Fresh Flowers Will Make You So Happy for Summer

Fresh flowers! They’re so beautiful! And right now in early summer, our garden is overflowing!

I went out the other day and picked armloads from the yard. Roses, iris, rhododendrons, and those little white ‘Snow on the Mountain’ blooms.

These outdoor pictures were taken after I had already picked my armloads, and look how many are still left!

I do have to admit, this post is really only a thinly veiled flower fest!

But as well as just flower gazing, you can get some ideas about ways to decorate with them. Whether from your garden, from the florist, or from the store, fresh flowers are an easy way to add lovliness to your home!

I often take my vase out in the yard with me when I pick my fresh flowers. But this time I was going to wait to decide how to arrange them until I got them all inside. So, I just took out anything that would hold water! I ended up with an interesting assortment, as you can see above.

Fresh Flowers as Props

Before I arranged them, I used some of the flowers as props for photos.

For instance, this yellow rose. It went so perfectly with this yellow flowered teacup! If you’ve been following along for a while, you might know that I have a real love affair with teacups.

I do a thing on Instagram called Teacup Tuesday. That’s where I get to post pictures of my teacups (and my neighbors’ teacups!) every Tuesday.

A lot of times, I use a teacup as kind of a starting point in my mind. It might spark a room design, a weaving color scheme, a memory, or just a fun idea.

So the yellow, peach, and pink roses, and the Snow on the Mountains all got photographed before I arranged them in vases.

Fresh Flowers in Vases

And what a great time I had doing the arranging! I made quite a mess, but that’s part of the fun!

Plus I got to choose a different vase for each arrangement. You can really use just about anything you want for a vase. (Even if it doesn’t hold water, you can put the fresh flowers in a glass and put the glass in your container.)

For instance, this batch of pink and blush roses got the silver wine bucket. I just think these two varieties are so lovely with silver. And even though I do like it really shiny, I also love the patina of a not-shiny look. Perfect for the casual elegance of garden roses.

I still had some of the creamy roses left, so they went into this darling bowl and pitcher set my mom made me.

The two peachy blooms were perfect in this slim marble vase. I set them out here on the porch with the intention of settling down with some tea. And also one of my favorite books, French Country Cottage! It’s written by an amazing blogger and photographer, Courtney Allison. Her French Country Cottage blog was one of my first inspirations!

Changing Your Mind

But while the flowers looked pretty on the porch, I thought we needed a larger arrangement there after all.

That’s the great thing about fresh flower arrangements – you can move them around anywhere you want. As an example, one time I carted a single rose bud with me from room to room all day!

And what happened to the iris, you may be asking?

Why of course, they ended up on the mantel in a lovely copper pitcher I’ve had for ever! I stacked a few purple books to highlight the color, and created a nice fresh flower vignette. (Don’t ask me why the candle holders are at such a rakish angle in this photo. I promise they were straight when I took the picture!)

Flower Varieties in My Garden

These beautiful iris were here when we bought our house. They grow probably 3 feet tall, and have the loveliest scent! Even though they really only last a couple days inside or out, I love them in the house. I believe they’re a German re-blooming variety. They multiply every year and don’t need any special care.

One of my favorite roses on the planet is David Austin’s Gertrude Jekyll! Even with its thorny thorns, it is absolutely stunning on the bush, in bouquets, or singly. And the fragrance is gorgeous. The classic Old Rose scent will remind you of your grandmother’s garden. Even if she didn’t have one!

Pearly Gates is another climber that I so love. It has a delicate spicy fragrance and almost no thorns. It’s a little difficult to find these days. But I found a place that says they’ll have them in stock soon!

I got this lovely rose from some dear friends as a going away present when I left the company we all worked for. I actually still see those friends often, so I feel a little like I got it under false pretenses. But I’m keeping it anyway.

And then, we have this peachy beauty, “Just Joey.” This was another gift, this time from my sister in law. That lovely lady, besides having a husband who also grows gorgeous roses, has a glassware collection that’s second to none! You can read about the time I set her table using their beautifully elegant china in this post.

Although I have other flowering plants in my garden, I’ll save those for another time. I hope you’ve enjoyed wandering, virtually, through my garden with me. And I hope you got some fresh flower arranging and decorating ideas too!

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Click on the pictures for links to pieces I used in this post. If the exact item isn’t available any more, I chose a similar option.

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