Valentine’s day was around a fortnight ago and what I find irritating about it is the fact that it comes at a time of year when there’s very little in flower. Even the most talented gardener is going to struggle to put together a bunch of roses for this day without the help of a florist, supermarket or petrol forecourt. Certainly for me, there’s nothing that I can pick from the garden and tie together into a posy and not be embarrassed by it.
To counter this I have an agreement with the other half that the spring bouquet is the compensation for the lack of flowers on Valentine’s day. I normally get round to putting together a spring vase in late March when there are a few things to choose from but as the winter has been so mild I’ve been able to do this up to a month earlier than I normally would.
As with all my attempts at flower arranging, it’s bright, bold and lacks subtlety and finesse. I dub my style as “anti-ikebana”. I’m not at all bothered by its garishness as I’m still feeling very smug from being able to put together a vase of flowers like this in February.
In this spring collection we have (roughly top to bottom):
- Dried out Iris Sibirica stems with seed heads that rattle
- Black Bamboo
- Daffodils
- Bergenias
- Ivy
- Orchids
- Fatsia Japonica
The vase is crammed full, quite lovely, smells gorgeous and didn’t cost me anything.
I didn’t put this arrangement together in one go, it actually started off with just a small handful of daffodils a few days ago but today I decided to take a break from the never-ending packing and go all out, no holds barred with it.
Despite the cheeriness of the flowers, there’s also a sad side. One of the best rewards of gardening for me is being able to go outside and pick a bunch of flowers. Unfortunately, despite the new garden being so much bigger, it is so devoid of plants apart from grass that it will be a few years before I’ll be able to create anything like this again. The feeling of putting together this arrangement will have to last me a long time.
On the upside, I believe there’s some chocolate left over from Valentine’s day that I can help myself to while sniffing the flowers.
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