Our Favorite Flowers for Easter
Last week as I shopped the flower markets, I wasn’t sure why I grabbed 4 bunches of baby blue delphinium, buckets of rubber duckie yellow narcissus, barbie pink tulips. I’m not drawn to conventional color combinations – colors you find on drug store Easter baskets, but there they were on my rack – bubblegum pink Hermosa roses, powder blue mascari and the happiest, most saccharin yellow tulips you ever did see.
The only explanation of course is that Spring is on the horizon and even a jaded flower snob like me can’t resist the elvish and playful colors that come with it. Spring in general, and particularly Easter is a time to embrace the young, ambitious colors we see popping around us. I live in Seattle where giant Camellia bushes begin their burst in March, blasting lawns with messy, Pollack like blooms. In April, below budding trees, daffodil spreads like wildfire in all our public parks. Oh- and the lemon scent of daphne; it’s a benign looking shrub which, for one month (late Winter/early Spring) boasts baby pink blooms with the lemoniest fragrance catching air on windy afternoons. So, it is – for Easter we’ll have the bright ciscolors of Spring and delight in their enthusiasm! Here’s a list of our favorite Spring and Easter inspired flowers. You’ll find these in many of our arrangements for the next couple months.
tulips
They are a big thing here in Washington and come April, flower shops will be filled with hyper local tulips hailing from right here in the Skagit Valley where the Tulip Festival dominates tourism. There’s nothing more plain and sincere than a bunch of tulips. You can’t get them wrong, mix colors for a wild, natural- Dutch painting look or dignify them and go monochromatic.
Hyacinth/Mascari
Hyacinth and its baby cousin, mascari are perfect Easter flowers. Bright and fragrant, cut these bulb plants short and pop them in a vase. They will fill your room with a perfume clean, light and floral. Our favorite hyacinth are dark blue but they come in easter egg pink, yellow, lavender and white.
hellebore
I confess that when hellebore cuts started getting popular five or eight years ago, I was not an instant fan. They are earthy and messy but slowly I came to appreciate their subtlety. Plus, they are a fantastic perennial for your garden and will produce blooms for several years.
ranunculus
If there’s anything more romantic than a peony, its ranunculus. These flowers are made up of layers upon layers upon layers of tissue thin petals which open slowly over a week or more! They come in all varieties of pinks, whites, yellows and burgundy and brides go crazy for them. We love them as a special sparkle in arrangements and get crazy happy when they start to show up from local growers.
spring is all about abundance
So that’s the short list! We could go on and on about what’s happening in the shop this spring and what will fill our Easter baskets (ehem…sweet pea, jasmine vine, daffodil, anemone and mimosa) but we think we’ll keep it a surprise.