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PEONY, POPPY, DYING LEAVES

A curation of luscious late spring flowers and yellowing foliage


MAY

INGREDIENTS

Nandina domestica (sacred bamboo)

Aruncus dioicus (goat’s beard)

Fritillaria persica (Persian lily)

Heuchera 'Ginger Ale' (alum root)

Clematis montana 'Marjorie' (mountain clematis)

Rumex obtusifolius (bitter dock)

Peonia ‘Claire de Lune’ (peony)

Peonia Itoh ‘Canary Brilliants’ (intersectional peony)

Papaver ‘Shirley’ (poppy)

Lathyrus ‘King’s Ransom’ (sweet pea) 

Allium ‘Gladiator’ (allium) 

Tellima grandiflora (fringe cups) 

Eschscholzia californica ‘Red chief’ (California poppy)

NOTES

This arrangement began with one single Heuchera leaf - soft yellow with a bleeding raspberry pink outline. I took this with me around the garden searching for materials that either matched or closely complemented these two colours. On the way I found the bleached Fritillaria persica which, having flowered earlier in the spring and now spent, have begun to fade to a creamy yellow. The dock leaf was a serendipitous find - yellowing too, though perhaps due to lack of water (it has been a dry spring so far) it was also marked with raspberry blotches. These ingredients might easily be dismissed as being ‘over’ or imperfect but I say that if they are useful within a colour palette, within an arrangement, then why overlook them? The combination of the peonies and zesty poppies with the unexpected addition of the flawed foliage is very evocative of our garden at this stage in late spring.

 
 

Citrus & Milk

QUINCE, PEPPERMINT TULIPS & CHOCOLATE VINE

A leafy, wavy arrangement with fresh green branches and flecks of rusty orange ‘fairy wings’


APRIL

INGREDIENTS

Carpinus caroliniana (hornbeam)

Chaenomeles speciosa (ornamental quince)

Akebia quinata (chocolate vine)

Tulipa clusiana 'Lady Jane' (lady tulip)

Narcissus 'Bell Song' (daffodil)

Epimedium x warleyense (Warley’s epimedium)

Thlaspi arvense (pennycress)

Geranium (cranesbill) 

NOTES

When creating a distinctly sculptural shape like this I really assess my branches - laying them out on the table or floor, appraising their shapes and natural bent - which way do they want to lean? Which arc upwards, which curve or trail down towards the floor? I allow the branches to extend skyward and the vines to tumble. The flowers are grouped (clustered by type) and the epimedium sprinkled throughout for a peppery effect between the larger flowers.

 

Spring Hand-Tied

QUINCE, SPIREA & HELLEBORE

A loose, leafy bouquet using three varieties of spirea and hellebore with dainty fritillaries


APRIL

INGREDIENTS

Spiraea vanhouttei (Van Houtte's spirea)

Spiraea nipponica 'Snowmound' (snowmound spirea)

Spiraea japonica 'Firelight' (Japanese spirea)

Chaenomeles speciosa (ornamental quince)

Ribes sanguineum 'White Icicle' (flowering currant)

Helleborus 'Harvington Double Pink Speckled', 'Harvington Red' & 'Ice n' Roses' (hellebore)

Anemone coronaria 'De Caen' (poppy anemone)

Fritillaria meleagris (snakeshead fritillary) 

NOTES

A layered hand-tied bouquet of spindly spring branches and hellebores. I use the hand-vase technique (covered in detail in our forthcoming online course ‘Bouquets’), arranging the stems into my hand as if it were a vessel and allowing the ingredients space to breath and show off their individual curves and quirks. The branches sketch the outline shape, the leafy foliage also acting as filler for structure and support. The hellebores are the leading ladies - every flower head displaying interesting colour variation and I group these light-to-dark interspersing with the coral quince blossom. For movement and lightness the fritillaries and poppy anemone sway and dangle above the rest.

 

A Breath of Fresh Air

HORNBEAM, NARCISSUS, SLOE

A branchy arrangement in a ceramic urn with poet’s daffodils and snowflakes


APRIL

INGREDIENTS

Prunus spinosa (sloe / blackthorn)

Carpinus caroliniana (American hornbeam)

Luzula sylvatica (great wood-rush)

Epimedium x warleyense (barrenwort)

Fritillaria persica (Persian lily)

Narcissus 'Actaea' (poet's daffodil)

Leucojum aestivum (snowflake)



VESSEL

Ceramic footed urn

Hana Kubari

NOTES

This is simple but effective recipe that I’ll often use for a large vase arrangement. I choose two types of branch - one blossoming (Prunus spinosa), one leafy (Carpinus), two ‘filler’ foliages (Luzula & Epimedium), a spire flower (Fritillaria), a focal flower (Narcissus) and a gestural flower (Leucojum). For mechanics I make a rudimentary ‘hana kubari’ support by splitting a hornbeam twig to create a simple Y shape. This divides the surface of the vases creating three compartments, providing a structure for the following stems to lean against. This is a lovely, completely natural alternative to using chicken wire but I usually allow a little longer for this technique as the balancing of the initial branches takes time and patience.

 

The Spring Dance

ACER, WILD TULIP, COWSLIP

A meditation on the tiny spring details emerging in the garden - unfurling leaves, dwarf daffodils, wild tulips and primrose


MARCH

INGREDIENTS

Acer (Japanese maple)

Tulipa sylvestris (wild tulip)

Tulipa turkestanica (Turkestan tulip)

Anemone nemerosa (wood anemone)

Cardamine hirsuta (hairy bittercress)

Cyclamen coum

Narcissus bulbicodium 'Spoirot' (white petticoat daffodil)

Narcissus 'Minnow' (tazetta daffodil)

Narcissus 'Elka' (miniature daffodil)

Primula veris (cowslip)

Primula vulgaris (wild primrose)


VESSEL

Low ceramic bowl from Japan

Medium kenzan (pinholder)

NOTES

The diminutive flowers that emerge as spring unfolds appear almost impossibly fragile and are somehow all the more precious for it. Arranging these tiny stems is a meditative process - very specific, very gentle. The Cardamine hirsuta (hairy bittercress) is an edible weed that crops up all around the garden and we often harvest clumps to use as filler / ‘ground cover’ in arrangements to disguise mechanics and tuck into void spaces. I love the species tulips which are the first to appear - Sylvestris, the wild or woodland tulip, have dancing stems that seem to have a life of their own and bring a sense of spirit to any arrangement. They yawn open in the sun, close again in the shade and have a sweet citrus scent, like lemony honey.

 

Yellow Wave

FORSYTHIA, FLOWERING CURRANT, BLACK IRIS

Feels like spring is finally on the way! This week in the studio - waves of bright yellow Forsythia, scented Ribes and velvety widow iris…


MARCH

INGREDIENTS

Forsythia (golden bells)

Ribes sanguineum 'White Icicle' (flowering currant)

Helleborus orientalis 'Iced Lime' (lenten rose)

Narcissus 'Mount Hood' (large cupped daffodil)

Hermodactylus tuberosus (widow iris)

Hypnum cupressiforme (moss)


VESSEL

Low ceramic dish in a speckled grey glaze

Triangular kenzan (pinholder)

NOTES

To honour the sculptural forms of the spring branches and iris I choose a triangular kenzan that is fixed to one side of the shallow dish. Th materials are grouped by variety - the forsythia in a vibrant wave cascades outwards to one side, the flowering currant opposite. I cut these shorter to allow a view of the dish and the surface of the water below. My trusty ‘backwards S’ Deutzia (salvaged from last week’s arrangement) leads the eye up and away in a meandering journey and the hellebores and iris are staggered in a stepping stone formation through the middle front to back. Pinches of moss are used around the stems where they affix to the kenzan to soften the base.

 

Vernal equinox

JAPANESE MAPLE, HELLEBORE, CAREX & DWARF DAFFODIL

With the vernal equinox it is officially spring. To celebrate, a sculptural curation of branches just unfurling their first leaves


MARCH

INGREDIENTS

Acer palmatum ‘Katsura’ (Japanese maple)

Spiraea japonica (Japanese spiraea)

Rubus fruticosus (blackberry)

Rhododendron (azalea)

Deutzia x hybrida ‘Mont Rose’

Helleborus ‘Molly’s White’ (Christmas rose)

Hedera helix (ivy)

Narcissus ‘ Elka’ (miniature daffodil)

Oxalis spiralis vulcanicola ‘Gold’ (volcanic spiral sorrel)

Carex buchananii ‘Red Rooster’ (leatherleaf sedge)


VESSEL

Aesme Studio ceramic ‘Seika’ bowl

Kenzan & chicken wire 

NOTES

We all associate yellow with spring, orange with autumn, but they are the predominant colours of both seasons, at least in our garden, and we often find ourselves reaching for rusty, golden and bronze tinged leaves as the season begins in late March. This arrangement starts with one single briar of Rubus fruticosus (blackberry) - the leaves are lime and apricot, spotted with a dusky raspberry pink and I take it with me through the garden in search of other materials within the same colour families. The Deutzia branch catches my eye on the way - a gorgeous backwards ‘S’ shape that I affix to the kenzan so that it waves around like a wand over the lower flowers and leaves, as it naturally behaves in the garden. Each ingredient is grouped to evoke the individual plants with the tiny dwarf daffodils gently placed last, along with small pinches of moss to cover the chicken wire.

Plum & molasses

STAR JASMINE, HELLEBORE, IVY

Leaning into the rich, velvety colours of dark maroon and dusky pink with red-tinted leaves


MARCH

INGREDIENTS

Epimedium x versicolour ‘Sulphureum’ (barronwort)

Prunus cerascoides (cherry plum)

Trachelosermum jasminoides (star jasmine)

Helleborus ‘Shades of the Night’ (Lenten rose)

Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’ (Christmas rose)

Hedera helix (ivy)

Rubus fruticosus (blackberry)


VESSEL

Aesme Studio ceramic footed bowl

Kenzan & chicken wire 

NOTES

We cannot sing the praises of Epimedium enough! We grow many different varieties in the cutting garden and they are low-maintenance, tough, excellent ground cover. For the flower arranger they provide attractive colourful foliage with interesting mottling. A little fiddly to arrange because the stems are so skinny, they tend to move around until you have a full vase but they last very well in water and produce a mass of tiny, spurred flowers that are charming in early spring. The desiccated bramble is a favourite addition from the hedgerow - the birds never got to the berries and they have dried on the stem, fading to a beautiful copper colour. The ivy berries are a textural addition - like spherical clusters of peppercorns, the matt purple works well with the hellebores. I strip the leaves, which are bright green and glossy, preferring to allow the Epimedium the limelight.

Sunbeam

GERMANDER, GOAT’S WILLOW, JAPANESE SPINDLE & DAFFODIL

Silver and citrus leaves with frail spring blossom and pale lemon dwarf daffodils


MARCH

INGREDIENTS

Prunus cerasifera (cherry plum)

Euonymus japonicus 'El Dorado' (Japanese spindle)

Salix caprea (goat willow)

Teucrium fruticans (tree germander)

Narcissus pseudonarcissus (common daffodil)

Narcissus 'Elka' (daffodil)


VESSEL

Terracotta urn from Poterie Ravel

Chicken wire 

NOTES

This arrangement is a good example of how effective a carefully chosen selection of foliage can be. I had a limited clutch of flowers - just a few daffodils and a bunch of willow, the grey furry buds flecked with yellow pollen. Blue and yellow are complementary colours that sit directly opposite one another on the colour wheel and so the silvery blue-green of the tree germander works well with the mustard yellow of the Japanese spindle. The leaves are also contrasting textures - the spindle waxy with a slight sheen, the germander soft and matte.

Low n' Slow

CHERRY, HYACINTH, BERGENIA

A low asymmetric display using spindling spring branches and vines flowers in shades of cool pink


MARCH

INGREDIENTS

Muehlenbeckia complexa (necklace vine)

Ribes sanguineum (flowering currant)

Lamium purpureum (red dead nettle)

Galium aparine (cleaver)

Jasminum polyanthum (jasmine)

Prunus cersifera (cherry plum)

Hyacinthus 'City of Bradford' (hyacinth)

Viola cornuta (pansy)

Skimmia japonica 'Rubella' (Japanese skimmia)

Cyclamen coum (eastern sowbread)

Bergenia purpurascens (pigs-squeak)


VESSEL

Ceramic bowl from South Korea

Small kenzan and chicken wire 

NOTES

A low-slung bowl arrangement using branches of blossom and flowering currant to create a loosely asymmetric outline shape, in-filling with short-stemmed flowers grouped in the central axis. The flowers are all blue-pinks, purple and lilac and with the white cherry the effect is predominantly cool, however the yellow-green and lime foliage adds an uplifting splash of warmth that keeps it interesting. The skimmia is used with leaves removed as a peppery filler and the dead-nettle, which is an attractive weed/wildflower that crops up in the garden, makes itself useful as ‘ground cover’ to fill the bowl and cover mechanics. It’s a great food source for pollinators at this time of the year when there is limited nectar available, particularly for bees who rely on the pollen for protein to create their nests.