Slow Flowers. Debra Prinzing

heights. All you see are the plump, fuzzy buds, quite noticeable since I plucked off the glossy green leaves. The composition is now modern and stylish – anything but ordinary.

      Ingredients:

      12 stems red tulips and 10 stems yellow tulips, grown by Alm Hill Gardens

      6 stems curly willow (Salix matsudana ‘Tortuosa’), grown by Oregon Coastal Flowers

      8 stems Camellia japonica, from my garden

      Vase:

      5-inch tall x 6-inch diameter matte green urn with handles

      From the Farmer

      Water lovers: Unlike most floral design ingredients, tulips and willow branches seem to keep growing in a vase of water. You’ll notice that the tulip stems elongate a little each day. Some designers prefer to take the arrangement apart and re-cut the lengthened stems, but I like to observe the changes that occur. Willow is a water-loving plant, so you may discover that it sprouts tiny white roots under water and that small green leaves will push open, as if it is growing in soil. Enjoy a few days of this ever-changing dynamic.

      SPRING | WEEK 2

       ZEN IN BLOOM

      THIS DESIGN TECHNIQUE ALLOWS YOU to showcase a single type of flower, with added interest from a sculptural twig framework. Fifteen just-picked daffodil stems fill a 6-inch cube vase. They are held in place by tightly-packed dogwood twigs that are lashed together with twine.

      To make this design, start with a square or rectangular vase. Pour a layer of decorative pebbles into the bottom. Then line up several dozen twigs, cut to length so they completely cover the vase opening and rest on opposite edges of its rim. You may need sharp pruners to snip the twigs.

      Secure the twigs with a loop of twine-wrapped wire, tied around the vase like a ribbon on a gift. Twine-wrapped wire is ideal for this step because it can be twisted taut and secure (you will need wire cutters to trim the pieces). Depending on the size of your vase, you will need to secure the twigs in two or three places.

      Fill the vase with water before adding the flowers. Then insert the flower stems between the twigs, staggering their placement row by row. The tension holds the flowers erect. I used the classic trumpet-shaped daffodil, which was in bud when this arrangement was first made. Over the next several days, the flowers slowly opened, as if they were a living sculpture. There’s a restful, Zen-like quality to this very simple floral presentation.

      Ingredients:

      15 stems common daffodils, from my garden

      Multiple lengths of coral-pink twig dogwood, cut approximately 2 inches wider than the vase opening. Any straight, woody branch will work, including vine maple, pussy willow or the colorful twig dogwood (Cornus sanguinea or C. sericea)

      Vase:

      6-inch tall x 6-inch square glass vase (this design adapts to any square or rectangular glass vase)

      Other supplies:

      Decorative pebbles

      Twine-wrapped wire (available at craft stores in natural or green)

      Design 101

      Borrow inspiration: The idea for this bouquet came from a project featured in Design, a publication of The Flower Arranging Study Group of the Garden Club of America. Whenever you’re inspired by another designer’s technique, it’s important to give it your own twist rather than make a direct copy. For example, the original creation used florist’s foam inside the container, but I found it unnecessary, especially since the pebbles and twigs are enough to hold the daffodil stems in place.

      SPRING | WEEK 3

       BEAUTY FROM BRANCHES

      MY FRIEND LORENE EDWARDS FORKNER arrived for lunch holding a huge tangle of olive-green branches. “I pruned my Kerria japonica,” she pronounced, not to show off her superior knowledge of botanical Latin nomenclature, but because this unusual shrub doesn’t have a common name. The branches were bare when Lorene cut them, but having grown this plant myself in the past, I knew what was to come! I found a vase tall enough to hold the stems and also added some recently-cut branches from a flowering quince shrub.

      After several days indoors near a sunny window, the wintry branches woke up. Their tiny buds opened into delicate flowers, giving me more than a week’s worth of happiness. The Kerria is one of those unruly shrubs that can respond well to aggressive pruning. Its spring trimmings are an ideal floral element. The flowering quince grows much slower, but it will eventually require pruning, giving you more branches to force indoors.

      As they open, I notice the similarity of the two different flowers. They resemble tiny rosebuds, which is not so surprising, since both Kerria and Chaenomeles, the quince, are in the Rosaceae plant family.

      The buttercup-yellow buds and the dark coral flowers seem to dance together, supported by the wild-looking branches. Back-lit by the morning light, their dreamy quality takes my breath away.

      Ingredients:

      Kerria japonica ‘Variegata’, which has white-edge leaves

      Flowering quince (Chaenomeles x superba), available in coral, red, pink or white

      Vase:

      17-inch tall x 7-inch diameter cream urn. This is my go-to vase for last-minute arrangements and it is tall enough to handle the branches, which are nearly three feet long.

      From the Farmer

      Jump-start spring: Many flowering shrubs and trees are suitable for indoor forcing. In addition to Kerria and quince, you can cut the bare branches of forsythia, witch hazel and numerous fruit trees. Harvest branches when their buds begin to swell, taking care to use proper pruning techniques. Re-cut the stems on a 45-degree angle and place them in a vase of clean water. Over time, the buds will respond to your home’s warmer temperature and begin to flower. Be sure to change the water as you would with any floral arrangement.

      SPRING | WEEK 4

       CHOCOLATE-AND-VANILLA

      WHENEVER I USE Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’ in a floral arrangement, it prompts the inevitable question: “What is that dark fern?”

      An ornamental cousin of the herb chervil, Anthriscus is actually a purple-black perennial or biennial that’s inclined to self-sow a little too aggressively in the garden (unless you remember to deadhead the dill-like flowers before they go to seed). As a sultry ingredient that contrasts beautifully with a white vase and white blooms, it’s a favorite of mine.

      The distinct leaves do have a fern-like appearance, and they lend a graphic pop to my white-footed dish and the fluffy white flowers from my friend Charlotte Behnke’s Viburnum tinus hedge.

      While this design could be top-heavy in such a shallow vessel, it works because I filled the square dish with a loosely formed piece of chicken wire. Shaped like a mushroom cap, the wire can be secured inside the vase with reusable florist clay or floral tape. It acts like a large, malleable flower frog to hold the woody branches and herbaceous stems in place.

      Insert