Flowers will give your indoors that summertime bloom
FLOWERS have long been an essential ingredient in our homes, and at this time of year, the whole country seems to be in vivid bloom.
Enjoy layering those floral fabrics, fresh flowers and even fake some colour with the latest in gorgeous pretenders.
* Florist Megan Buckley at Cork Flower Studio has her own seasonal favourites. “For something long stemmed and tall I love alstroemeria — long lasting and available in almost every c;urolour.
I like to use freesia for their delicious smell. For a large bloom I can’t resist hydrangea. The pink are divine- they almost look like marshmallows!”
* Spend your money in the florist on the longer lasting flowers and leaves, exotics and plants grown from bulbs which are difficult to manage or afford in the garden.
These can be added to with more transient backyard beauties such as tea roses and leafy shrubs.
* Tinted blue glass, turquoise, bone, pewter and acid green are popular with florists for flower arrangements, but you can use anything stable that appeals from a vintage glass milk bottle to an old tea pot.
For no vase fun — hollow out a purple cabbage with a nice flat base and conceal a jar inside it.
* Group a number of vases together, or align them in a perfectly-spaced row (great in an assortment of clear glass jars). Use a flower grid in a wider vessel to give blossoms independent support, or to form delicious bunches of small blossoms in attractive ‘cushions’ in low vases and containers.
* Your florist can supply you with more than just flowers. Leafy additions not only break up an arrangement but give it the look (real or imagined), that you scooped the whole lot up in a wicker basket from the garden.
Look for something with a good structure, slender stems and an eye catching colour. Two more storeys of greenery can be layered, offering the chance to use airy leaves, pods, grasses and more.
* Don’t ignore dedicated flower food. It has an acidifying agent to fight bacteria that wilts cut flowers. A tiny drop of bleach or a few tablespoons of malt vinegar are two home remedies, to keep the flowers stems clean and drawing up water.
Megan adds, ‘something I do is to put a penny and a teaspoon of sugar in the vase. Keep in mind that flowers love a cooler temperature — so not near a radiator or direct sunlight! Cut a little off the stems and change the water every couple of days to prolong a bouquet’s life.’
Faux flowers and plants have come a long way from the dusty, threadbare blossoms with shiny plastic stems bravely ornamenting graves and doctor’s offices. Used alone or added to fresh plants and greenery they are a versatile decorating tool that can pay their way.
There’s a huge return to faux flowers on the high street, with Jane Packer designing for Debenhams in her Grey Rose collection, and Carolyn Donnelly now offering her gorgeous designers blossoms through Dunnes Stores (€15 a bunch and single blossoms from €2.50).
Hervé Gambs Parisian perfumes are diffused over his range of magnificent Rococo blossoms for John Lewis. From €46 for a single flower.
Charming, chubby ranunculus, shaggy peonies in melting ice-cream colours and luxuriant roses and amaryllis never destined to drop their leaves and petals, have textures and graduated colour that are so convincing, you have to softy pinch a silky petal confirm the are fake.
IKEA’s showroom is a field of fluffy meadow varieties you can bend about on steel wired stems.
Fattening out a display of real flowers and greenery, this new generation of artificial life forms can go almost undetected.
Look for slightly furry leaves and use artificial foliage plants such as loose climbers at a distance to soften sills and higher shelves. Try Harvey Norman for a more convincing cheat at indoor horticulture.
Megan Buckley adds: “I would avoid matching flowers to the colour of the room, as often that’s a clear give away. Opt for something that looks like it’s growing in your garden or natural colours with lots of artificial foliage.
My tip for dusty artificial arrangements is to spray with leaf shine (available at Cork Flower Studio) — this lifts the silk arrangement and gives that fresh shine back to the flowers and foliage.”
The classic floral fabric is arranged over a fresh ground of chalky primaries or pure white, and has been doing the rounds since the early 18th century.
Everyone has their favourites — Colefax & Fowler, Clarke & Clarke, Bennison, Liberty, GP & J Baker, Osborne & Little, and Sanderson are famed for their magnificent blossoms with that cosy, Edwardian charm.
Rather than poking flowers and hysterical sprigs onto every chair, wall and window, look at the complete collections offered with quality botanical textiles.
These will include whole colour fabrics and wallpapers, stripes, tartans and more, drawn from the same bouquet of shades. A dedicated specialist (in Cork, The Drapery Shop leaps to mind) will help you get that balance right first time.
For a modern take, there are patterns with a contemporary geometric rhythm. Orla Keily has bedded a thousand designer pads and her collection includes the looser Rhododendron and Multi-Dandelion.
In this last bunch, nobody does it better than Glasgow design duo Timorous Beasties with their Bloomsbury, Napoleon Honeybee and Butterfly Blur. www.Timorousbeasties.com
www.corkflowerstudio.com
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