Sunday 24 March 2013

Spring Flowers


With March here, Spring has officially arrived, and with it, it brings a whole host of beauties to feature in your home. Beauties that come in a massive array of colours, shapes and sizes. Whether it is bright jewel shades that you favour, or something a little more subtle like pastel shades, Spring certainly offers it in abundance.

 Out of all the seasons, its probably Spring which offers the widest and varied of floral selections, all of which mix beautifully with each other and will undoubtedly create the most graceful display in any room of your home. 

pink tulips

 Probably the best known and widely recognised Spring flower is the humble Tulip. A masse of these simply arranged in a cut glass pitcher looks understated and elegant without being over the top. My personal favourites are a pale pink variety. The effortless, handpicked look of an arrangement such as this lends itself perfectly to the Tulip. Once cut, Tulips continue to grow and lean towards the natural light source, creating a wayward, pretty, natural looking display.

[caption id="attachment_102" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="Paperwhites and Muscair"]Paperwhites and Muscair[/caption]

Narcissi are little gems when it comes to Spring arrangements… these teeny tiny daffodil type flowers are Spring personified and can’t fail to make you smile. Coming in a limited palate of whites and pastel yellows they look fabulous with blue and white china… perfect for a Dining room or Kitchen display. Because of the small nature of these blooms they mix well with other small Spring flowers such as Muscari. The china blue variety, more so than the white, look gorgeous with Paperwhite Narcissi or a pale lemon Narcissi, in little vessels dotted about your home, but particularly so on the windowsill of your kitchen! Grab an empty jam jar and pop them in… it really is as simple as that.

[caption id="attachment_103" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="hyacinth bulbs"]hyacinth bulbs[/caption]

If you are wanting a more bold Spring statement in you home opt for the Hyacinth. These highly fragrant bell shaped florets are densely packed onto thick fleshy stems and come in a fairly limited colour palate but are available in a range of shades, from whites and pale pinks to, my favourites, deep china blues! Again, because of the short, stocky stem length, its difficult to use these in general, everyday vases. As a cut flower they would work nicely in a glass cube vase, but I think displaying them as a potted plant looks sensational. Your florist should be able to provide them as a potted plant and depending on how much you want to spend, you can buy these already potted up beautifully in a wooden trug box or basket. The Real Flower Company do a version in their beautiful hatboxes. This would look sensational in a drawing room or study.

The final flower that I think deserves a mention is the Ranunculus. One of the loveliest of Spring blooms around, that has infinite ruffles of paper thin petals that are packed tightly together to form a perfect rosette. They come in a gorgeous array of jewel and soft pastel tones and can adapt to both low and tall arrangements. Again, you can mix these with the aforementioned Narcissi and Muscari in a simple jam jar arrangement but they can also look equally elegant in a taller, footed vase arrangement or glass pitcher. The soft stems of Ranunculus can lead to top heaviness as the buds open, resulting in a wayward, natural looking arrangement. For this reason they look great mixed with tulips and Anenomes. An arrangement such as this would look so pretty gracing a console table in a hallway.

[caption id="attachment_104" align="alignnone" width="584" caption="Ranunculus"]Ranunculus[/caption]

I hope you agree, Spring florals are a fantastic way of bringing a little sunshine to your life after a long, cold winter. Now is the time to splash out and brighten up your home. Whether it’s a simple bunch of tulips from your local supermarket, or a choice selection from your florist, Spring blooms will undoubtedly add a pretty, and cost effective lift to your home. 

Guest Blog Post by Stephanie Saunders - www.stephaniesaundersflow
Duck Egg Designs Website

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