Flower Arranging: Nikki Tibbles Gets Spring Ready

Now that we’re nearing blossom and bulb season, Nikki Tibbles advises us on the best way to display them at home.

March is an incredibly exciting time for anyone who loves floristry and gardening, or anyone who loves nature. It may even be my favourite time of the year. At the beginning of the month I can look for the first snowdrops emerging from the frozen ground – often also daffodil bulbs and narcissi – depending on the severity of the previous year’s winter elements. By mid-March London streets and country lanes alike are bursting with gorgeous, fragrant blossoms.

Seeing blossom trees against bluer and milder skies each day is a precious reminder that warmer days are on the way. This feeling is one to cherish every year, but this year even more than most. The end of lockdown is in sight and it feels like something of a rebirth, mirrored by precious joys of nature renewing all around us.

Wherever you live and even if you aren’t lucky enough to have a garden, you can observe blossom trees – and if you do have the chance to walk to a nearby park or even woodland or forested area you will be able to observe some of British spring’s prettiest varieties. Look out for Crab Apple, noticeable by its magenta flowers, Pink Shell with its delicate cup-shaped pink flowers and the Shirotae cherry blossom bearing generous fluffy white flowers and a light citrus scent.

Blossoms are not only beautiful to our eyes, they are a crucial part of the ecosystem as an early source of pollen and nectar for bees, which you will begin to see more frequently this month and next. Blossom petals begin to fall from their boughs in mid-April, so like so many things in floristry their beauty is preciously short-lived.

I’m lucky enough to have a magnolia tree in my garden, which begins to bear its pretty pink and wonderfully fragrant flower heads at the beginning of the month and is at its most glorious when approaching April. I like to prune a branch or two from the tree to bring inside, and display them in a vase somewhere at the entrance of my home. It reminds me every time I enter that Spring is here, and it’s such a wonderfully dramatic and impactful welcome.

When displaying flowers and plants at home I always love to play with scale, so at this time of year I am contrasting my delightful large branches of blossom with small potted bulbs of varieties just beginning to grow to their glorious full size. Dotted around my kitchen & living area at the moment sit sweet little pots of narcissi and hyacinth, wrapped in hessian. I take great joy in watching them grow at the same slow yet steady pace that the evenings become longer and the air warmer. You can now order your own potted bulbs in hessian from the Wild at Heart direct to your door. They are an incredible mood booster, and make wonderful gifts.

Featured Image: Unsplash

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