The Laughter of the Flowers

This woven basket of cut flowers from the garden contains all you need to create wild beautiful displays of natures bounty. All you need to add is a container and water. I absolutely adore going out in my yard and cutting blooms, leaves and any interesting foliage to assemble home grown flower arrangements. I got hooked 18 years ago when we moved into our first house. After years of living in a townhouse our first neighborhood yard felt like a state park. I took tons of books out of the library and perused magazine after magazine and started our first "cutting" garden. I have been hooked ever since and my gardening (as well as my animal exploits) have caused my husband to label me "a hearty woman." Somehow the imagery created by that "endearment" is not flattering. Anyway, this time of year excites me for it is pay dirt...literarily.

Purples,

oranges, fuchsias,

pinks,

and yellows

as well as all shades in between are blooming prolifically. It is as if winter had bound up these pale lifeless living objects to resemble the dead and then Spring has caused them to erupt in wild abandon.

Beauty is in the eye of every flower and its beholder.

One can bring this wild burst of an art palette inside quite easily. All you need is a scissors to cut the blooms, a container or two and some fresh water. I love free from arrangements and quite often I just stick the cut blooms in water after stripping off the leaves that will be submerged below the water line.

You can do an arrangement with all the same bloom in various shades. (Peonies)

This bouquet contains two shades of purple from Russian Sage and Salvia, punctuated by a small pop of yellow from Knockout Roses and Hosta leaves.

This one is a riot of color from Honeysuckle vine, Ladies Mantle, Peonies and Pea shoots.

All of these were assembled from the first basket of flowers that I pictured at the beginning of this post and literally took five minutes (once I found the containers).

"The Earth laughs in flowers."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why don't you go out and pick a handful so you can join in the laughter?

~Meg