Monet, Mother's Day and Killer Daffodils

My Mother's Day present from Jessie was lunch at Brasserie Zadel in Piccadilly (I could have been in Paris!) followed by a visit to the Royal Academy of Art's current exhibition - Painting the Modern Garden:

The exhibition has received ecstatic reviews, and it was absolutely wonderful. It brought together a stunning collection of paintings which celebrate gardens, flowers, growing and garden design. I especially liked the work of Monet, Kandinsky, Renoir, Klimpt and Nolde. For me the really stand out thing about the exhibition was the way it linked the painters with the gardens they had created and the canvases they painted. It was as though both were part of a seamless creative process. These pictures from the catalogue (a fabulous piece of research in its own right) capture the essence of it. The first shows Monet in his garden at Giverny and the second introduces Monty Don's interview with James Priest, the Head Gardener at Giverny.

The exhibition is not all about Monet, but the star of the show is a massive, more than room-size triptych of Monet's lily ponds. Here is a sample.

Sheffield Hallam University runs an Events Management undergraduate degree and, during March, groups of students run live events which they plan, market and deliver themselves. One group had the idea of running a flower workshop where participants would make posies for Mother's Day. I was asked to help them with the floristry part of the event. They called it A Floral Touch

The students had some really good creative ideas and they put together a thoroughly enjoyable evening. They showed the participants how to decorate jam jars in different ways and then I showed them how to make a hand-tied posy. The flowers and foliage were lovely. The flowers came from a range of supermarkets - but the students stuck to a colour scheme of pinks and white, and a limited range of flowers - roses, alstroemeria and gypsophila. The foliage was fresh and vibrant and had been gathered from the countryside. Everything looked gorgeous. The event took place in the Leopold Hotel, where the evening started off with canapes and wine. It finished with everybody carrying home a pretty posy in a unique jam jar. A great success!

Just about every floristry book I own tells me that I shouldn`t mix daffodils with other flowers, especially tulips, because the sap which exudes from the daffodils is toxic. Hmm......this is a difficulty because I like to mix up flowers in my arrangements and, at this time of year, it is hard to avoid daffodils because they are abundant and relatively cheap. So, I have conducted an experiment to see if the claim about killer daffodils is true. I took three kilner jars and put just tulips and just daffodils in two of the jars, and a mix in the third. I placed the jars in a south-facing room, but out of direct sunlight. I didn`t move them throughout the experiment, nor did I change the water. Here they are on day 1:

By day 4 the daffodils had opened up nicely and the tulips had grown a couple of inches - but there was no difference between the tulips in jar A and B.

By day 7 the tulips were all a bit taller still and all starting to leach colour. Two of the tulips in jar B were bending over, but otherwise looked pretty much the same as those in jar A

By day 10 all the tulips were looking worse for wear, but I really couldn`t see much difference between those in jar A and B. All the daffodils were ready to chuck out.

So, my broad conclusion is that exposing the tulips to daffodils doesn`t appear to make much difference to their longevity. Perhaps things would have been different if the flowers had been crammed into smaller containers with less water. But if that were the case, in normal circumstances I would have changed the water every 2-3 days. In the absence of any better evidence, I have decided to stop worrying about mixing spring flowers. On that note, here is an example of a posy of mixed spring flowers (tulips, daffodils, narcissi and ranunculus with ivy mixed in) in an up-cycled container which I made for Valentine's Day.

And, finally, another Valentine's Day gift. This time a classy little handbag made with red ranunculus, succulents and ivy. 

Handbags - new workshop

Last week I ran a new workshop for a group of friends. The idea was to make a handbag and fill it with flowers. We used an up-cycled carton which we covered with aspidistra leaves and then decorated with all sorts of materials. Then we filled the handbag with beautiful flowers. I was really pleased with the results. This workshop provides a great opportunity to be creative and develop your own style. Here are some close-ups of the handbags. This one has a bit of glitz in the handle and a pretty silver bow.

This next one is rather romantic and whimsical.

I like the way this one uses ivy leaves at the top of the bag and I like the candy-striped handle.

This last one has some lovely detail on the handbag itself.

Last week I also took the opportunity to revamp my woodland log. I added some new dried materials to it and replaced the succulents. I also added some fresh flowers which appear to grow magically out of the log. Then I placed it in our porch to greet visitors to the house. It is hard to capture the shape and all the detail on the log, but here is my best shot.

I haven`t yet offered the woodland log or the handbag workshop as an open workshop yet.They both include some clever ideas for construction and produce individual, slightly quirky results. I really enjoy them both and so do the participants. The great thing about the log is that it lasts for ages (I made mine originally last May). After a bit of thought, I`ve decided to run a handbag workshop this spring and then I will add a woodland log to the autumn schedule. Please have a look at the information page of my website to see details of up-coming workshop dates.

Twelfth Night

Tonight is twelfth night. As we take down all the greenery and glitz of Christmas, I thought this would be a good time to show some pictures of the beautiful table centres and wreaths which people made at my Christmas workshops. The table centres (like the one above) we made this year were woodland-inspired. We started with a humble wooden chopping board. 

Then this was covered in moss. Here is the set up at the golf club workshop and some of the participants attaching their moss. 

Then we added lots of different materials to the moss. For example:

Once the base was complete, we added a small arrangement of red roses and seasonal foliage. Like this.

Here are a few more completed table centres. They were interesting, quirky and attractive and I hope they drew a lot of admiration during the holidays.

I ran a similar workshop at my house. If you were wondering how the arrangement of fresh flowers accessed a water supply, this picture shows you how. We made a small container from a plastic cup which we covered in moss and attached to the base.

A final touch being added. For this arrangement we included pretty red anemones as well as roses.

Here is another completed table centre.

At this workshop we also took some small wooden discs.

These were decorated to match the main arrangement and the idea was to use them as individual place settings. They worked really well – a definite hit!

I ran my wreath workshop again this year. Here are the stages for making a truly splendid wreath which can be hung inside or outside. First, take a wire wreath base and handfuls of straw. Then use reel wire to attach the straw to the base.

Next, make small bunches of spruce.

Then make an equal number of bunches using holly, ivy and spruce.

Next use the reel wire to attach the bunches to the foliage base.

Next comes the design stage. This is where you decide what to attach to the foliage. The materials you choose need to be wired like this.

Then the wires can be pushed into the base to hold the materials securely.

Here is the fabulous result. What amazing workshop participants.

This is my wreath hung on an internal door. It is a gorgeous, sumptuous wreath and I will be very sorry to take it down this evening.

I made a lot of arrangements in vases and jam jars for customers, friends and family. In this one I added a bit of blue to the traditional red, white and green. I thought this added a freshness that I liked.

Then for these jam jar arrangements made with English flowers from Cornwall, I added some yellow (soleil d’or narcissi) as well as blue. The result was bright and joyful. On this up-beat note I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and thank you for all your custom, enthusiasm and support during 2015. 

Christmas offers and 2016 workshops

Happy Christmas to all the friends of Meadowsweet. For Christmas this year I am making a limited number of festive posies and bouquets. I will be using mainly English flowers and foliage – anemones, alstroemeria, tulips, narcissi, eucalyptus and pittosporum. The posies will be made in festive jam jars (gold or red and white) – see below. They are £10.00 each.

I also have a few festive jugs left – decorated with ivy or poinsettia (see below).  A large bouquet presented in one of these is £40. Alternatively, the same bouquet presented in water (within cellophane) in a Meadowsweet gift bag is £25.00. 

If you would like to order any of these, please contact me as soon as possible. I have only ordered a modest amount of flowers and when they are gone, they’re gone! I am also planning next year’s workshops.  I am holding the price steady for 2016 – that is £50, but reduced to £45 to people on my previous client list (includes attendance at a workshop, past purchase of a bouquet and wedding clients). The only exception is the hand-tied bouquet  in a Heron Cross jug which I have had to put up to £55 (reduced to £50) because of the cost of the jug. For planning purposes it would be really good to have a sense of which workshop topics would be most popular. Here are some pictures of the arrangements made in previous workshops. First, three hand-tied posies in jam jars: 

Next a large hand-tied bouquet in a Heron Cross jug (not always this pattern on the jug): 

Next, my vintage flowers workshop (uses three different construction methods): 

Next, the woodland logs: 

Next a large bouquet made from groupings of flowers and presented in cellophane and a Meadowsweet gift box: 

Finally, a large round arrangement made using chickenwire in a container decorated with long-lasting leaves (only one arrangement is made in the workshop): 

If you are thinking of attending a workshop next year, it would be really helpful if you could drop me a line to let me know which of these topics is most appealing to you. This does not commit you in any way to signing up for a workshop – I am just testing the temperature to get a sense of which of these topics are likely to be most popular.  In addition to these existing workshops, I will probably drop in a new topic. In 2015 the Saturday morning workshops were by far the best attended and I am thinking I will only offer them on Saturdays in 2016 (except just before Christmas). If you would also be interested in attending a workshop on a weekday morning or evening, please let me know in case there is demand for this amongst some people.

Thank you to all of you for your interest, support and custom during 2015. I hope you have a wonderful time over Christmas with lots of fun, laughter and flowers.