Week 11, as we revisit the 10-year anniversary of the book, Slow Flowers
![Magnolias and more 2023](https://slowflowersjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/detail-3IMG_7496.jpg)
![Magnolias and More from Slow Flowers book 2013](https://slowflowersjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ST-LYNNS-SLOW-FLOWERS-BOOK_Page_126-1024x1024.png)
We are coming to the final days of winter and the botanical palette is increasingly spring-like here in the PNW. When I originally designed this arrangement during my 52-weeks-of-slow-flowers project back in 2012 (for 2013 publication), I didn’t plan ahead much. I usually let the vase selection or seasonal floral choices dictate. As I recall, this tall, creamy vase was a recent aquisition for a styling project and I wanted to use it for the book. The fact that my neighbors (with whom I shared a driveway at the time) owned a really lovely magnolia with ample side branches needing a trim, added up to this design.
![Lots of textures](https://slowflowersjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/texturesIMG_7498.jpg)
This time around, more than one decade later, I grabbed the same vase, and sourced extra-long-stemmed tulips (apricot, grown by Here to There Farm) and two types of magnolia (budded deciduous branches and evergreen foliage-clad branches, both Oregon-grown) at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. The fantail willow source has disappeared over time so I pivoted to dark-stemmed French pussy willow from Ojeda Farm.
The rosemary is from my garden, a replacement from the one that succumbed to two brutal winter feezes. Designing this was a joyful practice, made more delightful because of the sunshine on my back patio.
![More Magnolias and Tulips](https://slowflowersjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/white-vertical-1.jpg)
This piece comes closer to the original than any of the weekly bouquets I’ve created since the start of 2023. It’s a nod to the classic reproduction vase, almost urn-shaped, but taller than a true urn; and to the timeless ingredients. The added surprise will come in a few days, as the pink saucer magnolia buds bloom, coaxed open by the indoor temperatures.