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For weddings, funerals, birthdays, or a simple home decoration, floral arrangements are at their best when they comprise seasonal flowers. Whatever the season, you will never be stuck for choice in finding a varied array of beautiful blooms and foliage.
Not only is it healthier for the environment to choose seasonal flowers, but following the laws of nature means that the flowers themselves will be fresher and stronger and therefore longer lasting. Their scent will also be more striking, and because there will be plenty growing naturally the cost of the flowers will not skyrocket. Flowers that are out of season will have been grown in greenhouses or imported from warmer climes which only serve to make them expensive. Bear in mind however, that the availability of seasonal flowers can be affected by un-seasonal weather conditions.
Some flowers only bloom for a short time, but this is part of their appeal and chimes in the changing of the seasons. For example, lily of the valley is the flower that represents May, while narcissus flowers hold the scent for spring.
As a general idea, think yellows, whites, and fresh greens for spring; while for summer you can go for myriad vibrant tones. Autumn is the season to add fruits and berries to your arrangement, then for winter think frosty tones and Christmas holly.
Spring
This is time for the delicate scent of apple blossom, narcissus, tulips, hyacinth, daffodils and Muscari (grape hyacinth) to name a few. There are also the ever popular azaleas, bluebells, and the pretty cherry blossom.
The cottage shrub lilac also blooms around this time. Add it to posy or hand-tied bouquets, or arrangements to give an informal, country feel. Anemones are also suited to hand-tied bouquets, particularly the Mona Lisa flower which has long stems and large, open flowers.
Summer
In the summertime, flowers of all colours and shapes can be found. To create a floral design reminiscent of blossoming meadows, try campanula, lady's mantle, marguerite and goldenrod. Monkshood, peony, phlox, alliums, sweet William, scented stock and clarkia will also help create this effect. For a more striking and exotic appeal, insert some hydrangea, foxtail lily, agapanthus, tuberose, trachelium or tritelia into your display.
Some particular summer favourites include rhododendron, stock, delphinium and sunflowers. Delphiniums are especially sought after because of their varied and beautiful shades of blue, providing calm and depth to a flower arrangement. Sunflowers have almost international recognition of their large, colourful and simple form. Better still, they are also low in pollen and so make an excellent choice for home floral displays and for wedding bouquets.
Autumn
The delicate summer blooms and foliage begin to die off, but autumn brings new life in flowers and colours of its very own. You will find rich oranges and reds in love-lies-bleeding, yarrow, dahlia, red hot pokers, cockscomb, celosia, hypercium and gladiolus. The autumn foliage meanwhile, brings berries, pods, and branches.
For cooler, complementary shades, echinops has some cool blue hues. Also look at Chinese aster, scabious, sedum, and physostegia (obedience plant).
A favourite autumnal bloom is the alstroemeria that has colourful, open flowers. Until very recently, these flowers were quite unheard of as an everyday flower. It is now used in many kinds of floral displays and bouquets as it is sturdy and durable.
Winter
During the winter months the trees may be bare but our gardens are not. There are some early bulbs with tulips, hyacinth, hellebore and narcissus, as well as forsythia, gypsophila and gentian. From the other side of the globe some colour can be injected into winter floral schemes with anigozanthos, euphorbia fulgens, protea and hollyberry.
Two of the flowers that you will find in many winter bouquets are amaryllis and freesia. Amaryllis blooms are shaped like a wide star-like trumpet. They can be affixed into hand-tied bouquets, or manipulated into intricate decorative centrepieces. Freesias on the other hand, do not last well out of water. Even so, they are one of the most of the popular cut flowers in the world, let alone the UK.
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