Beautiful Flowers for a Beautiful Bride

Sometimes I have the honor of doing both the flowers and photography 

for a bridal shoot or wedding.  Such was the case yesterday.  

I have to say that the bride is definitely the star of this photo--

as she should be.

Hot Colors for Summer Days

Here are a few pictures of some flowers we used for a recent event.  

I really liked the unusual color combination of orange, blue, silver and eggplant.  

Here, the orange flowers are asiatic lilies and the blue flowers are lavender.

This is the foliage of purple smoke bush--

The best time to use it is right in the middle of the summer.

I'm a sucker for berries any time of year.  These ones remind me of blueberries.  

Peonies!

When my family and I left on vacation a couple weeks ago, I thought for

 sure that I would miss the entire bloom time of my herbaceous peonies--

and for the most part, I did.  I was, however, able to find an armful 

of these exquisite blooms still in peak condition.  

Naturally, I had to share them on our blog. 

 During the Spring and early Summer peonies are a much sought after 

flower choice for brides.  Why Spring and early Summer?

This is peak season and generally the only time they are available.

Gifts from the Rain

Okay, so I know that this isn't a flower, but I have to say that I LOVE fungus in all it's wonderful shapes and forms.  When I take a walk in the woods, my friends and family all think I'm weird when I get excited about the different varieties to be found on the forest floor.  When my youngest brought this mushroom in from our waterlogged yard I had to take a picture--so like a flower, but not quite.  

Fresh from the Garden

I've been enjoying these bouquets of bearded iris and snowball viburnum 

this week--both from my garden.  I love spring, don't you?

One Vase, Two Ways

Not long ago, Anthropologie carried vases/pots like this.  It's a convincing 
reproduction of a well-weathered piece.  

Above, we used the vase to create an abundant, free-form arrangement 
of white bleeding heart,  burgundy cherry blossoms, sea statice and bear grass.  
Below, in the same container
 is a more spare, structured arrangement of green dendrobium orchids, 
green mums, moss, misty blue and some fungus to top it off.  Mmmm, 
so many beautiful options when it comes to flowers.

As much as I love the this flower arrangement, I have to say that my favorite part of this picture is the snail cruising by in the background...

With Sympathy...

This is an arrangement we recently did for a funeral. 

It is a nice size to give if you would like a member of the family to
 be able to take the flowers home and enjoy them for a while.

These apricot quince blossoms are gorgeous and long lasting.  

They were a perfect compliment for the Gerbera daisies and kermit poms.