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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

French Flowers Today

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Beautiful white, pink, mauve, and blue 
fleurs 
are the ones that I love the most.
French colored flowers...



Ever have a day that, for no reason, you bring home flowers?
Today was that day for me.
Today at the grocery store the deep pink Star Gazer lilies 
were on special...at such a good price that the cashier thought they 
were mispriced.  But they were not.  Hurrah!




Then I spied the mauve mums also at a great price.  
The white alstromeria are usually the same good price as today. 
With no planning ahead, no special occasion, 
no reason to buy flowers, 
I bought beautiful flowers to create a French flowers bouquet. 
(Total price of flowers bought for this arrangement...$17+tax)




Blooming in the yard is a huge purple-hued vitex tree/shrub, 
just the complementary color and contrasting texture to add to the 
grocery store flowers. 




My professional florist sister helped me create 
this arrangement in a white oval stoneware bowl.  
Using white florist tape, she taped together 
the styrofoam and oasis into which the flowers are anchored. 
Then she criss-crossed taped across the 
top of the stoneware bowl to create a "frog" to help
 hold the flowers in place in addition to sticking them 
into the styrofoam and oasis. 




She's a good teacher because she directed, 
did not do the actual arranging, 
and let me place the flowers. 
She did the boring work required to hold the flowers in place and
 let me do the fun work of placing and arranging them. 
Tips from her,"Beginners often place the oasis too deeply 
into the vase.  The oasis should rise above the rim of the vase. 
Water should touch the oasis to keep it and 
the flowers hydrated." 




I placed the Star Gazer lilies first, spacing them 
around the container with one in the center. 
Then I placed the mums, following my sister's advice to place 
some near the bottom of the arrangement to give 
visual weight at the bottom.  
Next came the vitex branches with blooms 
from the backyard tree. I made sure to place some of them 
so that they gracefully draped over the bottom edge of the vase. 
Then I placed the alstromeria stems with multiple blooms per stem. 




I love how the vitex fronds gently curve downward. 




Each white alstromeria has several blooms per stem, 
which have mauve stripes in their throats, just the perfect color 
to complement the mums and lilies. 




The wire semicircular table on the deck is a perfect place 
to place the arrangement to take photos in natural daylight. 




The Star Gazer lilies have several buds on each stem which 
will open to fill out the arrangement even more. 




Both the mum and the vitex blossoms will also open even more 
over the next several days. 









Beautiful French flowers today for no reason other than 
they make my heart sing and my eyes "clap their hands." 

Savoring moments in the present 
to find joy everyday... 

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