North of the City
March/April 2008
Put flowers in a vase? How mundane.
Just a bit of imagination can turn flowers into performance art.
A framed floral still life is anything but still when the flowers are live, 3D and fragrant. A gilt frame creates a floral still life of Tulipa ‘Rococo’, Narcissus ‘Soleil d’Or’, Narcissus ‘White Lion’, Hyacinthus ‘Sky Jacket’, Iris ‘Professor Blau’, Hippeastrum (Amaryllis) ‘Desire’, Heidelbear, Nutans ‘Tango’ and Viburnum.
A white bowl of cobalt blue mini-irises (Iris reticulata ‘Gordon’) introduces a pool of colour to an all-white tableau of white Wellington boots on a narrow white bench. Against this hard shiny white backdrop, the vivid blue flowers hover like butterflies amidst narrow spiky green leaves.
A sushi dinner is singular with a full-blown hyacinth (Hyacinthus ‘Paul Herman’) reclining tabletop on a utensil stand — waxy fragrant flower, stem, roots and all.
A bejeweled turquoise dancing shoe struts its stuff, sexily draped by the lank blowsy blossom of a parrot tulip (Tulipa ‘Weber’s Parrot’).
Flowers in a vase are fine, but when you think outside the vase, flowers become an artist’s tool. Turn your imagination loose.
– Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center, www.bulb.com