Gleaner's bouquet #1: tiny & blue...

Flowers can quickly become a pricey habit... The downside to not working in a shop is that you don't usually have flowers around unless they're spoken for. And this means that opportunities for experimentation can become few and far apart... This summer, I started scouring alleys/abandoned lots/parks in my neighborhood for interesting bits of green. The results became Gleaner's bouquet, pieces where all (or almost) the flowers come from around my house. I found enough goodies to keep me satisfied, creativity wise, without having to go to the wholesaler's at all. Single stems from the farmer's market, an hour each week spent "harvesting", and I was busy as a bee... I kept some notes on how things fared in water, their vase life, and how suitable they would be for arrangements next summer.

These guys feature kale, wine grapes (and their amazing little tentacles...), myositis, rosehips... As well as one green gladiola and two dahlias from the market.

Everything then went into these cute pots I found at a yard sale, a creamer/sugar set.