The Lilac and the Rose

One of the many brilliant things about being a Flower Friends flower arranger is not knowing what blooms we will get from one week to the next, making it both creatively exciting and hair raising at the same time. Will we get enough focal flowers, fillers and foliage in the variety of colours, forms and textures that will cause a swell in the heart of the lonely and isolated, the physically or mentally disabled residents whom we serve?

This week I woke one day to find that a trusty volunteer from Queens Park had deposited her entire lilac hedge on my doorstep, and I mean that literally:) – tripping me up in a cloud of pale lavender florets sprinkled with pale pink Clematis and wistful white Forsythia, with a single gorgeous deep apricot rose that took a mere 24 hours to open from bud to a blaze of full blown show off beauty!

Not long afterwards, this was followed by another lilac deposit from Kensal Rise – puffs of deep purple red, packed out with sleepy bluebells and perky forget-me-nots, the latter dazzling me with wavelengths of between 450-495 nanometers, apparently:))

Thank you to lovely Christine and Victoria 🙂 x

The thing about lilacs is their intoxicating scent, which we hoped would entrance the carers who would receive our bouquets this week. Flower Friends are committed to giving flowers to carers every month to show our appreciation for the amazing job they do and the wonderful care they give to people, often in very challenging circumstances and with modest pay.  

So, as I gathered up armfuls of these heavenly flowers and thought about what combination of foliage would go well with them – the variegated Euonymus, Pittosporum, wavy Heuchera or deep green bay leaves – I sang the words of ‘Lilac Wine’ by Jeff Buckley, adapting them in preparation for the floral task ahead.