Blue and yellow flowers were the natural choice for an arrangement this week. It's a small way to signify support for the Ukrainian people in light of the aggressive, unprovoked actions taken by a malicious foreign dictator intent on reconstructing his country's former empire rather than focusing on addressing the economic performance issues within his country's current boundaries, which despite its vast natural resources has a significantly lower GDP than my home state of California. I have vivid recollections of my mother's heated views of that country's treatment of Finland, her parents' homeland. The history of the Winter War, fought by the Finns when the Soviet Union invaded their country in 1939, suggests parallels to the current conflict in Ukraine. Russia's leaders appear to be following a similar playbook and I can only hope this latest invasion of Ukraine ends as quickly as the Winter War did - with an equivalent hit to the invading country's international reputation. My mother always said the Finns fought against incredible odds because they had sisu. From what I've seen and heard of the current conflict, Ukrainians have sisu too.
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| I sacrificed the first of my Iris hollandica blooms to this arrangement, as well as two of the first open flowers of Leucospermum 'Goldie' |
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| Back view: The flowers of Aristea inaequalis lend height to the arrangement, although the flowers close as light wanes |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Anemone coronaria, Aristea inaequalis, noID Ceanothus, Freesia, Iris hollandica 'Sapphire Beauty', and Leucospermum 'Goldie' |
As it's spring here, regardless of what the calendar says, I have a second arrangement too.
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| The Freesias, which are hitting their stride, inspired this arrangement, although they ended up in the background when I cut a stem of Helleborus 'Blue Lady' |
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Back view: The white Freesias, discovered in an area in which I don't remember planting any bulbs, have a faint lavender-pink tinge
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| Top view: The Scilla peruviana (aka Portuguese squill) was cut for the first arrangement but its short stem left it eclipsed by the taller flowers there so I moved it to this arrangement |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Freesias in blue and blush colors, Helleborus 'Blue Lady', Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Deep Blue', Scilla peruviana, and Osteospermum '4D Silver' |
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All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
