The bold new ways to display flowers in your own home
Displaying British blooms in radical and unexpected ways can create floral magic inside your home, says Madeleine Howell
They’re wild, seasonal and home-grown … but if you really want to harness the natural charm and just-picked freshness of British flowers, it’s time to ditch the vase. “Start dressing the walls, the ceiling, even the floors of your home with flowers,” says Ruth Davis, the artistic director of All For Love London, one of five contemporary florists invited to mark British Flowers Week, which begins on Monday, by displaying their blooms in radical ways at a new Garden Museum exhibition. Davis will be joined by, among others, “floral artist” Carly Rogers, who combines her passion for flowers with visual art; Rowan Lewis of Rowan Blossom, the fashionistas’ favourite florist; and Terri Chandler and Katie Smyth from Worm London, who favour chaotic-in-a-good-way styling of cow parsley, dill and wild carrot over imported orchids and roses. Lewis is a keen advocate of “losing” the traditional vase, preferring to dress a home by draping flowers from candelabra – forcing the
eye to “focus on the abundance of blooms” – or dotting them about in short glass tumblers. “The result is a wild garden feel, as though the flowers are growing out of the table,” she says.
Rogers goes further, making a feature of the soil itself by showing it off in clear vessels, even laying the muddy roots directly on to surfaces. Her recent work for the Mayfair Flower Show, at the restaurant Sketch, showcased her passion for planted installations that can be repotted and returned to the garden.
Such weird and wonderful styling ideas are proliferating beyond weddings and corporate events and finding their way into our homes, in no small part thanks to social media. “Everyone wants their spaces at home to be pretty and ‘Instagrammable’,” says Davis, “and there’s no better way to make a Sunday lunch, your friend’s baby shower or an impromptu dinner party memorable than with an unexpected flower arrangement.”
But without a vase to plonk them in, how do you get started? “It’s all about confidence,” she says. “Dare to string up foraged foliage from the beams, or dangle flowers from the staircase. Every nook and cranny in the home is an opportunity to create. Spread eucalyptus on the table around the brunch buffet, hang a curtain of sweet peas in the doorway ... allow gypsophila (baby’s breath) to climb from the floor over the fireplace or the headboard like a dreamy cloud. Any small nail or hook can work as an anchor for your designs.”
Here are more ideas for how to make a display of cut flowers without a vase.
Flowery curtain
“Amazing florals elevate and transform your home,” says Lewis. Her flower curtain, which can be made with a wooden broom handle and ribbons, turns an ordinary doorway into an other-worldly entrance. Tall stems with lots of flowers, such as delphinium, foxglove and stocks, work particularly well aesthetically as they follow the linear form; simply tie in carnation, chrysanthemum, ranunculus, rose, spider gerbera, sweet william and tulip. It also works hanging from a tree branch for a garden party.
Hanging ball
A chandelier-like ball of greenery adds instant drama to a room. In her book Living with Flowers (Laurence King, £19.99), Lewis suggests a technique for “bloom bonbons”, created with a hanging basket cage and a floral foam sphere as the base. For a luxurious look, she opts for a large bonbon overflowing with eucalyptus, ivy and fern, anemone, chrysanthemum, clematis, freesia, French tulip, lilac and peony. Alternatively, you could thread a series of smaller bonbons with wire, bunting-like, over the dinner table; simply spray the foam to keep it looking fresh. If you’d rather go foam-free, Lewis suggests creating a globe using sphagnum moss secured with chicken wire, while Worm London create a “Meadow Ball” with stems of white achillea, cow parsley, flowering mint, poppy pods and smoke bush for volume.
Mirror garland
Use basic garlanding techniques on a circular mirror, binding stems of foliage to wire, to create floral halfmoons around the edge. Ideal for a small kitchen or hallway, the scented herbs and greenery will continue to work well as they dry out. Once you’ve mastered the technique, you’ll be able to apply it to banisters, picture frames, mantelpieces and larger items of furniture. Worm London suggest using sage, lavender, mimosa, pistachio and rosemary. On a larger scale, you can even incorporate palm leaves.
Wreaths
A wreath is not just for Christmas. In their recent book Wreaths: Fresh, Foraged & Dried Floral Arrangements (Quadrille, £14.99), Chandler and Smyth suggest creating spring, midsummer and autumnal versions using plant vines as a base. Last year, I created a fresh wreath with flyaway clumps of moss and iridescent, paper-thin discs of honesty (Lunaria annual). It has since dried out, but has hung in my kitchen ever since, awaiting fresh summer flowers and foliage that can be threaded on to the original base.
Meadow box
Lewis’s meadow box is a versatile trick for creating long, rectangular arrangements to sit the length of the dinner table for supper, though they can also be used to line the walls of an entrance hall or perch across a shelf or mantelpiece.
You can make them with floral foam or any narrow, long vessel such as a trough or window box. Lewis suggests berried ivy, blossom, guelder rose, rosemary, senecio, soft ruscus and spiraea for the foliage, with flowering ranunculus, clematis, daffodils, delphinium, grape hyacinth, poppies, lisianthus, oxypetalum, snake’s head fritillary, snapdragon, strawflower and waxflower. British Flowers Week at the Garden Museum, central London (gardenmuseum.org.uk), runs from June 11-16. For details, visit britishflowersweek.com