Vintage Rose Planter

Celebrating Chelsea flower show and a nice surprise for A Bunch Of Wild

Hello my flower loving friends, I’m celebrating the roses in my garden this month, they smell as good as they look! I love English roses! Their floppy blooms and raggedy appearance as they start to wilt I find all the more enchanting. I love a perfectly imperfect rose. And as it’s the start of The Chelsea Flower Show today-hence the rain, I thought it was a fitting tribute. I also had a lovely surprise last weekend, whilst I was perusing the interior books in Waterstones I happened upon a copy of the new Cabbages & Roses book - A Life In Fabric and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw A Bunch Of Wilds name in print, in the floral accounts to follow! What a lovely thing to stumble upon. I’ve long been an admirer of Cabbages & Roses fabrics so I’m very honoured! Anyway, about the roses…

I decided to make a statement of picking the roses that would normally be considered past their best for an arrangement. I’d chosen an antique planter and wanted to create something that matched the faded elegance. As it’s a table piece I want the arrangement low so people can talk over it and admire it without it getting in the way.

I started by lining the bottom with an old bag (pond liner would do), then I scrunched up some left over chicken wire from building the coop and pushed that into place, it stays put so you don’t need to fix it. You could also use a grid work of floristry tape over the top.

I removed most of the leaves from the flowers as I find the green can sometimes dull the appearance of the arrangement and I wanted the roses to be the star of the show.

Placing the roses in a haphazard way, I don’t want this too formal or perfect looking. I like flowers to tumble over the edges to give a more natural and softer appearance, like they’re tumbling and rambling in a garden border. I use small dainty flowers to fill the gaps and add another texture- like cow parsley and geraniums, things that are airy and tangle beautifully thus keeping the arrangement on the wilder untamed side than prissy and formal. I believe arrangements should be a continued form from the cottage garden beds as though they are still growing.

I’ve used a selection of roses from Gertrude Jekyll (deep pink), Desdemona (white), Wisley (pale pink) and the smallest one is an unknown gift dug up from my mother in laws garden.

Threaded through are cow parsley, erigeron and geranium.

The vintage planter may eventually work it’s way into my shop when I can bare to part with it, for now I’ll remain its custodian a little while longer.

Emma x