How to Make a Spring Flower Display in a Bowl
Spring is beginning to nip at the heels of autumn and quickly become my favourite season. After a long, wet winter under steely grey skies, how joyous it’s been to finally usher in that most optimistic of seasons in all its lush green glory. Of course, I adore summer flowers and this year I cannot wait for my dahlias to burst into bloom (the recent spell of dry weather appears to have kept the slugs at bay). But there’s something special about spring flowers, with their casual breeziness and delicate pastel colours, that help soothe the soul.
I thought it would be the perfect time to put together some of the season’s finest blooms in our new fluted pedestal bowl, using one of our large Niwaki metal flower pins in the base. I confess to having once again failed to plant any spring bulbs back in autumn (one year I will get my act together and get this done, I really will), so my garden isn’t doing all that well for spring flowers. I have a few tete-a-tete daffodils and the odd fritillary that I can’t bear to pick because they’re simply too close to perfection.
But luckily I know a lady who always has the most gorgeous selection of exquisite, seasonal (and unusual) flowers, so I headed over to chat to Claire Mothersdale of Bulb florist in Lewes. Claire’s vibe and style is unstructured and loose and I knew she’d help me come up with something wild-looking and lovely.
Claire felt that our fine porcelain bowl needed a delicate display, and she chose a combination of pretty butterfly ranunculus, muscari, peony tulips, delphiniums, Japanese ranunculus and bridal crown daffodils. While I watched closely as she pulled out beautiful stems and placed them carefully into the metal flower frog, I asked her about how she approaches such a display.
“The pin placed inside the bowl helps the flowers to do their own thing. As one goes in and others follow, a natural shape evolves, and anything that’s not working I can then move or replace.”
One of the things I find myself doing when putting flowers together is throwing everything at it and then I have to start paring it back as it starts to look too busy. Claire said, “my tip would be to allow the flowers to have some space around them, and be aware that you don’t have to fill every gap. The flowers will often move and change shape over time, leaving room around them helps show off their natural shapes and form. I like the flowers to speak for themselves and choose asymmetric arrangements that allow the flowers shine.”
I love the way Claire is so relaxed about the way she designs her displays, but she’s also very picky about what she uses and has the most impeccable taste - I always find something I’ve never seen before when I visit her shop, it’s part of the excitement of going there.
“I have always been passionate about using unusual blooms that are seasonal, and if they’re long-lasting then all the better.,” she says. “I can be bold or subtle in my choices, but I’m always incredibly particular about what I create. No two arrangements are ever the same because it’s all about the flowers, not me.”
Bulb Floristry, 40 Cliffe High Street, Lewes, BN7 2AN