Am I turning into a Flower Arranger?

I suppose flower arranging has always gone hand in hand with gardening, but it’s just not something I’ve ever bothered with.

I’ve never picked flowers from my own garden to bring into the house, preferring to see them growing naturally outside.

Obviously I do my best when someone has bought me a bunch of flowers, I do like to see them arranged nicely.

It’s possible that because my mum went to flower arranging classes years ago, and would come home with some spectacular but very formal displays, it put me off.

My mum is exceptionally talented and can turn her hand to anything practical and artistic. She definitely brought me up with a can do attitude and l luckily seem to have inherited some of her talents, even if I initially didn’t want them!

Getting Inspired

I know it sounds a bit morbid but I was inspired by my Aunties funeral flowers. They were incredibly beautiful, all wildflowers, I’d never seen anything like it before. It had never occurred to me to do an arrangement with more natural flowers.

Ironically it was my Auntie that taught me to look and appreciate wildflowers. Taking me on walks as a child and teaching me the names.

The next inspiration came from my visit to The RHS Chelsea Flower Show last September. The spectacular installations in The Great Pavilion. The use of natural looking wildflowers really grabbed me.

I’ve crammed my garden with as many flowers as I possibly can, and there’s still room for a few more (don’t tell the garden apprentice).

I’ve always favoured the more wild looking varieties, and this has turned out be be a double blessing as the bees and insects also favour the flowers I like.

At this time of year the garden is actually buzzing from the sound of the bees, especially the lavender path at the side of the greenhouse.

Discovering the joys of Flower Arranging

It was my neighbours birthday a couple of weeks ago and I know she likes cut flowers, so I decided to cut some from the garden for her and arrange them in a jam jar.

I can’t believe how enjoyable it was arranging the flowers, it did feel like painting a picture. Obviously it did help that I had so many to choose from at this time of year.

She was so pleased with them, that I’ve just done another arrangement for a neighbour who’s birthday it was this week.

As there is an abundance of flowers in the garden, I decided to do an arrangement for myself this morning.

Picking the Flowers

I remember hearing that it’s best to cut them first thing in the morning, and this is a pleasure in itself. Just me and the busy bees out there, it’s very relaxing!

You MUST have water with you to put them straight into, so I carry one jam jar around with me.