Florali

Sunday Shop Snaps

A few moments at Florali that caught my eye (and camera) last week...

The Merry Christmas tag is made with paper thin birch bark

A posey of peonies and freesia

orchid

Flowering kale, mistletoe and cymbidium orchids

H a p p y   S u n d a y    

Christmas in Paris

via Lafayette, California...

For a party on Saturday, an Eiffle Tower made of wire and strung with battery lights was the center of the centerpiece. 

 

Joyeux Noel

   

I'm dreaming of a white...

...amaryllis 

...pearl on a branch of mistletoe

...peony and friends

...amaryllis bud

...peony in a mist of berries and cones

What Constance had to say about white...  

Constance Spry, the English floral designer of the 1930's - 50's, through her seeming endless creativity and daring designs - breaking all the rules - infused the world of flower decoration with new energy and inspiration.  She was the darling of the British aristocracy with clients that included duchesses and dukes and she was the designer of the coronation flowers for Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953.  In her book, Party Flowers, Ms. Spry writes a lengthy description of the scarlet and crimson flowers used in the dining tables for the coronation luncheon.  Then she writes:

"On the morning of the coronation Valmar and I were fortunate to have work which took us early, before five o'clock in the morning into the annex to the Abbey.  Neither of us is likely to forget the still nobility and beauty of the scene at that breathless, quiet moment.  We were there to put flowers in the retiring and luncheon rooms set up for the royal family.  For the Queen's room we chose something of great simplicity: a basket filled to overflowing with the old white rose Blanc de Coubert. We hoped that the sweetness, the simplicity of this lovely white rose might be found appropriate"

 David Austin named his first rose for Constance Spry - a pink, once blooming climber.