The joy of Spring bouquets

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In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends.
― Okakura Kakuzo, Japanese scholar, from The Book of Tea

It’s already June and I’m late with my spring bouquets blog. That said, time has been flying for some years now and this, to say the least, has been an unusual year. We are certainly living in interesting times – unprecedented times for our generation. Sheltered in place since March 16th, we are coming upon the end of our third month. One thing that the novel coronavirus has not canceled is the arrival of spring, the arrival of spring flowers in our yard.

Now that I no longer deliver weekly bouquets for the middle school auction, I have the freedom to make the bouquets whenever and each week to ask a local friend if she would like some flowers to enjoy. So without further ado, here are this spring’s bounty to share. One new addition to the garden has been different varieties of sweet peas, and while I’ll post them here, I will blog separately about my new favorite flower. So here we go!

I didn’t cut very many tulips this year. I was so busy with writing and work that I didn’t have time, but I also, for some reason, was reluctant to cut them because they were so beautiful and plentiful in the side yard this spring. So this is a rare bouquet that I made in late March. I dedicated this bouquet and the next to my cousin Annie Esperanza, who passed away untimely after a failed heart transplant. I gave the bouquet to Birthe, who always won the middle school auction year and after, because I knew she would appreciate them. I really enjoyed pairing the yellow butterfly-like columbines with the lipstick-red tulips.
Here is another view of the same bouquet. In addition to the two different types of tulip, I also added the flighty yellow columbines and the sturdy gerberas.
Here are my favorite calla lilies paired with deep magenta tulips and a new flower in our garden, pink ranunculus. I saw pictures of ballet-pink ranunculus, and I loved the tight layers of petals, almost like an old-fashioned tulle skirt.
Here’s a close-up up the pink ranunculus and the pollen-covered calla lily.
I spy two other tulips with their feather-like petals and a magenta ranunculus beside another pink ranunculus with even tighter petals (these look like streamers before you unspool them.
Birthe was the recipient of this trio of spring bouquets.
Calla lilies, white and blue scabiosas, red dianthus, and new flowers from a spring mix I got at Costco.
More on this beauty in a later blog, but here are four different varieties of the ever-fragrant sweet peas that I planted in the planter box in the patio.
I also thought gerberas were annuals, but one year I left them in the planter box in the backyard after the season, and to my surprise, they came up the following spring. They last through summer and are hardy and are coming up with taller stems. So red and pink gerberas, lavender and blue scabiosas, and red dianthus, with a little fern.
So our once-a-year gardener/landscaper usually thins out our alstroemeria very late winter. This year they didn’t, and I’m glad they didn’t. We had a ton of them, and a ton of Amazonian-size blooms. I could have made three or even four bouquets out of the flowers that I stuffed into this vase, but I guess I was seeing how many stems I could fit into the vase. The great thing about alstroemeria is that they are long lasting in a vase. A post-birthday and belated Mother’s Day arrangement for Kelly.
Here is another alstroemeria bouquet. With each one I started getting better about shaping them (not this one, though) and making sure the blooms were all over. For my friend Raissa.
Using a vase that one of the kids made in a summer camp years ago, I created this little beauty – my favorite Chomley Farran bi-colored dianthus and also red dianthus, white gerbera, small magenta dahlias, and blue and lavender scabiosas.
A close-up of the Chomley-Farran dianthus, pink dahlia, and blue scabiosas.
Lone calla lily, scabiosas, a few white columbines, and different varieties of dahlias.
This next batch of flowers were for my friend Susie. Here is a top view of six different varieties of sweet peas. Too bad you can scratch and sniff. The sweetness is intoxicating, wafting through the room when you walk by.
This vase had five different “pockets” to put flowers in, which suited the different varieties of sweet peas like a hand in a glove.
More alstroemeria!
I love this little bouquet: red and bi-colored Chomley-Farran dianthus, red and pink gerbera, tiny magenta dahlias, and miniature white roses.
This mostly dahlias bouquet with lone calla lily features miniature white roses and a few blue scabiosas. In honor of our friend Dan’s graduation and birthday!
My favorite sweet peas. The way this beauty grows out, most of its stems are curved, which makes it quite easy to make interesting miniature bouquets with it.
These next and last bouquets were delivered to my friend Karen. I’m finally sort of getting it right in terms of shaping the alstroemeria.
The usual sweet small bouquet that I’ve added love-in-a-mist flowers, which are now turning into beautiful seed pods and thus make a great addition to bouquets.
My favorite deep-blue hydrangea from our patio is the centerpiece for this small bouquet of white dianthus, miniature magenta dahlias, lavender and two blue scabiosas, and the seed pods of love-in-a-mist flowers.
A close-up portrait in monochrome.
Highlighting the delicate and beautiful annual orlaya grandiflora, “Minoan Lace.”
The all-dahlia bouquet.
Close-up of dahlia blooms.
And the sweet pea that reminds me of Japanese art.