Forever flowers - Margaret Ashbourne

There isn’t an interior that doesn’t welcome flowers of some sort, whether masses of soft, full blown country roses or the sleek masculine elegance of a single orchid. Even –or perhaps especially– those who love designing with real flowers are very much aware of the benefits of supplementing them with today’s perfectly made fakes.

Watching natural flowers grow and tending to their needs for water, plant food or re-potting has undeniable satisfactions. But there are pleasures too in buying and displaying faux flowers: the buzz of anticipation as you receive and unwrap an arrangement for the first time; the satisfaction of finding the best place for it; the convenience of being able to store a favourite arrangement and bring it out again with a fresh jolt of pleasure; the enjoyment of being able to cheer up draughty hallways, high ledges or dark corners -places where real flowers would wilt and turn up their toes…

As Margaret Ashbourne shows, there are scores of clever ways to mix real and fake flowers: dried hydrangea heads with faux anemones or roses; real seed pods and berries with faux viburnum and magnolias; real grasses with faux lilies…While the possibilities are endless, Forever Flowers covers far more than just the basics: Margaret demonstrates how to build a seasonal ‘wardrobe’ of faux flower arrangements using step-by-step instructions for arranging both single and multiple stems. She also covers working with resin ‘water’, and rethinking presentation by looking at a wide range of classic and unexpected containers in new, original ways.

Contemporary modern, country style pine, classic antique… whatever your style, Forever Flowers has suggestions for them all.