Читать книгу Slow Flowers - Debra Prinzing - Страница 16

THE INTENSE RUBY-RED PALETTE IS SHARED by these ruffled peonies and my art glass vase. I love the interplay of the two textures, hard and soft in balance; so naturally, the other ingredients needed to feel lighter in color and texture. I chose two types of ornamental alliums – white and lavender – to join the peonies. Lady’s mantle, a spring perennial, contributed leaves that look like pleated petticoats (green ones, that is).

This is one of those arrangements that you can make by hand like a bridal bouquet. Once all of the flower stems are in place, the entire bouquet can go right into a vase, forming a softly shaped dome.

I began grouping the peonies in my left hand, holding them gently between my thumb and forefinger. I made adjustments with my right hand, pulling out individual stems to create an overall rounded bouquet. Next, I added the purple alliums, inserting them in the gaps between the peonies until their stems also rested in my left hand. That way, each flower can be appreciated individually rather than as one mass of color.

Similarly, I threaded the white alliums into the bouquet. Once I was happy with this overall form, I added a “collar” of green lady’s mantle foliage, which gives the bouquet its polish. Before placing the bouquet in my vase, I re-cut all the flower stems to a consistent length.

Ingredients:

10 stems red peonies, grown by Ojeda Farms

7 stems each ‘Purple Sensation’ and ‘Cowanii’ ornamental alliums, grown by Choice Bulb Farms

12 stems lady’s mantle foliage (Alchemilla mollis), harvested from my garden

Vase:

9-inch tall x 5-inch diameter hand-blown glass vase

Design 101

Create a collar: You can use flowers or foliage to ring the base of a bouquet or arrangement as a finishing detail. This technique is usually done as the bouquet’s last step. For this arrangement, I pre-cut the greenery and then added it beneath the peonies, slightly overlapping each stem as I worked around the circumference of the bouquet. Here, the lady’s mantle visually separates the dark red peonies from the wine-red vase.