Don't kiss the flower frog...

Don’t kiss these frogs….not one Prince will appear.  Before the invention of Oasis floral foam, flower frogs of all sorts were the beginnings of every arrangement. In the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s, these holders for the stems of cut flowers often took fantastic forms and were as pretty as the flowers themselves.

Stems were inserted in the holes provided.  Although some of them actually were frogs, they all were called frogs because they sat in the water.  They were made of ceramic, metal and glass and can be found on Ebay, Etsy and other sites.

Today’s utilitarian pin flower holders have many sharp needles on which to impale a stem.  They, too, come in many shapes and sizes.   Some above have a cup to hold the water.  The plastic one, right front, has suction cups so it can sit in a tight spot.

These lead holders were wonderful gifts.  Artistically shaped into bouquets of wonderful leaves, they are made of lead and very heavy.  They have neither individual holes or needles so the stems slip into the spaces between the leaves which is excellent for tulips or other bulbs and branches which don't like to be in oasis. 

Why not let them take center stage and do the work (see "The vase stands alone" July)?  I have placed them on an asymmetrical steel tray that is deep enough to hold some water, allowing one floating gardenia to fill the air with that amazing fragrance.

Substituting clematis for the gardenia allows the vine to move among the holders.  This close-up shows the turtle holder.  What would fit in that?  Hyacinth or other fat stems?

Moving everything to a large celadon shallow bowl (invaded by an iron bug),  I have used the beautiful patterns of coleus leaves to create some rich color.  They look even more beautiful underwater which makes the color sing.

Sometime I will try and kiss, er, use the frogs for flowers!  

Cheers!

When pot meets fleur

As fans of Nancy Meyer’s movie "The Holiday" know, a script writer’s ‘meet cute’ is when an unusual situation throws two people together who ordinarily might not meet. 

Our horticultural ‘meet cute’ pairs rooted plants, in or out of their pots, together with cut flowers in one arrangement.  This kind of arrangement can last a long time, with occasional changes of the cut flowers.  Of course, the trick is regularly watering the plants!

These potted plants come from the supermarket, the nursery and the farm stand.  From back clockwise,  purple leaf Sedum, ivy, maidenhair fern and ornamental purple peppers. 

The maidenhair fern has been taken out of its pot and put in a plastic bag with the soil level left open for watering.  Do provide some protection from overwatering leaks in the form of baggies over the pots. 

Choose a large container.  This wooden box is 12” deep so almost everyplant needs something to perch on.  A shallower basket, bowl or box would not require so many extra mechanics! 

Clockwise, a Tupperware cylinder with a pin holder,  oasis, a plastic container upside down and piece of dry oasis.

Later I added more pieces of Styrofoam and  two water filled jars.





This is an ad hoc kind of presentation - anything can be used as the 'container'.  The new Crate & Barrel catalogue has lots of interesting baskets that would suit this.  Salad bowls or planters or window boxes would be fine.  If the container isn't as deep as the one above, you avoid having to fiddle with all the hidden pieces.

However, my box = my fiddling.  Looking at it from the rear, the plants are lined up with the container of water (with one gladiola stem) behind them.

Add the gladiola stems in the pin holder in the container plus any other flowers in the oasis.  In between the plants and the cut materials, put  moss or other filler to hid gaps and all the plastic and the pots.

Here you are looking at the front of the box and can see the entire 'back' row of the box, styrofoam plants, jars of cut stems and moss hiding containers.

 I decided I didn't like the messy thread-like brown eucalyptus in the right front of the box (first picture) and substituted a creeping fig plant from the supermarket.  In doing so I changed the order of the plants.

Here is the pot et fleur with the changes to the group of materials.  What was missing (picture one) is a cohesion of all the different colors and textures into one unit.  This is a little better.   Have fun with this!

Cheers!