Still Life with Lilacs

Week 18, as we revisit the 10-year anniversary of the book Slow Flowers

Still Life with Local Lilacs and Ranunculus
Lush details of spring lilacs and ranunculus blooms
Lush details of spring lilacs and ranunculus blooms

The timing was perfect for this week’s plum lilac-forward arrangement, inspired by the white lilac bunches I featured one decade ago. The vase is the same, a pale mint-colored vintage vase with an opening that measures 5-by-5-inches and a 3-inch depth. It’s a small but perfectly-proportioned vase. As with the prior design, I used a small flower frog in the base. It’s an important mechanic, especially when using woody branches that need to be anchored in a shallow vessel.

Syringa vulgaris ‘Charles Joly’ in the #slowflowerscuttinggarden

The timing was perfect because I was able to clip from a lilac shrub that I planted in 2017 when we first moved to this garden. It is Syringa vulgaris ‘Charles Joly’ and you can see the established shrub above.

Still life with flowers from page 30 Slow Flowers book (2013)
Still life with flowers from page 30 Slow Flowers book (2013)

As with my earlier arrangement, I selected 10 to 12 stems of ranunculus, sourced from the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. The white ranunculus with purple picotee markings was grown by Peterkort Roses, while the apricot ranunculus was grown by Field to Heart.


The addiiton of snowball viburnum to create a coordinating arrangement.
The addiiton of snowball viburnum to create a coordinating arrangement.

I had lots of leftovers, so here is a second arrangement using the same lilacs and ranunculus, with the addition of some young snowball viburnum branches (love that the flowers are still green!).

Debra Prinzing

Debra Prinzing is a Seattle-based writer, speaker and leading advocate for American-grown flowers. Through her many Slow Flowers-branded projects, she has convened a national conversation that encourages consumers and professionals alike to make conscious choices about their floral purchases. Debra is the producer of SlowFlowers.com, the weekly "Slow Flowers Podcast" and the American Flowers Week (June 28-July 4) campaign. Debra is author of 11 books, including Slow Flowers (2013), The 50 Mile Bouquet (2012) and Slow Flowers Journal (2020). She is the co-founder of BLOOM Imprint, the boutique publishing arm of Slow Flowers.

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Slow Flowers Journal is brought to you by SlowFlowers.com. Slow Flowers is an award-winning online directory created to help consumers find florists, studio designers, wedding and event planners, supermarket flower departments and flower farmers that supply American grown flowers. Founded in 2014, the site has grown to 850 members across the U.S.

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For more information, please contact Debra Prinzing
at 206-769-8211 or 844-SLOWFLO (844-756-9356); debra(at)slowflowers.com.