04 Jan Sunday…with flower heads

When I came back from Cornwall yesterday, I knew that virtually all my Christmas flowers would be past it, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away before I left when they were all still thriving, albeit in the last stages of flowering…

So yesterday I was amazed that the ranunculus had stayed in shape and appeared, on the surface, to be still happy…

but the yellowing stems and dried petals showed up the ghosts of blooms, so I decided to make something very unpractical…but pretty! I saved a glass-full, as there were a few little buds and one flower which seemed to still have life in the stem as well…

…and then I organised the colours; my palette I added some mistletoe which has gone all crunchy, but which still is an amazing green, and also some yellow Billy Balls and crumpled, dried up Ilex berries I’ve been hanging onto. The purple daisy travelled 8 hours in tupperware from Cornwall yesterday and the African Violet was pinched from my indoor plant… I can’t bear to throw these flowers away even now ( although the stinky stems have gone already )…a black bin liner seems so undignified at this point, so presently they’re sitting on a wooden tray in my cold shed, where I can look at them until they’re well and truly ready for the winds…I love utilising things you perhaps think have had their day, so my New Year’s resolution is probably to look harder at what’s not there.

Happy New Year! x

( you can also have a look at my Steller version here )