Bouquet of the Week: Flowers For My Imaginary Fireplace
As part of our recurring Bouquet of the Week series, Garden Collage continues to present a weekly inspirational bouquet that incorporates intriguing new elements into the traditional practice of floral design. This week, Garden Collage Illustrator Jessy Scarpone styles a bouquet for her “imaginary fireplace”.
As the leaves peel away from the trees, and the bare branches start to reveal their true twisty selves, there’s nothing more I want to do than to retreat to my home – or, as I like to call it, my cave. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a softy when it comes to cold weather – it’s just not my “thing”. Nevermind the 25 years I’ve spent living in areas where we get to experience winter for five or more months out of the year.
To combat the icy winds and gray skies, I like to make my home/cave a place of total comfort and bliss. And to me, the absolute pinnacle of these things is a fireplace. Never having a fireplace growing up, I constantly asked my mom to just, “you know, cut a hole for a chimney, and set one up”. Apparently it’s not that easy. Being an imaginative person, I found ways to invent my own fireplace, though I can’t attest to how believable they actually were.
Seeing as I have yet to settle in to an apartment with my own fireplace, I’ve kept this tradition of make-shift mantles alive. After all, it’s not necessarily about the fireplace itself, more so about creating an inviting space in your home that feels cozy and warm. Thus inspiring my bouquet this week: a centerpiece for my imaginary fireplace.
As any fireplace owner (imaginary or real) knows, it’s especially important to decorate the mantle with greenery in the colder months. Doing so brings some life into your home at a time when it can look so dreary outside. I chose eucalyptus for its calming scent, and because I just love the shape of its little round leaves. The cabbage and blue berry-like branches reminded me of something you’d have on your dinner table at a family feast, and what’s more comforting than a meal with loved ones. I threw in some blue thistle because it seems I was subconsciously channeling a blue theme (echoed in the soft blue hues of the Pulpo vase), and their spiky texture always seems playful to me. Finally, I couldn’t resist the protea, which has been my recent flower obsession-– the fuzzy petals kind of channel a warm blanket (not to mention, I’m a self-professed pink enthusiast). I couldn’t resist scattering some pinecones and a few sprigs of the berry branches around to extend the bouquet outside of the vase– to me, a mantle should never be too neat or spotless. And of course, no mantle/cozy space would be complete without a few candles for good measure.
