Читать книгу Slow Flowers - Debra Prinzing - Страница 19

I CREATED THIS BOUQUET as a birthday gift for my friend Carrie Krueger. The soft and feminine gathering of blooms, paired with a vintage butter-yellow Wedgwood Jasperware trumpet vase, makes a complete package. When you give a gift bouquet, it’s nice to branch out from ordinary clear glass and choose a vessel that will be used again and again by the recipient.

I started with several ingredients I inherited when we moved into our new home. Witnessing the garden’s first spring and summer seasons was a thrill, including the peonies’ unfurling. I like using the same flower in various stages of growth, so here I added several marshmallow-soft buds to the one large open peony. Across the garden, a mauve-colored lilac beckoned from under the mature cherry tree. And nearby, a mound of bachelor’s buttons provided the essential indigo-blue floral accents.

Next, I added ingredients grown by local flower farmers. The trio of unusual ‘Supergreen’ hybrid tea roses sparkles as companions to the peonies. Lustrous and velvety, the Dusty Miller and lamb’s ears foliage provide subtle touches of silver-green. And the final accent is the Star of Bethlehem, with dainty bell-shaped, green-and-white variegated flowers.

Ingredients:

5 stems hot-pink peonies (variety unknown), harvested from my garden

5 stems late-blooming lilac (Syringa x prestoniae), harvested from my garden

5 stems bachelor’s buttons (Centaurea cyanus), harvested from my garden

3 stems ‘Supergreen’ hybrid tea roses, grown by Peterkort Roses

6 stems each Dusty Miller (Centaurea cineraria) and lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina), grown by Charles Little & Co.

6 stems variegated Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum nutans), grown by Choice Bulb Farms

Vase:

9½ inch tall x 5⅞ inch diameter Wedgwood Jasperware trumpet vase

Design 101

Unity and variety: In design theory, “unity” and “variety” are interrelated principles. Unifying features tie a composition together; in this arrangement the silvery-green foliage suggests a sparkly embroidery thread embellishing a shawl. Variety lends interest to a design, eliminating the ordinary. Here, the pleasing mix of ingredients from the cooler side of the color wheel does the trick, with a range of floral hues from pale green and lavender to deep fuchsia and indigo.