flowers

Tulip Still Life

Yellow tulips in a square glass vase in front of a dark brown background

Tulips are my favourite cut flowers, and as soon as I see them in the supermarket, I bring home a bouquet. I love the fluidity of tulips- these grew at least an inch since I placed them in the vase, and this time they stayed upright (that doesn’t always happen!)

yellow tulips close up details against a brown background

I usually take photos of flowers on a white background, but decided this time to play around with a dark one. A brown throw blanket made a perfect draped background for the bright yellow colour of the petals, and the resulting photos remind me of the Dutch Golden Age still life paintings. The perfect subject for an oil painting!

yellow tulip bouquet still life against a brown background

yellow tulip petal details

tulip bloom petal details against a dark background

Blush Pink & Cream Roses

bouquet of cream and pink roses sitting in front of a gallery wall

In the middle of Winter, when the world outside is frosty and covered in mountains of snow (which holds it’s own beauty), but is starting to feel a little bleak and won’t see growing things for months….it’s nice to get a bouquet of flowers. They don’t last very long, and yet they manage to bring so much cheer in the short time they’re here.

These cream roses with a tint of blush pink on the tips were so beautiful and elegant, and they coordinated very nicely with my room too!

Do you like to get a bouquet of flowers in the winter? What are your favourite flowers to get?

cream and pink tea rose bouquet on a shelf in front of a vintage mirror on the wall

details of cream and pink rose bouquet

bouquet of pink and cream ombre roses

bouquet of pink and cream ombre roses sitting on a shelf

bouquet of cream and blush pink tinted roses sitting on a shelf with pictures in the background

Last Days of Summer

blue bachelor's buttons flowers

I can’t believe that it’s already the last day of August..where did the summer go? I had so many projects I wanted to complete over the warm months, but between the humidity and the heat waves, that didn’t go exactly as planned. (I am working on a furniture refinishing project and have been getting up early in the morning to go and work on it outside before the sun heats up too much!)

We’re currently in one last, well, I hope it’s the last, burst of high temperatures. I am hopeful that when we turn the page to September, the weather will cool off a bit. It’s already starting to feel like the end of summer though; the sun sets earlier, the nights are chilly, the flowers are fading and we’re harvesting vegetables from the garden. There truly is a change in the air and the sunlight that signals the changing of the seasons…and I love it!

Here are some of the flowers from the month of August before it’s time to enjoy the fall leaves.

hydrangea flower blooms

bumblebee in a hollyhock flower

There were so many bumblebees on the hollyhock blooms, but as soon as I tried to take a picture of them, they all left, so this is the best I got. They must be camera shy!

pink hollyhock blooms with light striping

My mom grew so many lilies and they all had such abundant blooms this year!

light pink asiatic lily

orange tiger lily and white asiatic lily

broken heart double asiatic lily

orange and yellow sunflower and burgandy and orange daylily

white yarrow and pink blooming sedum

blue sea holly

blue and burgundy purple bachelors buttons blooms

Social Saturday | July 2 (More Flowers!)

pink and orange lily blooms

And some more flowers today…the garden is in gorgeous colour right now. This is the first year that the plants are really starting to fill in and my mom has done a lovely job of staggered bloom times, so we’ve got even more flowers coming soon. We’ve also had a lovely summer so far with rain and sun, but not too hot, so the plants (and me!) are very happy.

And… that’s all I have to share for today, I hope you have a lovely weekend!

pink roses

pink roses with yellow flowers in the background

fuchsia rose bloom

white mock orange bloom with pink roses in the background

dark pink painted daisy

multi coloured pansies and white yarrow

purple blue siberian iris

Peonies in Bloom

large pink peony blooms fading in colour around the edges

This is slowly and unintentionally turning into a flower blog…. there are just so many beautiful flowers in my mom’s garden all bursting into glorious colour, though, and I can’t resist indulging myself in taking tons of photos of them! And then, of course, cutting some of the blooms and bringing them indoors to enjoy. Peonies are probably my favourite flowers (if I had to choose just one), but the bad part about them is the bugs also love them. So, you always have to shake all of them off otherwise you inadvertently bring a million tiny beetles into the house. But that extra work is worth it, because they smell heavenly!

pink peony blooms, one cut and placed on a windowsill in a tiny vase

I love these dark pink ones, since they fade to light pink as they open. They are almost all gone now: short lived, but so enjoyable.

pink peony bloom from the side, dark pink fading to light pink at the tips

White peonies aren’t my favourite variety, but this variety with the dark magenta centre is so vibrant that I do enjoy them. They are difficult to take pictures of, though.

single white peony bloom opening with a dark magenta pink splash in the centre

a white pink peony bloom with a dark pink centre

We have several more peony blooms that haven’t opened yet- one new variety called “Raspberry Sundae” that I’m so excited to see. I’ll try to get some photos to post here…and then photos of all of the other flowers that are blooming right now too.

What flowers are blooming where you live? What is your favourite flower?

small pink peony bloom in various shades of pink

masses of pink peony blooms

a single peony bloom in a vase on a windowsill with a lace curtain