of this beautiful, expressive colour.
For me, pink in autumn is the most wonderful of all. When the sun casts its rosy glow on the turning leaves in shades of rust or stretches of copper bracken, everything is alive and wildly glorious. The plaster-pink walls and warm wooden furniture in this café quietly echoed this autumnal scene and I felt a small table arrangement in these complementary tones would be easy on the eye, focusing on warmth and texture as opposed to anything overtly pretty, frilly or feminine. I wanted to enrich the space, without overpowering or showing off.
You can use this arrangement in a similar way in your home, bringing warmth to a space with the subtle, soft shades.
Ceramic pot, 12 × 12cm (4 × 4in)
Chicken wire measuring 30 × 30cm (1 × 1ft)
Wire cutters Florist's pot tape Strong scissors or secateurs Bracken × 5 stems Vibernum × 3 branches Amaranthus × 7 stems Sedum × 7 stems Rose × 9 stems Cosmos × 5 stems Astrantia × 5 stems Snowberry × 3 stems Anemone × 5 stems Echinacea seedheads × 7 stems
METHOD
1. Start by making a chicken wire base inside the vessel, taping over the top in a criss-cross pattern to secure the wire in place (see here and here). Next, use the foliage to create the outline of your design. I chose to keep this arrangement at a low level, extending out to the sides. The fronds of dry bracken create fanlike shapes; position these higher in the arrangement than you intend the flowers to be so they will be seen. Drape the autumnal, transitioning vibernum leaves either side, cascading over the vase. Add the amaranthus and sedum at this stage too, mimicking the shape already created by the foliage.
2. Of the blooms, add the focal flowers first – all the different roses, some of which are about to give their last breath and others about to bloom. Use tiny spray roses in mottled pinks to fill the base, with the more extravagant roses tumbling over the sides.
3. I tend to struggle most with the front centre of every design, be it a bouquet or arrangement. All too often, I save the most spectacular or plump rose, dahlia or peony for the central spot, but then find it clumsy, large and brash. The negative space in a design is as important as the filled areas: it makes the difference between wild and organic and forced or manicured. In this arrangement I spent a long time contemplating the centre section, trying different flowers, large and small. Every time I removed an unsuitable stem, the whole arrangement looked relaxed and more complete. As I added the more delicate, gestural and filler flowers – cosmos, astrantia, snowberry and anemones, the need for a strong focal bloom waned. Instead I used light touches of these last flowers throughout the empty front section, to give the perfect impression of colour and form.
4. In your arrangement, place the echinacea seedheads last, adding a most rich and wonderful rust tone to the design. Nestle the stems in the shadows of the deeper toned foliage, where they will glow.
CHAPTER 5
Let Creativity Flow
A joyful design to inspire ar tistic freedom
'It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.'
Wendell Berry
Allow yourself creative freedom with a loose, romantic design. Be reminded of the joy of unplanned situations and happy accidents that invite us to respond with creative license.
I have an uncanny ability to find myself in situations where I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing; no plan, no vision and no thought-through intention. It can arise in situations when I am very busy or disorganised, or trying to avoid a difficult scenario. I spend a great deal of my time planning weddings, events and the family calendar to the very finest detail. So, when all the spinning plates stop and there is nothing left but a few ingredients, a space and a world of possibility, it can feel creatively freeing and terrifying in equal measure. It's at such times that I'm reminded of Carl Jung's words, 'The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.'
Even if not on purpose, I would recommend this practice to anyone: an exercise in unplanned creative play, whereby expectations and preconceived ideas are left at the door.
This design was just such a happy exercise. The selection of flowers owes itself not only to the season, but to a mistake I made when ordering for the shop. It happens. If when life gives you lemons you make lemonade, then when life gives us roses let's fill a whole bathtub. It is, after all, the largest vessel in the house.
The juxtaposition of a functional object, such as a bathtub, used for a flower arrangement brings a sense of fun and frivolity to this design and makes a fantastic statement piece for the home. However, any large vessel could be used here, such as a garden container or wide bucket.
Bathtub or large vessel Small buckets × 4, approx. 20cm (8in) in diameter × 20cm (8in) in height Chicken wire measuring 40 × 40cm (16 × 16in) × 4
Wire cutters Florist's pot tape Strong scissors or secateurs Autumn foliage, such as nandina × 8 branches Rose × 40 stems Dahlia × 20 stems Crab apple × 3 branches
METHOD
1. First prepare each bucket with a chicken wire base, taping it securely in place using florist's pot tape in a criss-cross pattern (see here and here). The buckets won't be seen once the arrangement is complete, so this practical stage doesn't have to be the neatest or prettiest attempt, it just needs to be secure for the arrangement. I wanted to concentrate the flowers in two-thirds of the bath, so I placed my buckets together at one end of the tub. Once you have an arrangement you like, fill the buckets to the top with water.
2. As with most arrangements, start creating yours using the largest branches. In my case, the longest and most royally coloured piece of nandina scales the right-hand corner of the design, using the wall to support its weight. Use bushier branches lower down, to obscure the buckets and add a fullness to this bottom section of the design. A branch stretched lengthways along the rim of the bath will help to give the illusion of using the whole tub for this arrangement, without actually having to fill it with flowers.
3. Having established the shape of the design using the branches, you are ready to place the roses. Dipping in and out at different heights, arrange the stems as if they might be growing out of this oversized vessel. Use the chicken wire to hold each stem securely in place. Cut some stems shorter so that you can tuck them in closer to the buckets, to create the depth and difference in height that would occur in the natural world.
4. Now dot the dahlias in amongst the roses like polka dots; I made the decision to do this instead of keeping them all together in one area, so drawing attention to the piece as a whole. In an arrangement like this, grouping the dahlias in one area would instantly draw attention to that isolated section of scarlet. Now take the red of the crab apples across to the furthest point to create balance. Simply wedge the branches between others if they are not long enough to reach the buckets.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Flower Fix"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Anna Potter.
Excerpted by permission of The Quarto Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
