EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES
Makes and bakes inspired by the sweet scent, fragrant flavour and blowsy beauty of a summer garden favourite
Creative makes and bakes inspired by this much-loved garden favourite
IN PRINT
Decorate walls with illustrative botanical drawings, a collage of loose book pages (or bookplates) or individual prints. Alternatively, pick a wallpaper from an archival design. These make colourful backdrops with fascinating detail to study. For similar, try Stone & Sage (stoneandsage.co.uk).
SMALL POSY
Display freshly cut or damaged blooms in the garden: hang them from trees, tie them to the front gate or attach them to wooden stakes lined along a garden path. Place in a glass jar (with hanging loop) decorated with hand-painted flowers using specialist glass paints. Perfect for an outdoors celebration.
PRETTY PLATES
A single rose with a sprig of gypsophila, wrapped in a hemstitch linen napkin secured with a simple white ribbon, turns a plain white dinner plate into a romantic place setting. If your roses lack a scent, add a drop of rose essential oil into the centre of each one before encasing them inside the napkin.
FLOWER BOWL
Display roses together with complementary blooms like those you would see side by side in a garden. This loose arrangement will show off your best homegrown flowers standing tall on a cake stand. Place chicken wire (in a large ball shape) inside a weighty serving bowl and fill with plenty of water. Put the cut roses, dahlias, cosmos, achillea, clary sage and hosta leaves (removing any leaves that sit below the water line) in the bowl, securing the stems through the gaps in the chicken wire.
SUMMERHOUSE RULES
Flowery prints on fabrics, especially oversized ones like these painterly roses and peonies, are well suited to outdoor spaces such as a conservatory, summerhouse or shed . Sewn into cushion covers, with coordinating trims and backs, they bring colour and pattern and are perfectly paired with other garden essentials such as zinc buckets and elegant metal furniture. For similar fabrics, try Designers Guild (designersguild.com) and Colefax and Fowler (colefax.com).
ROSE PETAL & WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES
Beat 200g softened unsalted butter and 300g golden caster sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in 1 large egg and 1 tsp vanilla extract, then stir in 325g self-raising flour and 1 tsp fine sea salt to form a dough. Mix through 100g roughly chopped white chocolate and the petals of 2 pink or red roses, then cover and chill for at least 2 hours (or up to 3 days). The flavours will deepen over time. Heat oven to 180°C (160°C fan oven) gas mark 4. Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Using an ice-cream scoop, form balls of cookie dough. Space 6 scoops out well to allow for spreading and bake for about 15 minutes until pale golden. Leave to firm up on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks while you cook the next batch. Makes 18.
IT’S A WRAP
This distinctive rose print is made using celery. Cut the head of celery a little up from the base, keeping the sticks (ribs) together by tying string around them tightly before you cut. Gently dab the cut edges of both sections with kitchen paper to remove excess moisture. You can print using the solid base or the gathered sticks, depending on which most resembles a flower. Dip the celery into paint and print onto brown wrapping paper.
SINGLE STEMS
Capture the beauty of an early summer garden by selecting a few choice flowers to display indoors. Small tumbler glasses are perfect for this and, when set in a wire carrier, can make a simple but sweet gift for a neighbour or friend.
ROSE CREAMS
Sift 450g icing sugar into a bowl with just a few drops of rose extract. Beat 2 medium egg whites until frothy. Add about two-thirds to the icing sugar and, using a fork, work in thoroughly. Don’t be tempted to add all of the egg white – it will come together within a minute or so. Once the mixture looks like large flakes, add a few dabs of rose or pink food-colouring paste using the end of a cocktail stick. Bring together with your hands and knead until smooth, very stiff and evenly coloured. If you add too much egg white, the dough will be sticky and harder to roll out. But if that happens, add a little more sifted icing sugar. Roll out to a thickness of 5-7mm. If you have a cake smoother, use this to smooth over the surface. With a 3-4cm cutter, stamp out circles. Re-knead and re-roll the cuttings. While the sweets are still tacky, press in a few crystallised rose petal pieces (find in supermarket baking aisles). Leave to dry for 24 hours on baking parchment in a cool place. Keep for up to a month in an airtight container. Makes 35-40.
BLOOMING BOOKS
Floral papers and fabrics – from scraps of wallpaper to remnants of furnishing cottons (mid-weight) – make pretty covers for books. Cut each to size, then fold and stick down to the inside front and back of the cover, closing the book as you go so it has a snug fit over the spine. Use for decorative purposes to hide unsightly jackets on a bookshelf or to create an attractive cover for a notebook or journal. For similar fabric and wallpaper designs, try Sanderson (sandersondesigngroup.com).
CROWNING GLORY
For a special May Day or mid-summer flower crown, weave fresh blooms into a wreath. Use a circle of wire made loosely to the shape of your head and attach flowers and foliage, working in one direction on the wire using florist tape. Paper-based waxed tape is available from Oasis (oasisfloral.co.uk). These blooms are from (and arranged by) The Garden Gate Flower Company in Cornwall (thegardengateflowercompany.co.uk).
FLOWERS ON THE TABLE
Brighten plain napkins using appliquéd flower shapes cut from patterned fabric secured using a simple running stitch around the edge. Make a collage of individually cut flowers grouped together or use a single section lifted straight from the patterned fabric*. Fold over the edges of the flowers and sew close to the edge. Alternatively, if the edges are too fiddly to fold, leave them as raw ones. They will fray over time, but it will add to the effect of the flowers. This is also a great way to update a cushion cover or table runner.
ON THE CARDS
Decorative postcards – especially vintage-style ones such as this – can make eye-catching place settings when fixed in simple stands. Scribble a name, or a menu, on the back and stand one at each place at the table for a special dinner with family or friends. Alternatively, leave a note on the back for a loved one.
FLOWER BULBS
With a little fabric wrapped around the bulbs of LED battery-powered fairly lights, these climbing roses are not only pretty but useful, too. Ruffle a strip of fabric (a couple of times around) to create the look of layered petals (closed or more open) and tie with string to the base of the bulb. Find similar lights from Ikea (ikea.com). Fabrics, from a selection, Sanderson (sandersondesigngroup.com) and Cloth & Clover (clothandclover.com).
WELCOME WREATH
Hand-pick the biggest and most fragrant of your roses to make into a wreath to hang on a gate or bring it inside to enjoy the scent around the house. Attach the stems to a sturdy wire wreath base using florist’s wire, leaving on some of the foliage as a background. Finish with lengths of lace ribbon. Spritz the flowers with water. English roses by David Austin (davidaustinroses.co.uk). Find wire wreath bases at Hobbycraft (hobbycraft.co.uk).
CUP OF CHEER
Seek out china cups and saucers decorated with classic garden flowers or plants. They are not only perfect for a summer afternoon tea but can also be repurposed into candles or a thrifty bird feeder. You’ll find a selection of secondhand china in good condition at most charity shops and vintage fairs.