Garden to Vase: a mini cottage garden

The current selection of mid spring plants that are flowering in my garden have a sweetness and ramble to their small scale. So I challenged myself to create a wild and friendly “garden” scene in my latest secondhand vase find. The colour palette and vibe is one of my favourite experiments so far and I think it does strangely hint at a wee garden scene?

To create I took a quick boundary walk with my snips, gathering up anything that was flowering but also foliage that caught my eye. I’m reassured in that so much of what I found was self seeded, as a really prefer editing back plants I like than bare soil for invasive weedy ones I don’t!

Chicken wire ready to be forced into the vessel I have chosen. This is a sustainable version of “oasis” and can be used over and over. I love it and it opens up the use of wider necked vases and bowls!

RECIPE

For this little arrangement I used…

Forget me nots (self seeded)
Sweet pea flowers and foliage (self seeded)
Mini chrysanthemums (self seeded)
Granny Bonnet (aquilegia) (self seeded)
Thalictrum foliage
Thyme
Fennel fower
Early buds of geum
Broken off tips of Solomons Seal
A cornflower

A “long” short vase. Mine is secondhand found online for $12
 
For your own spring arrangement, have a go picking everything that you have out! In this instance, mine were all “small” blooms which helped with the miniature scene idea.

Chicken wire forced tightly in the vase and below its rim. This provides a structure to thread stems into.

GUIDE:

• Plunge all stems immediately into a jug of water as soon as possible after picking. Important to keep them hydrated.

• Prepare or “condition” your stems by trimming off all leaves or branches that will be below the water line in the vase. This promotes cleaner water for longer vase life.

• Before placing each stem into the arrangement, I do a quick re-snip of the ends again.

• I used a piece of chicken wire, 1.5 ish times larger than my vessel, curled it then pushed to fit snugly below the rim of the vase. Due to using “lightweight” plants and the snug fit of the wire in the vase, I didn’t use florists “pot tape” to grid over the rim for support. If wire was lose I would as the plants do often pull it out and over!
  If you are into using wide necked vases you can order florists “pot tape” easily online. It’s handy!

• I began building the the arrangement with the foliage first (thalictrum and granny bonnet). I threaded them into the wire, roughing out an outline and setting my height. Some pieces shorter and swopping low and away from the vase at the ends, with a taller, off centre piece to create the horizon.

• As this was arrangement was to sit on a mantle piece, I built it with a “flat” back, keeping attention and depth from the front and sides.

• Then I began adding foliage to “backfill” the lower areas of the arrangement. Attempting to spread the flowers I had the most of (forget me nots, sweet peas and mini chrysanthemums) evenly ish through out the “undergrowth” area.

• I added my one off tall pieces like sweet pea foliage and geums off centre of the top line to give a loose imperfect vibe.

• Don’t be afraid to pull out and reshuffle as your progress. Ultimately my aim is always for a slightly wild, “just picked” vibe which is much easier to achieve for us amateurs!

• Once happy I took inside and topped it up right to the rim with water.

As viewed from the top, you can see action is at the front and sides.

As always we gun for a naturalistic vibe which is slightly more achievable for us amateurs!

CARE:

Top up your arrangement daily to keep things as fresh as possible. A lot of these flowers will fade before the foliage does, so consider re-using it in another arrangement.

As always, all imagery and video is created by me at home in Christchurch, New Zealand with my homegrown flowers.