Bridal bouquets
The Roman bride and groom would wear floral garlands as a symbol of their fertility and long life together, and some even had garlic in the mix to ward off evil. Today they are more to symbolise a maiden, and the scents hopefully will for ever hold memories of that day. The throwing of the bouquet came from America, clearly originating from a woman once in a netball team. Unwed women have to get in training to catch it, as it is said that she who does will be the next to wed.
But what to have in your big day bloom? Flowers have so many meanings it is important to send your beloved the right message.
Flower
| Meaning
|
Apple blossom
| Better things to come
|
Anthurium
| No secrets from you
|
Birch
| Longevity
|
Camellia
| Gratitude
|
Cornflower
| Admiration and hope
|
Daisy
| Innocence
|
Fern
| Fascination and sincerity
|
Forget-me-not
| Remembrance and true love
|
Hollyhock
| Devotion
|
Honeysuckle
| Generosity
|
Hyacinth
| Loveliness
|
Iris
| Faith and wisdom
|
Ivy
| Eternal fidelity
|
Jasmine
| Amiability
|
Lavender
| Sweetness and joy
|
Lilac
| Youthful innocence
|
Lily of the valley
| Happiness renewed
|
Mimosa
| Sensitivity
|
Moss
| Affection always
|
Peony
| Captivation
|
Rose (red)
| Fascination
|
Rose (coral)
| Passion and desire
|
Rose (yellow)
| Friendship
|
Rose (dark pink)
| Thankfulness
|
Rose (pale pink)
| Grace
|
Rose (lavender)
| Enchantment
|
Rose (white)
| Innocence
|
Snowdrop
| Hope
|
Tuberose
| Dangerous pleasure
|
Tulip
| My perfect lover
|
Violet
| Faithfulness
|
How to get the best from your blooms
by Paula Pryke, florist
Seasonal flowers are always the best buy. Make sure you purchase your flowers from an independent florist or a flower seller rather than a multiple store and then you can really get advice on what is best.
Fresh flowers should look vibrant with healthy green stems and foliage, and the flowers showing colour. It is best to buy flowers in bud for maximum life but if you want them to look showy for an event or special occasion you will need to buy them in full bloom.
As soon as you get them home make sure you cut off 2.5cm from the bottom of the stem with a sharp knife or a pair of scissors. Place them in a spotlessly clean vase of tepid water. Vases should be as clean as your wine glasses; use bleach to clean them so that there are no unfriendly bacteria left over from your previous flowers which could prematurely kill your new blooms. Tepid water carries more oxygen than cold water, and flower food helps improve the life of your flowers by feeding them as well as acting as an antibacterial agent.
Remove any foliage from the lower stems so that there are no leaves in the water when you arrange the flowers. This helps to keep the water clean and clear and prolongs the life of the flowers.
The best way to maintain the life of your flowers is to change the water daily and re-cut the stems every three days. This is a little tedious but worth it for longer-lasting beauty. Keep them at a constant temperature and out of any draughts.
Fruit gives off an aging hormone which can prematurely kill flowers so do not buy flowers that have been kept with fruit, and do not place near any of your own fruit. Sometimes we use fruit decoratively with flowers but only for special occasions and when the life of the arrangement is not paramount.
Always have one vase of scented flowers in your home. I usually place my scented vase in my bathroom or in the hallways, never in the kitchen or dining room because they can overpower the food. All scented flowers, with the exception of lilies, have a shorter life than non-scented varieties because they expend most of their energy being fragrant. Sweet peas, lily of the valley, tuberose, mimosa, freesia and stocks are all examples.
Lilies will last longer if you remove the stamens of pollen. Just pinch these out when you first arrange the flowers and before they go brown and dusty. Pollen will stain so be careful of your furnishings and clothing. If you get pollen on your clothes, remove it immediately with sellotape.
Most people like to keep their flowers until they drop. It is best to throw them out when they start to fade as they end up smelling vile and often make a mess on furniture.
To make an impact on a budget, use vases of seasonal branches such as blossom, berries or leaves. I adore cherry blossom in spring, the new silver green leaves of whiteleaf in early summer, crab apples in autumn and ilex berries in winter.
The current fashion is to have a collection of vases that look good together and have one stem of an exotic flower in each. This ‘deconstruction’ style works well with anthuriums, orchids and calla lilies.
I also like to use this ‘deconstruction’ style for my dining table using lots of small glass votives filled with one type of flower or flower head. This allows you room for big serving plates and lots of wine glasses (and bottles!) but still looks impressive. A personal favourite at the moment is the blue vanda orchid which, although expensive, lasts at least three weeks.
Expensive flowers are often the ones that last the longest and are nearly always better value than cheaper ones; like everything in life, flowers are graded and sold according to quality, and the most expensive are always the best. Tropical flowers (helliconia, anthuriums, gingers) and orchids are very good value as are lilies and amaryllis.
How to care for tulips
Everyone has their preferred spray, but tulips are a very popular choice because when they are youthful they are the loveliest thing to lift a room, and when they droop they don’t drop their pollen. When you get tulips you have to go through a rigorous care ritual to encourage them to live and come into a long bloom. First, take cut flowers and plunge immediately in a basin of cold water. Also fill the chosen vase with water. Whilst under the water cut a small diagonal tip off the stem so you make a fresh cut that has not been exposed to the air. Repeat this process for the whole bunch then transfer into a vase one by one, quickly to avoid the tulip getting air in the raw cut. Take a pin and prick a hole an inch below the head, all the way through the stem. This air hole will ensure the tulips stand upright for longer.
How to purchase flowers for gifts and grovelling
If the ‘bouquet’ you receive comes from a garage, or contains garish shades of carnations, slam the door back in their face. This was a cheap ill-considered gift. Similarly, warning bells should ring if you get a huge unexpected floral delivery; yes, suitors and admirers may be earnestly trying to woo you, but if it comes from the person you are dating you might want to check what they did last night. Know your favourite flowers, and have a favourite florist on hand to recommend in each of the major cities. Question what someone really thinks of you if they send you a Venus fly trap or a cactus plant.
Floral services to have on speed dial
London: Paula Pryke at Liberty, 020 7734 1234
Milan: Tea Rose, 00 39 02 7601 5467
Paris: Fleurs Fruits Feuillages, 00 33 1 47 27 27 27
New York: Michael George Flowers, 001 212-883-0304
Joining
the
Jet Set
‘The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea,
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
wrapped up in a five-pound note’
Edward Lear
How to Get the Travel Bug
‘Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun’
Noël Coward
How to get started
You might have fifty-seven channels on cable, or be able to google any piece of information you like on the internet, but the only real way to find inspiration is to get out there, see it and experience it. Travel should start at an early age; children under two travel free so there is no excuse. Ideally you should aim to discover one new city or country a year. Go to as many places as you have pages in your passport.
The tourist can be a horrible stereotype; the trick is to blend in with the locals, respect their culture and the doors will open for you to explore.
Picking a destination is like deciding which chocolate to pluck from a box: you can see what it looks like in the picture, but you don’t know what it is like on the inside until you have taken a bite. Take a risk and find a new favourite.
Films and books are a brilliant source of inspiration.
The Sound of Music
will send you to Salzburg,
Moulin Rouge
to Paris,
Picnic at Hanging Rock
to Australia, and
Amadeus
to Prague. If you are feeling literary a dip into
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
will have you heading to Dorset, E.M. Forster’s
A Room with a View
to Florence, while Bram Stocker’s
Dracula
will pack you off to Transylvania, and Vikram Seth’s
A Suitable Boy
to India. Alternatively the truly cultured could seek inspiration through paintings; let Gauguin send you to Tahiti, Monet to his garden in Giverny, France, or go to a country for its galleries.
Everyone should visit the
Mona Lisa
in the Louvre in Paris at least once. The view from the top of the Empire State Building in New York, and sunset on an exotic island are also essential. Borders and equators are there to be crossed. If you love Thai food why not visit Thailand? If you have a shoe collection to rival
Sex in the City
’s Carrie Bradshaw, perhaps go to New York to compare styles. Holidays are great opportunities for role-play. But there is also much to be said for lying on a white sandy beach, where your only worry is what factor sun-cream to wear.
You will, of course, need the appropriate wardrobe whatever the destination, so you need to investigate the culture of the country you are visiting. In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, shoulders should be covered. In Japan it is considered the height of bad manners to blow your nose in the street. Likewise, two blonde girls in a traditional Arabic state may raise eyebrows. It is worth checking things out before signing the deposit.
If you still don’t feel you’ve found the place you’re after you could
cautiously
ask to see a
selection
of your friends’ holiday snaps, or could go to
www.expedia.co.uk
or
www.lastminute.co.uk
and see what destinations they have on offer.
How to decide when you are going
You need to know, roughly, what the weather will be like and what to expect at your chosen destination. If it is for work that is not too important as they will be responsible for transporting you from office to airport to office to hotel. Air-conditioned environments are not weather-sensitive. If you are going to exotic climates check when is the rainy season; likewise, do not go to Australia expecting a white Christmas. Do your homework.
Cities are great for Christmas shopping and short weekend breaks, while it would be rude to do the wilds of the Tuscan countryside in anything less than a week.
Once you have chosen the location, you have to decide on where to stay. This is budget, as well as holiday dependent. It will also help you decide who your travel companion is and how long you will be away. Decide if you want self-catering or catered, to be able to do it yourself, or simply be able to dial up room service. Be honest, sometimes the whole ‘rustic’ thing is really exhausting.
How to be inspired – gorgeous places to go to
by Christopher Bailey, creative director, Burberry
You can be inspired by many different things, but travel is the most obvious. Time and time again I find myself inspired by England, and where I grew up, which fits perfectly with my work at Burberry, but you should also open your eyes to adventures and see as much of the world as you can.
Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire
Set in one of the most beautiful and unspoiled parts of the English countryside, this is the area where I grew up. The Brontë sisters were frequent visitors to the abbey. Owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire it is aristocratic yet simultaneously egalitarian, with its wild dales and fast-flowing river. It is that blend of quaint and sinister that makes the grounds, all 30,000 acres of them, intriguing. Bolton Abbey is itself an eerie, almost ghost-like relic, where the wind seems to want to whisper its tales to you.
Henry Moore Sculpture Park, Bretton Hall, West Yorkshire
In the midst of the park rise some of Henry Moore’s sculptures and they create an almost druid-like magic feel to the area. The huge domineering sculptures seem at odds, yet at the same time at ease, in the landscape, rugged and raw from a distance they then become soft curves as you approach. I find all the crossovers in life weird: I grew up near this area, and Henry Moore, himself, came from Castelford, which is where the trench coat factory started and now I am at Burberry.
Salts Mill Gallery, West Yorkshire
At school I learnt that in 1853 Mr Titus Salt’s mills employed 3,000 people, and a whole village grew around them. But when the textile industry started to flourish elsewhere, it became a sorry sight on the landscape. When it was transformed into studios and then became the home for the largest collection of David Hockney’s works, as his hometown of Bradford is nearby, I thought it was perfect. I love the combination of the old mill and the vibrancy of Hockney’s art.
Cliveden House, Buckinghamshire
Just outside London is the most elegant building that is now a hotel and has beautiful formal gardens and parkland all leading up to a fountain that directs you to the house. The house itself was built in 1666, and has been burnt down twice, but, like a phoenix, it has risen more spectacularly each time. Every monarch since George I has stayed there; Queen Victoria stayed in the outhouse, particularly after her husband, Albert, passed away, and when the Profumo Affair broke the property belonged to the richest American, Lord Astor, and Keeler hid with her lover there. Queen Victoria would not have been amused! It can feel snooty but is well worth a stay.
The V&A and the Metropolitan Museums
Grand museums are the most inspiring places to wander around. I love walking through all the different cultures of the world, and forgetting all my problems and soaking in the reverential hush, even if it is only for a short while. I love the peacefulness and tranquillity, and how things have been preserved. You must also go to the National Portrait Gallery. I really love museums for their artefacts and the Portrait Gallery for all the unspoken stories. I love the Tudor room, and the way that only recently did they break with the tradition that said you had to be dead to hang in there – only in England!
The Meiji Jingu Shrine, Tokyo
This shrine was built in 1920 by Emperor Meiji to inspire advancement, for people to build trains, universities, banks and governments. He was the emperor who really opened Japan up to the rest of the world. The cedarwood temple is set in 175 acres of woodland, and it has one of every tree that grows in Japan in it. It is the most soulful and restful place in the heart of the city. It’s at its most magical in April when the cherry blossom is in full bloom. Its shrine means ‘shinto’ (heaven) and when you go in you have to wash your hands, rinse your mouth, clap your hands and bow, and in return for observing their rituals you become Japanese and are able to revel in its calm. If you are lucky you might be able to witness a ceremony.
Antwerp
Last but by no means least I love this city because of the architecture, the people and the blend of cultures and life in Belgium. They have the best bars and the best restaurants and everyone should go there at least once in their life, if not once a year. The best hotel to stay is the White Lily, which is owned by two sisters who let you wander round every room and choose the one you want to stay in.