I was excited to enjoy the therapy of making a flower arrangement just for fun, and I was even happier that my daughter was willing to wake up early on a summer morning to come with me. We’d choose whatever we wanted from what was available, and we ended up with a wildflowers that reminded us of summertime in a backyard.
As we walked around the fridge in Mayesh, there was a single bunch of Geum that looked left over. It caught my eye.
I had never seen Geum before! I loved the sunny-tones and the pretty stems. Just like true wildflowers, flower petals were missing. I decided I wanted to give them a home, so I told Sachi and we went looking for what we’d choose to bring a look and feel together.
When I play with flowers to make an arrangement, I like to work with different bloom-sizes and added texture throughout. I want the individual stems to look interesting and feel good together. There should be an eye-pleasing balance, and and having some small and larger blossoms is always nice.
We searched up and down for something with a larger blossom that would work with the tones of the sweet little Geum flowers. As soon Sachi pointed out the Black-Eyed Susans, my heart melted a little bit. These would be the star of our wildflower-inspired pull.
These flowers grow wild like crazy where we live in North County San Diego, and seeing them in bunches reminded me of the photos my friend took of the kids a handful of years ago. I found this spot, and styled a little picnic in the middle of the patch. Jen of Love Jen Photography captured it so well, and still treasure these images.
We had already combed through the entire greenery assortment. The sweetest flowering and fruiting tomato clippings were available! We chose the greenest stems, with tiny yellow flowers.
We topped off our pull with texture: Grass Bunny Tail.
What’s not to love? They are a bushier, lighter in color, green, and more petite than cat-tails. I couldn’t wait to go home and work with them!
As we drove home, I already had the vase in my mind that would work perfectly. When we got home, I started prepping the stems, filled water in the vase and created a grid using double sided florist tape. This little set up would hold up pieces and help me get each individual stem where I’d like it to be, without the use of foam.
Just like when I work with making custom cakes, when I feel like I’m done, I take my camera and start snapping photos to see what I may have missed.
Seeing the end-product through the lens and the picture grabbed, at the top and at different angles helps me decide if I want to make any changes. Typically, it’s only after looking through the camera lens that I decide if I am done and pleased with the end result.
I really liked the look and feel and the way this turned out. I was so happy!
My kids know all too well, that when I’m extra-happy or feeling especially goofy, I’ll start making up stories – about things we see or the life stories of strangers passing-by. I couldn’t help but blurt out a made-up story about this arrangement.
With nothing else to do on the summer day but be in her grandmother’s backyard, the little girl gave up on chasing the cat. She circled the grass, and stopped to look at things closer. She walked up and down the garden. She made the decision to start pulling fist-fulls of flowers and stems. Some of them were a little prickly, but she didn’t mind. When she had a good bunch, she would bring them inside.
She could hardly turn the doorknob to the backdoor, her hands were so full. As she came in, her Grandma gasped in surprise. They both smiled and laughed, and Grandma made a big deal about the bounty in the little girls arms. She asked her all about what she had found, “Even tomato flowers?! Wow!“
Together they brought the bunches to the kitchen sink and then picked out a vase from the other room. Grandma clipped what needed to be cut, they filled the vase with cold water, and her granddaughter did the rest. Every stem was used. She felt happy and proud to place it at the center of the dining room table for when Mom came back to pick her up. The End.
