Seeds from The Balcony Gardener

The Balcony Gardener was started by Isabelle Palmer about three years ago. Her company sells a collection of pots, seeds, planters, tools, plants, garden furniture and other garden related items for the small garden. Recently she has some new limited edition seed packets that would make a lovely gift for the keen gardener.

Isabelle has also written a book called The Balcony Gardener - full of inspirational ides for the balcony, patio, roof terrace or window sill. 

It looks lovely but I have yet to get myself a copy - maybe something for Christmas?

The seed packets are all striking and are designed by Jesse Harris, who is a recent graduate from Edinburgh College of Art. The edible flower mix pack has a graphic geometric pattern, the butterfly mix of seeds has a print inspired by ikat fabric and butterflies. The wild flower pack has fun animal print and the scented flower one has colourful painterly flowers.   

 Each packet has a different mix of seeds.

The Scented Garden mix contains Night Scented Stock, Nicotiana Sensation, Mignonette, Dianthus Chin, Evening Primrose, Heliotropium and Stock Virginia.

 The Butterfly Garden mix contains Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Buttercup Meadow, Campion Bladder, Clover Crimson, Clover Red, Clover White, Daisy Oxeye, Evening Primrose, Hawkbit, Honesty, Hyssop, Knapweed, Lucerne Mallow Musk, Marjoram, Mustard Garlic, Purple-Loosestrife, Ragged Robin, Rocket sweet, Scabious, Selfheal, Soapwort, St John’s Wort, Valerian Red and Viper’s Bugloss.

 The Edible Flower Garden mix contains Borage, Calendula, Chives, Cornflower Polka Dot, Viola and Nasturtium.

The Wildflower Garden mix contains Corn Chamomile, Corncockle, Cornflower, Corn Marigold, Common Poppy and Oxeye Daisy.

I am all set for next spring and I am very much looking forward to trying out my new seed mixtures. With some luck I will have  lots of colour, scent and butterflies in my garden next summer.

If you want to keep up-to-date with The Balcony Gardener she also has a blog, is on Facebook and on Twitter.

Have a wonderful floral day!

xoxo Ingrid

(Images: Ingrid Henningsson and The Balcony Gardener)

Flowers and Poetry

Instagram and iPhone 4s, a photo by Of Spring and Summer on Flickr.

Beauty x 2 - flowers and poetry. Stock flowers and vintage Pelican books from 1945.
I am having lots of fun using my iPhone and Instagram.

Flowers for the Weekend

Playing in my "studio" with pink and white stock flowers. I bought the beautiful flowers at the local farmers market.

I also folded up a piece of floral fabric that had a similar colour to the pink stock and I stuck  it to the table top with some washi tape. A nice way of edging an unfinished piece of fabric as a temporary little table cloth.   

I love the texture of the stock petals - a bit ruffled, wrinkly and veined.

Slightly imperfect but still very beautiful.

I am using a French white vintage enamelled container as a vase. The writing on it is charming and I love using really anything that holds water and that does not rust.

Condition the flowers when you get them home by cutting the ends off and putting them in water for a while before arranging them. The flowers will last a lot longer with a little care.

If you need more advise about how to take care of your cut flowers click on the tab at the top of my blog labelled FLOWER ARRANGING TIPS. There are lots to read on how to look after your cut flowers.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo Ingrid

Playing with Tulips

Beautiful flowers, pretty floral china, colourful fabrics, some buttons and a camera and I am ready to play. Here are a few more images of me playing around with flowers and pretty things. 

I hope you enjoyed my little series of dark purple tulips on different backgrounds. 

Have a lovely day!

xoxo Ingrid 

Kay Ellen Design, Jenny Doh and some White Ranunculus

  

I was delighted when Kay Ellen from the blog Kay Ellen Designs contacted me and asked if she could feature me on Jenny Doh's blog Crescendoh. Kay Ellen is the guest curator there this week and she is featuring two blogs every day.

Thank you Kay Ellen and Jenny!

Please come over and have a look!

I found these amazing white Ranunculus at the farmers market and could not resist their beauty.

I have combined them with a beautiful blue grey colour. 

Some beautiful light blue ribbon with white stitching from Jane Means is tied around the clear glass vase, some rick-rack ribbon, two  miniature books and some fabric all in varied blue grey colours.

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo Ingrid 

An Interview with Of Spring and Summer

The creative, talented and very lovely duo Antonia and Fabio Duealberi have done an interview with me.

You can read the interview with me over at their beautiful blog DueAlberi.

Have a very lovely day!

xoxo Ingrid

Creativity and Inspiration

Having fun playing with cut flowers and different backgrounds.

Freesia on a machine embroidered background.

Three dark purple tulips on a lace fabric.

Freesia on a wide piece of lace.

  

The same dark tulips on painted wood and the last one is freesia on a vintage floral plate.

Have a very happy day!

xoxo Ingrid

White Primroses and Inspiration

Where does inspiration come from?

We all like to be inspired by something we feel passionate about.

Well, most of the time  inspiration is all around you - just have to find it.

Using a camera helps because you look at the world in a different way through a lens. It is more focused and you can cut out anything you are not interested in.

Any creative person or any creative thinking person will have their own answer to the question and it can become very philosophical.  

On a more practical level I can tell you what inspired me to style and take these photographs. It always starts with the flowers so a trip to the farmers market, the garden center or something from the garden is first on the list.
Some white primulas or primroses looked beautiful at the garden center and they would work well with a blue and yellow theme that I had in mind.

A huge part of my inspiration comes from my collection of vintage props. I will consider the size and colour of the container as well as any other items I like in the photograph. In this case I went with three light yellow 1950's flower pots, similar in style and colour but all different. I did not want to overpower the white primroses and I liked the retro look of the flower pots. 

Three little blue ink bottles, a small blue book and some blue crystals all picked up the colour in the painting that I felt worked well as a background. I used some tarnished silverplated trays as plant saucers and I raised the middle pot by putting it on a pile of old books so that the pots would be at different hights. There is a theme of three's in the image - three flower pots, three bottles, three books and three crystals.
Apart from fresh flowers I almost exclusivly work with old and used things. I very much like the idea of re-cycling, re-using and finding beauty in the old and worn.

Happy Valentine's Day!

xoxo Ingrid

Purple Tulips and Blue Patterns

In the Ottoman Empire the tulip was the emblem of true and perfect love. Today the tulip is loved and appreciated all over the world. They say that tulips are the world's third most popular flower after roses and chrysanthemums.

Tulips has been around for about 500 years, so they have a long and rich history, they are originally from the Middle East and usually found on rocky mountain slopes, hot and dusty in summer and bitter cold in winter. 

The tulip was brought to Italy by the Romans in the sixteenth century and by the seventeenth century they had spread to Holland. The mania for tulips in Holland only lasted for three years, the price for a single bulb was very high. People made great fortunes but some also lost everything they owned. Many books have been written on the subject.

Today many billions of tulip bulbs are grown in Holland. Most of them are exported to the rest of the world and most cut flower tulips come from Holland.

Tulips are easy to find, cheep and easy to arrange. You need a medium size vase, condition the flowers when you get home and leave them for a while in water. They will keep growing in the vase so you can be quite generous when you cut the ends off.

What you do with the leaves is personal taste. You can strip all leaves off for a more minimalistic look or you can leave a few to contrast the colour of the flowers.

When making this arrangement I was looking for contrast and lots of patterns. I love the contrast between the purply-pink flowers and the deep dark blue colour of the floral vintage vase and the retro blue dotty fabric.

The broken bits of china is just for fun. No, don't worry I have not smashed  any china! They are bits that I have found in the garden and on Hampstead Heath. I have never been able to find an explanation to why there is so much broken china in north London, maybe landfill from the Second World War, I really don't know.

I hope you have had a great start to 2012.

Take care and have a great Monday!

xo Ingrid