How to create a beautiful window display using early summer flowers
Early summer is defined here by froth, a lot of froth. Great umbels of flowers seem to be in plenitude, prettily clouding the wild and in the confines of the garden too, lending a softness and whimsy to the landscape. The wild roses tangle their way past the honeysuckle, and sweet peas scramble up homemade triangles. I love this time of year, and have long made variations of the same window installation each year to celebrate the sudden abundance everywhere. This is one of the simplest large-scale installations I make. It’s almost mechanic free, and relies on the transparency of glass to create a floating, just growing from-the-sill feeling.
Window installations are fun to create. As a direct link between our inside and outside lives, they provide a playful context for bringing the outside in. So gather up some jam jars and any glass vases you may have (they’re easy and cheap to find in junk shops, too).
I play with scale in this design. I have an extra tall, extra large, heavy glass vase that can take the towering Ammi. If you can’t source an extra tall vase, feel free to use a table under the window for a shorter vase, or have it on the floor, but use a pin frog, and balance it in place with stones at its base.
TOOLS:
- Secateurs/garden snips
- 4 jam jars and 4 glass vases of varying sizes
- Fishing wire (optional)
MATERIALS:
Focal:
- Roses ‘Mokarosa’, ‘Wildeve’ and ‘Eustacia Vye’: 9 stems
Supporting:
- Roses ‘Minnehaha’, ‘Kew Gardens’: 3 stems
- Sweet peas ‘Aphrodite’, ’Juliet’, ‘Spring Sunshine Blush’, ‘Mollie Rilstone’, ‘Raspberry Flake’: 50 stems
- Sweet pea vine: 1 stem
- Foxgloves ‘Alba’: 2 stems
Textural/sparkle:
- Ammi majus: 30 stems
IDEA:
These mechanics can work well for a fireplace installation, with the glass vases sitting along the mantelpiece.
HOW TO:
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