Fill your home with flowers
the best-dressed homes always have flowers. here’s how to create your dream arrangement…
a jug bursting with peonies, a vase overflowing with frothy blooms and grasses and, on a table, glass jam jars filled with a single stem – today, flowers have become key to the look of a home, found on mantelpieces, on dining tables and by our beds. And while a decade or so ago flower-arranging was largely considered a pastime for members of the Women’s Institute, now we’re all enthusiastically snipping stems. Why the sea change?
‘Bringing the outside in is a wonderful way of keeping the look of a room fresh and in tune with the changing seasons outside,’ says Kitten Grayson, of Kitten Grayson Flowers, with clients including Soho House, Alexa Chung and L’oréal. ‘We think of flowers as a part of a bigger picture within a room, like a piece of art or furniture, that evolves with the natural cycle and climate and tells a story. We’re also firm believers in the healing, restorative qualities of plants and flowers – they literally breathe oxygen into a room.’
Linked to this desire to be connected to nature, the way we arrange flowers has also changed. Gone are formal, tightly controlled displays, replaced by those that are ‘much more natural, wild and loose’, says Nik Southern, founder of Grace & Thorn, where customers include Nobu and The Ned hotel. ‘There’s much more play with colour, texture, foliage and a wider variety of flowers. The days of domed roses are behind us.’
To get the most out of your flowers, place them in the focal point of a room. ‘When you walk in, where does your eye go and want to see something living?’ says Kitten. ‘As well, picking a flower or a particular hue or shape can serve to highlight or frame a key piece of art or furniture. Flowers also bring light to a dark corner. Even a small bud vase posy on a corner table can make a huge
difference to the feel of a room.’
Today, no table setting would be complete without flowers. ‘We love arrangements with flowers of varying heights and interspersed with candles,’ says Kitten. ‘We also love using trays filled with water for a more botanical feel.’
‘Make sure the flowers are not so tall that guests can’t see each other,’ says Nik. ‘Dried flower bunches or herbs are great as place settings and full vases of blooms accented with smaller bud vases look beautiful. Bud vases also work well on their own when you mix up the texture and height of the flowers.’
As for what can you add to flowers to create a pretty look, ‘A linen tablecloth creates texture for your base and is a way to bring tone into your display – very Dutch masters,’ says Nik.
‘We like to incorporate fruits and vegetables of the season into our arrangements, interspersed with tea lights and taper candles,’ adds Kitten. ‘Other beautiful natural objects add colour, texture and interest, while ceramic plinths, boxes or books can be used to create varying height.’
Be vase savvy
‘The feel of an arrangement, as well as its scale and shape, are greatly influenced by the vessel you choose,’ says Clare Nolan, author of In Bloom (£26, Kyle Books), a beautiful new book that’s packed full of how-to information about growing and arranging flowers. ‘Many people think they’re no good at arranging flowers, but often it’s just that they’ve been using an inappropriate vase.’
Which vase you choose ‘really depends on the variety of flower you’re using – does it have an elegant stem or do you want to show off or an attractive leaf?’ says Kitten. ‘Choose a vessel that allows you to see all the beautiful aspects of the flower from any angle. Some flowers work better in bigger vases – peonies or sunflowers, for example, are so ostentatious and such show-offs, they deserve a larger vase and to be admired en masse.’
Also think scale. ‘The overall flower arrangement should be 1.5 times the size of the vessel,’ says Nik. ‘Jam jars, pickle jars, jugs and pots work well. If you have an unusually shaped vessel, just put a small glass jar inside it.’
Artful arrangements
‘For displays using a single type of flower, gather a selection of vessels of different heights and a range of neck sizes,’ says Kitten. ‘Cut the stems short and aim for an uneven number of stems in each vessel.
‘Position the bottles down the table in mixed height clusters. Move them around until the scene feels right, and add tea light candles in-between.’
GYO bouquets*
Planting cut flowers brings that ‘grow-your-own’ excitement to a whole new level. ‘Being able to step out of the back door and pick a single stem to go beside the bed, pull together a bouquet for a friend to take home, or cut an armload of annuals for a party is a joy,’ says Clare. ‘Another thing I love is being able to grow flowers that I could only dream about getting my hands on otherwise. For me, it’s an extension of styling my home.’
When choosing flowers to plant, think colour, season, scale, texture, scent and artistic flair. ‘And go for what you love rather than following trends,’ she says. ‘If you don’t really love something you won’t bother picking it.’ Here’s three to get started with...
Sweet peas
‘Heavenly scent, romantic frilliness and
prolific flowering coupled with the fact that they come in almost every colour under the sun (bar yellow) make sweet peas one of the most popular cut flowers to grow,’ says Clare.
Varieties to try: Valerie Harrod – a
watermelon pink. Anniversary – white with pale pink. Almost Black – the deepest purple, nearly black. Sunflowers ‘Alongside the sunshine yellows, there are soft vanilla and lemon varieties, intense rusts and coppers, bronzes and burnt oranges right through to burgundies,’ says Clare.
Varieties to try: Velvet Queen – deep velvety copper-red; Procut Red – dark chocolate centres with ruby petals with faded tips; Sonja – petite, branching type with classic yellow looks.
Iceland poppies
‘They have a reputation for being tricky but while they’re not the simplest, they’re perfectly possible, even for beginners,’ says Clare.
Varieties to try: Champagne Bubbles – mix of orange, pink, bright yellow and white; Wind Song – soft and muted shades of apricot, creams and whites. *Grow Your Own
Go faux
Modern faux flowers have become a thing, thanks to technology that makes them incredibly realistic. The best are made from silk and handpainted to create the gradations of colour found naturally. ‘They’re a real creative tool now,’ says Anthony Smith from Fox Flowers (foxflowers.co.uk). ‘The ability to use out-of-season flowers at any time and have access to flowers not readily available in the UK means you can achieve fantastic arrangements and displays that are artistic, creative and that last!’
Anthony’s tips for going faux...
+ When putting together an arrangement, look for good-quality greenery to bulk out a display and set off your blooms.
+ Most flowers can be replicated nowadays, but hydrangeas, dahlias and roses always work well and are very popular. Greenery is huge at the minute, especially eucalyptus, ferns and artificial potted plants.
+ When creating an arrangement, manipulate them into shape so they look real; we often cut off leaves and remove petals to make them look even more authentic.
+ Look after them by periodically giving them a light dusting and wiping – they will last years and years if looked after. + As faux flowers can have a paper wrap in the core of the stem, don’t put them in water.