When you're given flowers do you tend to just plonk the bunch in the nearest vase? Florist Paula Pryke wants to change all that and has brought out a new book Flower School, with step by step guides to all sorts of arrangements.
Paula gives Woman's Hour reporter Louise Adamson a master class.
Flower School by Paula Pryke, published by Jacqui Small LLP - ISBN: 1903221374
Step by step instructions: Spring arrangement (pictured)
You will need 20 stems of pussy willow; 5 stems of Viburnum opulus 'Roseum'; a bunch of Camellia japonica; 5 stems of Hyacinthus orientalis 'Annalisa'; 10 stems of Veronica ' Dark Martje'; 5 stems of lilac (Syringa vulgaris ' Dark Koster'); 10 stems of Anemone coronaria ' Mona Lisa Blue'; 10 stems pf Ranunculus ranobelle ' Inra Wit'; 10 stems of Tulipa ' Negritta'; a bunch of Senecio greyii; a bunch of ivy (Hedera helix); a 30-cm straight-sided glass bowl; 2 blocks of floral foam.
What to do 1. Wind the pussy willow round the inside edge of the glass dish. Place one block of soaked oasis into the centre of the bowl and cut the other into two halves and place around the side so that it fits snugly and the oasis is a few centimetres above the edge of the glass container. 2. green up the floral foam by using the small sprigs of the 3 varieties of the foliage, making sure they all radiate from the central point of the arrangement.
3. Next add the five stems of Viburnum opulus and lilac and then the more delicate spring flowers such as the hyacinths, tulips and veronica.
4. Finally add the anemones, placing them at different heights and depths throughout the arrangement.
Spring arrangement taken from Flower school by Paula Pryke
