Fresh cut flowers from the Wildflower Garden – creating simple flower arrangements

“Do you suppose she’s a wildflower?” says the Daisy to the Iris trying to establish just who Alice really is (Lewis Carrols Alice in Wonderland). There are occasional lines of a few children’s classics I can recall… this one has always been a favourite of mine. So much so I treated myself this year to this wonderful french vintage pail recently complete with my favourite quote. And my wildflower indulgence doesn’t stop there. Regular readers will know of our new and wonderful wildflower garden simply and inexpensively created earlier this year. Today I’m going to show you, how with the help of a few props, the pretty fresh cut flowers we are currently enjoying in our garden, are playing double duty and affording us simple flower arrangements in our home too…

When Mr M declared “careful with the poppy seeds, we don’t want too much orange do we?” I probably should have listened. Whilst I love the perfectly sized Californian variety, I’m not particularly partial to orange myself. In my mind’s eye though, I had decided these simple flowers might sit well with a clash of the more traditional red variety. Although I may have forgotten to scatter some of those since there hasn’t been one pop up at all. Cornflowers too specifically selected to appease my desire to have fresh cut flowers from my own garden in my home, have only managed a few blooms in one place.  And the eagerly anticipated scabious, a summer favourite of mine with its strong tall stems and variety of colours seems to have forgotten to bloom at all for me this year. Yet they are the minority for there has been more borage than the bees can cope with and who knew Nigella, or Love-in-the-mist for the more romantic among us, comes in a fashionable white as well as the more commonly found gorgeous blue and pale purple. Strong dominant stems of verbena bonariensis sit happily with an abundance of yellow daisies and tiny candytuft dots are safely tucked in around their base. I’ve left the odd nettle here and there and there are more than a few other weeds happily popping up. And overall I have and continue to be, truly delighted with our first year in the wildflower garden.

And so to today and another flower arranging post, this one offering a clever trick I cannot fob off as my own yet one which is too valuable not to share with you all. Chicken wire; a thoroughly versatile material my love for which, knows no bounds. At my previous home I enjoyed the simple joy of hens in my garden and as such a great deal of this useful material still hangs around. You last saw me use it in this upcycle here and some time ago it was used on my much loved and vintage craft cupboard, where panels of old pine where removed in favour of this more rustic and country look.

Today I am combining chicken wire with fresh cut flowers to create simple flower arrangements and so to start, take your chosen ‘vase’ and carefully so as to not cut your hands, manipulate a piece of chicken wire to fit snugly. Then add a generous amount of water.

For the next stage I suggest a floaty french linen dress, straw hat and a trug as you waft around your garden snipping pretties to your heart’s content. Work with haste since these delicate pickings require water quickly lest they should wilt in our current climate. Oh and you’ll need a selection of greenery too.

Begin with your chosen greenery, covering all the visible chicken wire and soften edges of your pretty pot by allowing the foliage to spill over in appropriate places. Then choose your colour or flower theme and begin placing the fresh cut flowers where you like, keeping height and width in mind as you go.

Soon you will end up with a charming display like this. These simple flower arrangements are a quick and wonderfully rewarding way to show off your fresh cut flowers, especially when you get to use your vintage bits that often sit there empty.

They look particularly striking when paired with other vintage finds as seen here in a recent faffing exercise..

And there you have it, a simply delightful way to offer structure to a selection of the more delicate fresh cut flowers in your summer garden. Now I’m off to play and create some more displays in just this way since I have friends and family visiting soon. If you try any yourself do be sure to tag my Instagram account and let us know in the comments box below, how you got on. I love to hear if you are inspired by this or any other ideas from the blog and do pop by next week for a quick read if you get the chance x

If you are interested, there are more simple flower arrangement ideas to be found here and here on my blog