Celebrating April's wayward flowers!

What is the saying about April showers bringing flowers? It is proving to be a most abundant month with tulips and ranunculus stealing the show for me! I am full of anticipation for the later arrivals that slip into my collection buckets up at the flower farm…a few poppies, waiting to be peeled before they unfurl, lacy orlaya waiting to stretch tall, delicate wisps of azure forget-me-nots desperate to join in.

Tulip myths and magic

The tulips have been extraordinary this year, although my grower friends tell me the lack of a cold winter has perhaps kept them a little shorter than usual. I can’t get enough of the double varieties that turn their heads to the sun and unravel petal upon petal, as if competing with the peonies that come next month.

Lots of people ask me how to keep tulips upright, sharing tales about copper pennies in water or pins through the top of the stem to let out air bubbles. Perhaps they are right, but for me the joy of tulips comes in their waywardness. Tulips keep on growing after they have been cut, they seek out the sun and warmth (don’t we all) and do their own special dance in the vase. For me, they work best in a bowl where their curves add interest, where their movement is something to celebrate rather than curtail.

And then we have the glory of the ranunculus; a member of the buttercup family their name means little frog, perhaps because they naturally grow beside ponds and shallows. They are stunning in their intensity of colours and layers of frills…and their wiggly stems add interest to arrangements, just like those tulips. Their vase life is brilliant too.

Preparing your april flowers

So, if you pick up an April flower wrap from me you are very likely to see tulips and ranunculus. They will have been conditioned, but it is often helpful to cut off a centimeter of stem at an angle so they can have a really good drink (don’t angle if you intend to use a flower frog to secure stems in your arrangements as they are better cut flat.) If you still have some fancy daffodils around, but all means add them, but cut to length and condition in water overnight on their own – their sap accelerates the decay of other flowers. Narcissus was so obsessed with his beauty he had to be the star after all.

Arranging wayward flowers!

This month’s arrangement truly celebrates these two flowers, with some added interest from some gorgeous (alarmingly named) Snakes Head fritillary and late hellebores (which last well once the seed head has set). I have chosen a vintage vase (an ebay find) with scrunched up chicken wire for the mechanics. I wanted a footed vase so I could allow the flowers to do their thing and drape over the edges! I have kept most of the ranunculus short stemmed, clustered in the middle for impact (I mean, orange and pink, the drama, the joy!) and created the shape by following the direction given to me by the stems themselves (avoid the temptation to force them to do anything else). You will see I have created a ‘waist’ where they dip into the ranunculas. It is deliberately asymmetrical, draping more one side than another. Of course, it won’t stay that way as the tulips grow and boogie on out of their assigned place. I reckon they are as excited by spring as me!