Daily Dose Blogger Bios
I love cutting my plants. It's soothing to me, grabbing my pruners and attacking my garden with a purpose. One of my favorite purposes - flower arrangements! Which is a misnomer, in my case, because flowers are rarely the focal points of my vases. I love the other stuff, the stuff that the florist usually throws in for free. If I'm buying things at the flower mart to make a big centerpiece with, I usually come away with bundles and bundles of foliage and one dramatic flower. In the picture, there is only one flower being used, and it is only an accent. I was outside cutting my Aeonium 'Shwartzkopf' - otherwise known as the black rose succulent - and decided to build a quick bouquet around it. I wanted it loose, colorful, and casual - but modern, too. I think modern arrangements can be about more than huge numbers of one sculptural flower like a calla lily or an iris with the stems arranged in a spiral. I love contrast - contrasting colors, textures, shapes ... so I always find myself reaching for deep colors, succulent rosettes, sword shaped leaves, and something light and airy. Everybody has their favorite things they like to fill a vase with - my friend and fellow garden designer Judy Kameon likes using the blooms of grasses because of their softness... I use them now, too. I copy her whenever I can. What do you like to use in your arrangements? Can I copy?
For the plants I cut to use in my vase, keep reading...
I love to bring my garden inside whenever I can, so I'm always making little posies and stuffing glasses and old jars with whatever I happen to be fixated on that day. Here are some of my favorites, the ones I used in the photo ...
Leaucodendron 'Safari Sunset' - hands down, my favorite plant to cut - you can use it as a background filler , or it can even stand on its own.
Aeonium 'Schwartzkopf' - this finds it was into everything I do. If it was edible, I'd cook with it.
Asparagus densiflora 'Meyersii' - a total grandma plant, but absolutely priceless to me. It should be called the octopus fern.
Euphorbia 'Stix on Fire' - what a cool plant! It is an unusual thing to use in a vase, but why not? You only live once! You have to burn the cut end of the stem with a lighter to keep the sap from leaking out, like a poppy.
Anigozanthis 'Orange Cross' - the only flower I used -kangaroo paws!
You can cut almost anything for use in a vase ...experiment, and share your results...
- kangaroo paws make a great addition to the arrangement, so I allowed a flower into an otherwise leaves-only bouquet.
I REALLY LIKE THE IDEA OF MS. SOLER IN USING MORE GREEN PLANTS IN HER ARRAGEMENTS.SOME TIMES TOO MANY FLOWERS CAN RUIN AN ARRAGEMENT.THANKS
Bitsy, you and I are on the same page...too much of a good thing can be a not such a great thing. I was just wondering if there was a flower I would NEVER use... hmmm - gerber daisies, maybe? Does that make me a plant snob?
Great ideas! My most recent arrangement contained only Agapanthus. Lots of them. I was removing all the purple ones from my garden and couldn't bear throwing them away, so I cut all the blooms and put them in a large vase. A friend, who is an aspiring garden designer commented that it was the best way she had ever seen the flower used. I agree and now I need to figure out where to put all those transplants.
How funny - I almost put my indigo agapanthus in this particular arrangement, but I decided that they looked best in a large mass with some feathery chartreuse Coleonema (Breath of Heaven)pokinng through for color contrast and movement. Are we great minds thinking alike?
By the way, the cheeky Cynthia Kling wrote a great article about taking a flower arranging class in Paris in the Sept issue - a must read on many levels!