Have you felt the first little nip of autumn yet? The start and end of the day is slowly but surely going through a seasonal change. This is the time of year when I really want flowers in the house – they’re still plentiful in the shops, so not too expensive. And anyway, there are so many ways to make a lovely display – sometimes with just a single stem. Have fun and try something different with flowers.

I love the frothy frilly heads of hydrangea and a single stem is often enough to make cheer me up – four is better though. This is cute too:

a single little ranunculus, doing its thing. There’s a bit of a fashion for gathering groups of singles – especially along a mantelpiece, to create a sort of meadow effect.

It’s a cost effective way of filling a large area and glass containers of all shapes and sizes keep the effect light and pretty. Sometimes, however, the strangest things can make the perfect receptacle:

a red cabbage – or an embellishment of leeks.

All the above are sweet ideas but I just adore a big bold bunch which looks like it has just been picked from the garden.

This is a man after my own heart, Matt Richardson of the Urban Florist, Crouch End. This is what you might call country boho but if you like a controlled, modern look to your home you might prefer the graphic design of this:

or this:

There’s so much we can do with flowers in our home – treat yourself to some – it’s worth remembering the pleasure we all get from our first experience of arranging flowers – which more many people looked a bit like this.
