The winter sun has been glorious here this past week, which means it’s been the perfect weather to strip off to a t.shirt and spend time in the garden.
We have an acre of tropical gardens that are filled with blooms even in winter, so we are currently enjoying a lovely mixture of flowering camellias and azaleas.
These camellias are from a very large… maybe 4 – 5 metre tall tree. The flowers themselves are as large as saucers and quite heavy. We only have the one tree with this variety and unfortunately I don’t know what it is called.
These beautiful blooms live for quite some time as a picked flower, but due to their heavy heads and short stems, they are a bit problematic to place in a vase… but I’ve found a way to display them perfectly!
I remember as a child my great aunt had these strange vases with metal grids in them…. I thought they were very odd and kind of ugly!
Of course now I know they were flower frogs, which are used to keep flowers standing up in a vase… and a pretty smart idea really.
I’ve used this quick and easy technique before to make a vase suitable for difficult blooms…. and my heavy headed camellias are definitely ‘difficult’.
The stems on my camellias are quite short, so I’ve gone with a wide mouthed, shallow bowl as a water receptacle. This bamboo bowl has a white outer coating, so it is perfect to show off the pretty pink petals of the camellias.
To make the bowl into a frog, simply use clear cello tape to form a grid on the top. By using clear tape, you won’t be able to see the small lengths of tape that extend over onto the outside of the bowl/vase.
Fill the bowl with water and place the stems of your blooms through the holes in the tape, which will allow them to stand upright.
This flower frog is just perfect for these very heavy headed flowers too, because it supports the weight of the flower, allowing them to almost appear as if they are floating in the bowl.
The clear tape technique can be applied to any vase or bowl. I especially like it for tulips and lilies to keep them standing up.
Happy Monday ~ Kerryanne
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My Mum’s aunty had vases with grids on her dresser but they rarely had any flowers in them.
Thank you for this quick & easy idea – fabulous for dealing with those shorter stemmed blooms.
The magazine is lovely Kerryanne and I am still flicking through all the lovely shabbiness it contains.
Toni xx
My old aunts vases were the same Toni. No flowers and just plain ugly to a little kid. Truth be known, as a vintage loving adult I would probably have loved most of the things that sat on that aunts shelves back then. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the features magazine. Hugs ~ Kerryanne xx
Such a wonderful idea, your camellias look beautiful in your bowl. I will definitely use that innovative idea Kerryanne. Thank you. Shirley. P.S. your magazine is beautiful. Keep going back to have a re look .
Thanks Shirley 🙂 Camellias are such a cheerful bloom and these ones have such sunny stamens too. I’m thrilled you liked the features magazine. K xx
Such a wonderful idea, your camellias look beautiful in your bowl. I will definitely use that innovative idea Kerryanne. Thank you. Shirley. P.S. your magazine is beautiful. Keep going back to have a re look .
Oh my such absolutely splendid flowers, those stamens are gorgeous just on their own. You are such a talented lady. Will have to look into your wonderful magazine. Noticed lovely compliments for it on comments. Happy week dear lady. Great and so helpful tip.
Aren’t those flowers incredible Jane Ellen. They are larger than my hand and even look pretty when they fall from the tree and lay scattered on the ground. Having a great week, thank you 🙂
Beautiful flowers and great tip!
It’s so easy to do Baa and no one can even see the tape, but it does make your flowers sit up nicely. 🙂
What a great easy way! So simple, to simple, I would have never thought of that. lol Jo
Sometimes ‘simple’ is best Joanne. I’ve only just disposed of these flowers and popped fresh ones in the bowl today. They add such a lovely pop of colour to our winter décor 🙂