Читать книгу Slow Flowers - Debra Prinzing - Страница 8

WHENEVER I BRING A TULIP BUNCH home from the grocery store or farmers’ market, my first inclination is to drop them into a tall, clear glass vase. The art of arranging tulips couldn’t be easier than that!

Then again, these primary-colored tulips call for something livelier than generic glass. My lime-green flea market urn is perfect; its color value is the same intensity as the flowers. My design challenge? Filling the vase’s 6-inch-wide opening so my tulips remain upright rather than flopping over.

The solution: A dome-shaped flower frog. When placed in the base of the vessel, it is all that’s needed to keep the flowers erect. The metal frog measures 4½ inches in diameter and is 2 inches high with ½-inch square openings.

To create this arrangement, I added all the red tulips first, cutting the stems short to draw attention to the egg-shaped flowers. Notice that the heights are slightly varied for interest. Vivid yellow tulips create a second tier, their longer stems and more slender flower heads hovering above.

Together, the tulips and the vase make a bold, graphic statement. The organic branches and twigs soften the design. Curly willow is placed irregularly, seeming to embrace the entire arrangement. As final touch, I added several camellia stems cut at different heights. All you see are the plump, fuzzy buds, quite noticeable since I plucked off the glossy green leaves. The composition is now modern and stylish – anything but ordinary.

Ingredients:

12 stems red tulips and 10 stems yellow tulips, grown by Alm Hill Gardens

6 stems curly willow (Salix matsudana ‘Tortuosa’), grown by Oregon Coastal Flowers

8 stems Camellia japonica, from my garden

Vase:

5-inch tall x 6-inch diameter matte green urn with handles

From the Farmer

Water lovers: Unlike most floral design ingredients, tulips and willow branches seem to keep growing in a vase of water. You’ll notice that the tulip stems elongate a little each day. Some designers prefer to take the arrangement apart and re-cut the lengthened stems, but I like to observe the changes that occur. Willow is a water-loving plant, so you may discover that it sprouts tiny white roots under water and that small green leaves will push open, as if it is growing in soil. Enjoy a few days of this ever-changing dynamic.