The season of late sunsets, swims in the sea and garden parties, summer is a joyous time, full of late sunsets, refreshing swims in the sea, blue skies and balmy weather. Also attendant to these warmer months are the myriad flowers on display no matter where you go: there are sweet-smelling peonies in Tesco, hydrangeas flowering on front lawns and ruby red zinnias sprouting in every park and field. To make the most of the the season's floral bounty, we've rounded up five simple flower arrangements perfect for a summer bouquet from the House & Garden archive.
1. A summer window arrangement
In an extract from her book From Seed to Bloom, Milli Proust offered a step-by-step guide to arranging a wonderfully wild installation on your windowsill – something a bit different from traditional flowers-in-vase arrangement. “Window installations are fun to create,” says Milli, “As a direct link between our inside and outside lives, they provide a playful context for bringing the outside in.” Milli plays with scale for her design, which uses a host of summer flowers including roses, sweet peas and their tendrils, foxgloves and, for a bit of sparkle, Ammi majus and makes for a truly sweet summer display.
2. Simple shocks of green make for the loveliest floral display
On the front hall table in sculptor Emily Young's house in Tuscany, Emily has opted to arrange a simple, leafy bouquet of all-green trimmings. This is the perfect, easy summer arrangement for those wary of their floristry skills (or for those hoping to re-purpose flotsam from a recent prune in the garden). Colour takes a backseat in this arrangement, allowing for you to play with the sculptural element of your bouquet: change the heights of your stems and get picky with your leaves to create a similar effect to the bouquet seen on Emily's table.
3. Celebrate roses' seasonality
The bedroom in this small flat on Manhattan's Upper East Side is a calming oasis, made bright by the simple (and small!) mostly-rose floral arrangement on the bedside table. Make the most of the summer's best roses – along with a few, un-bloomed marigolds for good measure – to create an effortless and wholly summery display that makes the most of a rose's best blooming season. To add more oomph and a more decorative edge, we suggest pairing your rose bouquet with a statement vase, as Lilse did.
4. Hydrangeas are the perfect addition to any summer arrangement
A spare room in Sarah Vanrenen's Wiltshire farmhouse is decorated with green tones, which works perfectly with the all-hydrangea bouquet at the bedside table. Hydrangeas are one of the floral highlights of the summer season, the flowers' bulbous blooms all but disappearing with the first cool gust of autumn wind. Whilst hydrangeas come in an array of pastel colours, we think the lime green colour of a more immature hydrangea makes for the loveliest and freshest of summer arrangements. Hydrangeas work especially well on their own, too, making this an easy bouquet that will come together in mere minutes, but give you a week's worth of eye-catching delight.
5. Let your bouquet be inspired by your summer travels
Interior designer Kate Cox turned a tired Georgian flat in Bristol in to a charming and eclectic home. In the golden-toned living room, Kate arranged a charming summer bouquet of pale yellow ranunculus in a vase she purchased from Seville based ceramicists The Exvotos. Whilst flowers will always hold their own eternal, irreproachable beauty, a lovely or interesting vase helps to truly make your summer arrangement sing. If you're travelling this summer (especially to destinations famed for their unique pottery or glassware), take home a souvenir vase to remember your holiday by with each and every arrangement, as Kate did.
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