Sunday, May 13, 2007

Happy Mothers' Day!

Or, WHAT TO DO WITH FLOWERS FROM THE GAS STATION.

Along with a doughnut and the Sunday paper in bed, my family presented me with a colorful chrysanthemum bouquet. I'm sure the Texaco florist didn't realize that 3 stalks of magenta, yellow, and white blooms will never blend into one harmonious arrangement. I took a few moments after church to separate and rearrange the stems. Here's how:

I put the one white flowered stalk into a cobalt blue bud vase, along with three tall fern fronds. The foliage is one reason I buy a potted fern each summer.

Next, the yellow flowers. I trimmed the short flower stems from the lower stalk, leaving the top cluster intact. Then I filled this blue-and-white sugar bowl with delicate stems from the mystery shrub in my back yard. The bouquet came with one feathery golden clump, so I added it to one side. Keep like colors together.

The last one is my favorite. I had one stalk of magenta mums left. I thought their jewel tone would contrast well against this teal pottery vase. But what filler could balance the lone stalk against such a heavy container? Andrew's salad garden is growing more than we can eat, so I picked a few ruffled lettuce leaves to round out the base.

Now I can enjoy three vases of flowers for the price of one! Plus, I had the pleasure of making something more pleasing to the eye. What more can a mom want?

9 comments:

Marie said...

Leave it to you to frugal your flowers! :)

Mom2fur said...

Great job! I could see all three together, myself. Well, I'd leave my daughter to do it for me--she's a florist with a 'magic touch.' I swear she can make weeds look good.
Happy Mother's Day to you! Speaking of plants...my kids gave me a huge pot with an herb garden in it. Parsely, sage, rosemary and thyme, LOL! And oregano--hey, it's an Italian house.

Stephanie Appleton said...

I am always amazed at pretty you make things. I'm good at practical, not so much at beautiful. Those are lovely! Happy Mother's Day!

Anonymous said...

I think I got the same bouquet! I made two different arrangements out of it and am enjoying them immensely (along with my FREE lilac snippets from the neighbor's yard). Happy Mother's Day Meredith! :)

Anonymous said...

I did not get flowers this year. Yours are beautiful though. I love how you made 3 different arrangments from the flowers. What a great idea. You can have flowers in 3 different rooms.

I love your blog. It is wonderful. Thank you for sharing your ideas with all of us.

This is Roxie in Texas.

Anonymous said...

I like both; I could see the bouquet together, too and I also like "like" colors sometimes!
:)
Enjoying browsing your blog!
Mine is sassykat1213 at xanga, if you're interested!
Kat

Meredith said...

I recommend "like colors" for amateur flower arrangements because it's a lot easier to get a pleasing arrangment that way.

I agree that the bright yellow and magenta could go together if you had more than one stalk of each. Put them in the same vase, and you have one purple side and one yellow side--that doesn't work at all!

Damselfly said...

Three bouquets in one! Beautiful!

Happy Mother's Day.

Lucy said...

that's so great, Meredith. I hate those sorts of garage bouquets and actually generally only like bought bouquets of one colour, although I love garden bouquets of whatever comes to hand. I love how you got three totally different looks and the magenta/lettuce one is ace!