Cherry Blossom Boy

I keep banging on about this, but plenty of boys and men like flowers too. So it was a joy to do these flowers for a wonderful man who's a writer and an artist. His vase went perfectly with the pink cherry blossom.

It was lovely to use cherry blossom while it flowered for such a short time. It's amazing stuff - you see nothing, then tiny buds for weeks, then suddenly there's pink blossom everywhere. It means impermanence, the European Victorian meaning taken from the Asian countries where the trees originated from.

I used garden spiraea for the first time. It made me think of Maggie Smith in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads. 

"In the best tradition of my floral arrangements they look like the poles of a wigwam, so I go and see if I can cadge a bit of backing from Mrs Belcher. 'Are you using this?' I say, picking up a bit of mouldy old fern. 'I certainly am. I need every bit of my spiraea. It gives it body.'"

I used some more at the Garden Museum. It will probably only last until the end of the week, and then the petals will fall like pink confetti. That's the thing about impermanence - it encourages us to enjoy things while they are around.