[soliloquy id=”19928″]

i’m not someone who usually has flowers in the home, given my predisposition to kill any plant placed in my care within a matter of days, however i was recently sent two beautiful bella vases from dartington crystal and, feeling it unjust to deprive them of their proper adornment,  turned to my lovely friend rona – aka flowerona – for some much-needed floristry advice.

for those of you who don’t know her, rona is an inspirational and multi-award-winning flower blogger, freelance flower writer and social media trainer for florists. if you have any questions at all when it comes to floristy, rona is your gal! when i told her about my new vases she suggested that i would need quite tall flowers given their height, and suggested i take the vases in to my local florist to help me make my selection. she also told me it would be best to have an odd number of stems in each vase, whether i opted for flowers or flower ‘alternatives’.

she gave me a number of suggestions to consider; roses, dahlias, chrysanthemum blooms, delphiniums, lisianthus, agapanthus, alliums if i wanted blooms in my display, or alternatives such as kangaroo paw, poppy seed heads, snowberry, black dill or berries. in the end i chose a single pale vintage hydrangea flower for the shorter, stouter bella vase and five stems of blue monkshood for the taller indigo vase.

i don’t have a huge number of options for displaying vases in my home, so my best bet was to rearrange the mantel above the fireplace and position the vases together at one end, surrounded by a few new candles and holders – the københavn urban bliss candle i picked up on my recent trip to copenhagen, while the east wick no. 10 candle came from unlimited shop in brighton. i also balanced the display with a few sprigs of gypsophila in a small glass vase wrapped with black plaited leather (from life story in edinburgh) at the opposite end of the mantelpiece.

what do you think on my little display? i have to say i’m quite chuffed with it! all i have to do is keep the blooms alive for more than a few days – thankfully this little video has a handful of helpful tips to see me through…