As soon as Spring was official, I was deep in colorful stems. I’m sharing what I designed within a weeklong streak of gorgeous blooms for bouquets and bud vases.
Farm Fresh
Only Ranunculus and Sweet Peas – all sourced from the local family farm Lilac Valley Farm – made this light as a feather, airy bouquet.
I took my mom on a little drive down the 15 freeway, to visit the Lilac Valley Farm booth at the Scripps Ranch Farmers Market on a Wednesday afternoon. It was bursting with so many amazing colors, and the freshest, most hardy, gorgeous stems in these varieties that I’ve literally ever had my hands on. This family-team and these stems…Pure Joy! These are my favorite picks of the season so far.
I love natural light photography and a simple adjustment creates drama. This capture is with my window open and then partially closed. I love the shadows!
See this Farm Fresh bouquet in motion, via Instagram and TikTok.
For this palette I chose coral plus cream-white classic Ranunculus, and berry-color Butterfly Ranunculus, along with Sweet Peas in very pale blush and lilac.
Lemonade Sunshine
Tonal shades of lemon and ultra-pale yellow, cream and white, with barely-there filler is a handful of sunshine and happiness.
flower recipe: yellow French Tulips (reflexed), cream Butterfly Ranunculus, white and pale yellow classic Ranunculus, cream Sweet Pea, yellow Daffodils, Fever Few, white with pale yellow Limonium Misty-Emile.
“Reflexed” Tulips are on a lot of floral storyboards this year!
The natural structure of tulips have them seem closed. Opening-up, bending, and/or reflexing one petal at a time creates a transformed and almost unrecognizable bloom.
See the Lemonade Sunshine bouquet in motion, via Instagram or TikTok.
I’ve been gravitating to what our human eyes see first – longing for cheerful, bright, juiciness of yellow. I’ve been daydreaming about creating with this color for a while. I absolutely loved this bouquet!
Easter Sunday
A rainbow of Spring color poured into this abundant, and joy-filled Easter Sunday bouquet, made with my mom (aka Nonna) in mind.
Nonna enjoys flowers in her room regularly, but on Easter, it’s our tradition to present her with an extra special and beautiful bouquet. I love how happy and surprised she is about flowers, any day of the year. I feel the same.
TWO WAYS to have and to hold. Here I show shape and style with a totally different end result, simply by the way this bouquet is held. The first is more traditional, with stems pointing strait-down, creating a popular inverted pyramid bridal-shape. In the second, I’m holding the stems inward, and toward my body, creating a more modern, asymmetrical shape.
See these Easter Sunday flowers in motion via TikTok or Instagram.
flower recipe: magenta Dahlia, berry and cream Butterfly Ranunculus, pale yellow, pink, and coral classic Ranunculus, very pale blush and lilac Sweet Peas, yellow Daffodils, yellow reflexed Tulips, and Fever Few.
Bud Vase Wall
Flowers filling handmade ceramic bud vases, alongside pieces from our family rock collection, decorated our space for Easter weekend.
All of the ceramic vases and pieces shown are made from Sachi Takashima, my daughter. You can find more of her work via “covered.n.clay” on Instagram.
Silk ribbons to tie bouquets were sourced from Stacy Mika’s Etsy shop, Anastasia Marie.
