Notes from the Field: Winter Blooms

By Karin Lidbeck Brent

During these dreary winter days, flowers can turn our interiors from barren to brilliant. As my antidote to these drab months I make sure there are simple, cheery fresh blooms on my dining table or tucked into small corners of my winter nest. I was asked by a national publication, for a winter issue, to create floral arrangements that would inspire readers to brighten their lives during the darkest months of the year. This was a fun assignment. The snowy New England landscape is full of soft hues, a million shades of whites, pinks, lavenders and browns, so these colors of winter became the inspiration for the floral displays I created. Wonderful early spring flowers—hyacinths, tulips and iris—are easily available and are a joy to have close by. I hope these arrangements inspire you, too, and spark the desire to fill your home with your own winter garden. Green eucalyptus and dried pods sprayed soft white, white tulips, white hyacinths and white branches. (Hint: to create the vase I took an inexpensive clear vase and gave the inside a very light mist of Krylon soft blue.)

Photo by Michael Partenio, design by Karin Lidbeck

Amaryllis stems with tall red branches in the center mixed with a few cut paperwhites.

Photo by Michael Partenio, design by Karin Lidbeck

Stacked footed dishes with tiny glasses filled with stems of white tulips (opened), white hyacinths, Queen Anne's lace and ranunculus.

Photo by Michael Partenio, design by Karin Lidbeck

White lilies and pomegranates in a footed bowl. (Hint: the pomegranates hold the lily stems in place.)

Photo by Michael Partenio, design by Karin Lidbeck

White iris, paperwhites, freesia and tiny branches, in julep cups on a mirror.

Photo by Michael Partenio, design by Karin Lidbeck