A Floral Welcome

Ingredients:

10 stems garden hellebores (Helleborus orientalis), grown by Jello Mold Farm

12 stems summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum), harvested from my garden

1 stem curly willow (Salix matsudana ‘Tortuosa’), harvested by Oregon Coastal Flowers

Vase:

9-inch tall x 6-inch wide, teardrop-shaped wall vase (4-inch diameter opening)

Design 101

Just add white: There are some floral designers who abide by the “rule of white,” which calls for adding white flowers to every design. Take a look at this arrangement and you’ll notice that a few white blooms go a long way. The bell-shaped snowflakes are smaller than the plum-colored hellebores, but they add a lot of cheer to the design. Especially when viewed from a distance, white flowers are impactful, making any arrangement young and fresh-looking.

 

 Springtime is embodied in this vase, isn’t it?

You can almost smell that heady perfume associated with Syringa vulgaris, or the common lilac. To me, the fragrance is associated with my lifelong relationship with flowers. 

We lived in rental house in Connecticut when I was in elementary school; the backyard was home to an overgrown lilac that drew me to its blossoms (we loved playing underneath the flower-laden branches and smelling spring). 

Later, when I was a teenager, I remember secretly harvesting armloads at a city park and carrying them to school in May, as if I was in a pageant! 

When we planted our former Seattle garden in the late 1990s, I asked my friend Karen to select a lilac for the border. She chose one called ‘Sensation’ – it has deep purple florets and each petal is rimmed in white. That shrub never disappointed. . . and I waited for its blooms each year until we moved away. 

And most recently, while living in Southern California, I nearly fainted when I happened upon a lilac farmer at my local market. I was so fascinated to learn lilacs can grow there at a high elevations, such as in Lancaster, Calif., north of LA. I even had to run back to my car for my camera so I could interview her about those unforgettable flowers. 

Today’s bouquet features the addition of several Jadeite-green garden hellebores and a few sultry plum-and-yellow Fritillaria assyriaca. These companions turn two bunches of just-cut lilacs into a sweet bouquet for my fireplace mantel. 

And the best thing about these blooms? They’re from local Northwest flower farmers – yeah! 

The lilacs were grown by Oregon Coastal Flowers in Tillamook, Ore. 

The hellebores were grown by Jello Mold Farm in Mt. Vernon, Wash. 

The fritillarias were grown by Choice Bulb Farms in Mt. Vernon, Wash. Check out David Perry’s gorgeous still life of this unusual flower at our blog, A Fresh Bouquet. 

If you’re a floral, event or wedding designer, be sure to meet these fabulous farmers at Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. If you’re a customer, be sure to ask your designer to patronize this amazing cooperative of local growers. Their motto is awesome: From Farm to Florist.

Here’s a link to a little post and gallery from my visit earlier this week.