Summer flowers with Aesme Studio

We recently partnered with London flower studio Aesme to share their expertise on creating beautiful arrangements of flowers and foliage that reflect place and season. Growing flowers on a small farm in the Hampshire countryside allows the Aesme founders Alex and Jess to connect deeply with the land that their flowers come from, producing an intimate relationship between their materials and their floral designs. As gardener-florists they grow special, unique varieties - creating seasonal, scented and sustainable arrangements.  Here, Aesme share their guide to creating a summer flower arrangement in a Market vase.

Growing & cutting

Aesme grow flowers on a small farm in the Hampshire countryside. In mid-Summer the borders are flowering abundantly with iris, alliums and poppies and the first garden roses have started to bloom. Cutting takes place early in the morning when the flower stems are firm and full of water. It’s best to cut straight into a bucket of clean water and to move cut flowers out of direct sunlight as soon as possible

Selecting flowers

Alex chooses the stems for her arrangements with careful consideration. This beautiful Verbascum ‘Helen Johnson’ is used as a tall ‘spire’ flower in the vase. English garden roses, like this pale pink ‘Gentle Hermione’ variety are heavily scented and have incredible, ruffled petals. Sweet peas add valuable scent, colour and texture to any vase. Rose ‘Munstead Wood’ is incredibly thorny but worth the extra conditioning for their beautiful deep colour and heady perfume.

Preparation

Before starting an arrangement, all flower stems need to be prepared thoroughly, by removing all thorns and any foliage that may go below the water line in the vase. This prevents the spread of bacteria and helps keep the arrangement fresher for longer.

Alex lays out her freshly cut ingredients for the taller vase. Below, from left to right: Verbascum ‘Helen Johnson’, Papaver ‘Lauren’s Grape’, Rosa ‘Munstead Wood’, Delphinium ‘Misty Lavender’, Rosa ‘Gentle Hermione’, Diabolo ‘Summer Wine’, Tiarella, Centaurea ‘Classic Magic’, Rosa Rubrifolia.

Structuring the arrangement

It’s always best to start an arrangement with the foliage – this helps set the parameters for the general shape and provides a framework of stems for the other flowers. In the tall Market vase Alex creates an arrangement in a palette of deep maroon and burgundy. ‘Filler’ flowers, like these incredible rippled sweet peas, add a fluffy texture and help to build the base of the arrangement.

The richly wine-coloured roses have quite short stems so are tucked over the lip of the vase where they can be admired. Delphinium spires are perfect for tall, narrow vases. As a general rule for proportions arrangements can be 1.5 times the height and width of the vase, or more.

Finishing touches

Alex adds a few poppies to the arrangement. The ends of the poppy stems are seared briefly in very hot water after being cut – this helps to prevent them from wilting in the vase. The arrangement is finished with the addition of gestural stems of Verbascum and Tiarella. Textural and scented, this arrangement perfectly capture the magic and abundance of a Summer garden in all its glory.

Vase: Market Vase 24cm Stems: Verbascum ‘Helen Johnson’, Papaver ‘Lauren’s Grape’, Rosa ‘Munstead Wood’, Delphinium ‘Misty Lavender’, Rosa ‘Gentle Hermione’, Diabolo ‘Summer Wine’, Tiarella, Centaurea ‘Classic Magic’, Rosa Rubrifolia. Gardener-florists: Aesme Studio