I’m thinking about single-bloom arrangements these days—the power of that one bloom to join with it’s sisters and overwhelm with beauty. Sure it’s a heavy-handed metaphor, but nonetheless very true, as evidenced here by these amazing carnations.

I found the cachepot yesterday at the Alta Bates Showcase for $7. I loved it because of the botanical/animal motif, and only noticed the crazy heads that serve for feet when I started shooting the arrangement. This find makes me feel so Eddie Ross.

They sit on my old pock-marked folding game table I bought on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn in 1999, a very sentimental piece. One of these days I’ll restore it.

Just a touch of variegated pittosporum that I cut from my garden peeks out. I used about ten stems bound together as a “web” to support the carnations in the low container instead of using oasis.

A word to carnation skeptics: I first learned to love carnations years ago from a dear friend, genius interior designer and Joe Nye.

Recently, I’ve found that my admiration for this often neglected bloom has been validated by some of today’s top floral designers such as Torryne Choate of Birch in San Francisco and Fàtima and Joan of Bornay in Barcelona.

While Choate’s amazing bouquet of white carnations adheres to the single-bloom concept (see the Birch home page), much of Bornay’s work shows how carnations can be successfully and beautifully combined with other blooms. See in particular these posts from their blog: A Make-up Light, Barroco de Papel, and Grass Bouquet

Thank you Joe, Torryne, Fàtima, and Joan for the inspiration.

Joe Nye Inc.
Birch
Birch Tumblr
Bornay
Flowers by Bornay blog