DESICCATED BLACKBERRY, TETE A TETE, GOOSE GRASS
Foraged botanical treasure in a Japanese tea-bowl featuring intricate bramble stems with the desiccated, rusty berries still clinging to thorny branches.
FEBRUARY
INGREDIENTS
Rubus fruticosus (blackberry)
Hedera helix (ivy)
Primula veris (cowslip)
Narcissus 'Tête-à-tête' (dwarf daffodil)
Iris reticulata ‘Katherine’s Gold’ (netted iris)
Elymus repens (couch grass)
Galium aparine (goose grass)
Sphagnum girgensohnii (peat moss)
VASE
Japanese hand-painted tea-bowl (approx. 10cm diameter)
Kenzan
NOTES
Flower arranging in miniature - an experiment! Using the first radiant yellow flowers, their stem-length not exceeding 15 centimetres, I search the cutting garden for interesting seasonal ingredients to combine them with and find them at the periphery - wispy grasses, trails of ivy and a perfectly preserved dried blackberry bramble leftover from the autumn. Always worth a quick scan of the hedgerow.
A tip: use a small handful of moss to conceal your flower frog or chicken wire supporting the taller stems. It makes for a fragrant, textural ‘filler’.