I love making flower arrangements. When I was young, I spent a lot of time at the flower shop where my grandmother worked. Although she made very traditional arrangements, I loved following her into the walk in cooler as she pulled stem after stem out of buckets of water. I always sat right at her side as she put the arrangements together and told me what the different flowers were called. Maybe I still get so much pleasure out of choosing flowers and thinking about different ways to put them together because it reminds me of her.
While symmetry seemed to be a goal at her flower shop, it’s certainly not for me. I have three very simple rules: I try to choose something pretty and blooming, something bold, and something natural.
For this arrangement, I bought four types of flowers at my local grocery store: yellow gerbera daisies, prairie grass, stars of Bethlehem, and what I believe to be a bromeliad stem.
I wanted the prairie grass to droop over the sides of the vase a bit, so I put it in first. I have always been told to cut stems diagonally to increase the amount of water the stems can take, so I do that.
I measured where to cut:
Then I cut:
Next, I put in the prairie grass and the other three flowers:
My arrangement wasn’t quite as robust as I wanted it to be, so I did what I often do: added herbs. I currently have basil and rosemary growing and plenty to spare, so I cut several pieces of it to add to the arrangement. I’m not a big fan of the scent of most flowers because I find them too sweet, and I also find that the smell of many flowers can interfere with my sense of taste if the arrangement is on the dining table. Fresh herbs, on the other hand, always smell wonderful to me.
After adding the herbs, I tinkered a bit with the placement of several stems, and then I moved the finished product onto the dining table. A note about vase selection: I’m a big fan of opaque vases. I like that they force the focus on what’s above the top of the container, rather than what can sometimes look messy in a clear vessel.
Happy arranging!
Photographs by Ken Simpson of Photo 552