The beautiful light of summer helped create the glorious bounty of blossoms for Week Forty-Two of the Bouquet-a-Week Project. This bounteous Pike Place Market bouquet contained yellow and pink Asian lilies, purple gladiolas, multicolored dahlias, and goldenrod formed the foundation.
Week Forty-Two: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers
And the bouquet looked even more glorious when “painted” in Waterlogue.
Week Forty-Two: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
Here are the blossoms laid in a row.
Week Forty-Two: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Laid in a Row
Week Forty-Two: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Laid in a Row Waterlogue
And here is Week Forty-Two’s first major bouquet—three yellow Asian lilies, cabbage flowers, and white and purple glads in a glazed black vase.
Week Forty-Two: Purple Cabbage Flowers, Yellow Lilies, and Gladiolas
A crystal Waterford vase, which had been a wedding gift (!) holds the three giant orange dahlias, golden rod, and dried purple statice. Wow-za!
Week Forty-Two: Orange Dahlias, Goldenrod, and Purple Statice
A single maroon dahlia and greenery backlighted in amethyst looks regal.
Week Forty-Two: Single Black Dahlia in a Clear Glass Vase
As does another maroon dahlia in a blue Buddha vase.
Week Forty-Two: Black Dahlia in a Blue Buddha Vase
Here are three more dahlias and goldenrod in three small vases.
Week Forty-Two: Three Small Bouquets
Another dramatic bouquet with a play between red and yellow blossoms perched in my favorite celadon Asian vase.
Week Forty-Two: Red and Yellow Flowers in an Asian Vase
An “extra” bouquet (one made with elements from prior-week bouquets) looks pretty spectacular, rife with purple gladiolas, greenery, and white cabbage flowers. Pretty good for a bunch of leftovers!
Week Forty-Two: White Cabbage Flower and Purple Gladiolas in a Blue Vase
“Dark drama” describes the bouquet I chose for Week Forty-One of the Bouquet-a-Week Project. I called it “dark drama” because it was made up of two magenta Asian lilies, two regal purple gladiolas, seven deep-purple dahlias, and three variegated purple-and-white dahlias.
I bought the bouquet for Week Forty-One from my favorite flower designer in the Pike Place Market, Erlinda, who works at Flower Garden. The bouquet for Week Forty-One cost $20, my limit on flower purchases each week.
As is my custom, after I photographed Erlinda’s bouquet, I took it apart so I could make individual arrangements of my own design. Much to my surprise, I discovered two white-and-green cabbage flowers underneath the dahlias, lilies, and gladiolas. And there were also several sprigs of white flowers.
To my delight, this was a very bounteous bouquet! Here is my photo of the original bouquet.
Week Forty-One: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Laid in a Row and Painted in Waterlogue
My first major bouquet included two magenta Asian lilies and the variegated dahlia, along with some of the white flowers. I placed them in one of my favorite vases, a purple terra-cotta vase with a faintly Asian-style shape.
Week Forty-One: Scarlet Lilies and Black Dahlia
My next major bouquet was a real beauty as well, with the white cabbage flowers, a variegated dahlia, and the two purple gladiolas positioned in a glossy black vase.
Week Forty-One: White Cabbage Flowers and Purple Gladiolas
One of the variegated dahlias and some greenery looks lovely when placed in a blue Buddha vase.
Week Forty-One: Variegated Dahlia in a Blue Buddha Vase
Three of the magenta dahlias perch perfectly in my Buddha vases and a clear glass vase.
Week Forty-One: Two Buddha Vases and Clear Glass Vase
Three more magenta dahlias form the three small bouquets for Week Forty-One.
Week Forty-One: Three Small Bouquets
A few days later, after the flowers had started to fade, I created a new “extra” bouquet made up of the cabbage flowers, gladiolas, a dahlia, and the white flowers.
Week Forty-One: White Cabbage Flower, Purple Gladiolas, and Scarlet Dahlia
Have you ever heard the childhood rhyme, “Red and yellow, catch a fellow?” That’s the phrase that ran through my head when I spotted this Pike Place Market bouquet on sale for $20. This brimming bounty of blossoms contained two red gladiolas, two deep-pink Asian lilies, six scarlet dahlias, six yellow dahlias, petite white flowers, purple statice, and green leaves as filler.
For Week Thirty-Seven of the Bouquet-a-Week Project I went to the Pike Place Market hoping to find a “Dahlias Only” bouquet to see how much I could do with a limited number of blossoms.
I was lucky, for at the very first farm stand in the Main Arcade, I found a bucket of small dahlia bouquets priced at $5. I chose the one below, mainly because of the gorgeous center bloom with its flirty white-and-red color combination.
Week Thirty-Eight: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers
The $5 bouquet looked pretty gorgeous when “painted” in Waterlogue.
Week Thirty-Eight: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
Here are the eight dahlias and purple statice laid in a row.
Week Thirty-Eight: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers in a Row
Spencer brought home a gorgeous bouquet for Week Thirty-Seven, rife with mahogany Asian lilies, dark dahlias, perky sprigs of purple static, and tall fronds of lilac-colored flowers. Here is the gorgeous Pike Place Market bouquet in all its natural glory.
Week Thirty-Seven: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers
And here is the Bouquet-a-Week Project Week Thirty-Seven bouquet “painted” in Waterlogue.
Week Thirty-Seven: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
I love to assess each fresh bouquet by laying the flowers in a row, arranged by type and color.
Week Thirty-Seven: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Laid In a Row
Then it’s always fun to see how they pop up in Waterlogue.
Week Thirty-Seven: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Laid In a Row Painted in Waterlogue
The dramatic mahogany lilies and three dark dahlias, crisscrossed just so in a tall rectangular glass vase, really come to life when backlighted in crimson.
Week Thirty-Seven: Lilies and Dahlias in a Clear Rectangular Vase
My favorite celadon Asian vase (a former Chinese wine bottle!), seemed to call out for orange dahlias and an orange-y backlight.
Week Thirty-Seven: Orange Dahlias in an Asian Celadon Vase
I bunched all the purple flowers into a glossy black Asian-leaning vase.
Week Thirty-Seven: Purple Flowers in a Glossy Black Vase
And backlighted three more of the red dahlias in my mother’s cut-glass decanter (which I wrote about in the Bouquet-a-Week Project, Week Twenty-Six) for a simple monochromatic arrangement.
Week Thirty-Seven: Three Dahlias in a Cut-Glass Cranberry Vase
Leftover leaves look lacy and lovely in this interesting maroon vase scrawled in black lines.
Week Thirty-Seven: Green Leaves in a Red and Black Vase
More of the purple statice and a few other flowers stand tall in a blue Buddha vase that serves as this week’s small bouquet.
Sweet Spencer brought home the fresh Pike Place Market flowers for Week Thirty-One of the Bouquet-a-Week Project and I marveled at their diversity of varieties and colors.
Pictured below in all their glory are deep-purple gladiolas, yellow and crimson dahlias, a single pale-yellow Asian lily, three giant sunflowers (!), and more than half a dozen zinnias, a flower that I hadn’t yet worked with during this summer season. And there were almost as many dried purple flowers as fresh ones.
Week Thirty-One: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
There were so many gorgeous blossoms to play with during Week Thirty-One, I couldn’t resist laying them out in a long row along our granite dining-room counter.
Week Thirty-One: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers in a Row
And then “painting” them in the Vibrant mode of Waterlogue.
Week Thirty-One: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers in a Row
What’s more dramatic than the color combo of dark purple and bright yellow, rather like a clergyman’s robe?
Week Thirty-One: Two Sunflowers and Three Purple Gladiolas in a Clear Rectangular Vase
The zinnias snapped to attention when I arranged them over colorful marbles in a clear round vase.
Week Thirty-One: Petunias and Colorful Marbles
The single yellow lily and some of the dried purple flowers look splendid in my favorite tall pale-blue vase.
Week Thirty-One: Single Yellow Lily in a Tall Blue Vase
More dried purple flowers and one of the sunflowers play happily together in a bulbous white-and-blue-striped vase. I think I was channeling Vincent Van Gogh when I created this bouquet!
Week Thirty-One: Single Yellow Sunflower and Purple Flowers in a Striped Vase à la Van Gogh
A single yellow dahlia and dried purple flowers rise gracefully in a shapely blue-glass vase.
Week Thirty-One: Single Yellow Dahlia and Dried Purple Flowers in a Blue Vase
One of the crimson dahlias and more dried purple flowers form an Ikebana-inspired design in my blue Buddha vase.
Week Thirty-One: Single Red Dahlia and Dried Purple Flowers
This striking trio of dahlias and dried purple flowers are the perfect way to conclude the line-up for Week Thirty-One of the Bouquet-a-Week Project.
Week Thirty-One: Three Small Bouquets
By mid-week, several of the dahlias had died, so I rearranged two new bouquets. I call these “extras” and they bring me just as much joy as the original week’s bouquets.
Here is the first one and you may notice that the sunflower’s petals are drastically shortened from the original bloom. That’s because I went a little wild with the shears as I cut away the brown tips. Oh, well. The sunflower’s big eye looks even more dramatic this way!
Week Thirty-One: Shaved Sunflower and Petunias
And here is a “normal” (unshaven) sunflower with a backdrop of deep-purple gladiolas and a single crimson petunia for a dramatic note.
Week Thirty One: Sunflower, Purple Gladiolas, and Single Red Petunia in Purple Ceramic Vase
Here is the same arrangement photographed in dramatic evening light.
The Pike Place Market flowers for Week Thirty of the Bouquet-a-Week Project were more formal in feeling than past arrangements because I was expecting some important company that week and wanted to impress.
Nothing beats white Asian lilies and gladiolas along with an outlier–a single pink peony. Not sure how that got in there, but I was glad it did.
Week Thirty: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
I took two of the white lilies and two of the gladiolas and arranged them corner-to-corner in a tall rectangular glass vase over smooth black-matte stones. A green backlight offered a dramatic touch.
Week Thirty: White Lilies and Gladiolas in a Clear Rectangular Vase
This arrangement of blossoming lilies and a majestic gladiola was so tall, I had to photograph it in a different setting, which proved a fortuitous experiment!
Week Thirty: White Lilies and One Gladiola in a Black Vase
The single pink peony really projects my favorite ikebana vibe when paired with bear grass and a trio of pussy willow stems in my favorite glossy purple jellybean vase.
Week Thirty: Single Pink Peony, Pussy Willows, and Bear Grass in a Purple Vase
Our company enjoyed the imposing arrangements, which lasted for well over a week as I cut off the dying lily blooms one by one until they faded altogether.
Week Twenty-Six in the Bouquet-a-Week Project brought a welcome change of pace because our long-time housekeepers surprised me with a dozen, deep-maroon dahlias. The flowers came freshly picked from the head housekeeper (and owner of the agency’s) garden near Fife.
The dahlias were delivered in a classic clear glass vase, the kind you get from the florist. I didn’t have the presence of mind to snap a photo, but here is the sort of vase I mean, painted using the Waterlogue app.
Week Twenty-Six: Classic Clear-Glass Vase
It was a pretty vase, but since I already had several like it, I let the housekeepers take theirs home and chose one from my collection instead.
Here is the first bouquet I created, which the way-too-kind ladies ooh-ed and aah-ed over. It reminds me of a nosegay and the kangaroo paw adds needed height.
Week Twenty-Six: Dark-Maroon Dahlias and Kangaroo Paw in Tall Clear Cylinder
Just for fun, after the housekeepers left, I transplanted the fistful of flowers into this antique cranberry-glass decanter. It looks beautiful backlighted in red and framed by a few sprigs of kangaroo paw and greenery.
Week Twenty-Six: Maroon Dahlias and Kangaroo Paw in Ruby Decanter
The decanter used to sit proudly on the cocktail trolley in the dining room of our family home in suburban Philadelphia. During fancy dinner parties my parents used to throw, my father made a big deal about serving after-dinner Port (which he called “a nightcap”) from the heirloom decanter.
Week Twenty-Six: Three Small Bouquets in Dreamy Light
I also had some Asian lilies and a kangaroo-paw sprig left over from the prior week, and arranged them in a clear-glass cylinder over smooth, ebony stones to dramatic effect.
Week Twenty-Six: Yellow Lilies and Kangaroo Paw in Tall Clear Cylinder
It’s amazing how a simple Champagne flute serves as the perfect vessel for a handful of Golden Arrow, stems carefully arranged in a criss-cross pattern.
Week Twenty-Six: Lacy White Flowers in Champagne Flute
A single cheerful sunflower and some purple dried flowers from Week Twenty-Five (more long-lived leftovers) take on the look of a Van Gogh painting when placed in my favorite blue Buddha vase. Warm summer sunlight!
Week Twenty-Six: Vincent Van Gogh Sunflower in Blue Vase
The Bouquet-a-Week Project kicked off with a stupendous array of flowers in Week Twenty-Five. I was drawn to this beauty by the graceful lime gladiola, spiky kangaroo paws, single sunflower with its fuzzy brown eyeball, and yellow Asian lilies. Pale-pink peonies and white golden arrow formed a pleasing framework around the major blossoms.
And here is the Week Twenty-Five fresh bouquet “painted” using the Waterlogue app.
Week Twenty-Five: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
As I always do, I unfurled the fresh flowers from their white wrapping paper and divided the flowers into a loose pile. Then I cut the stems and stripped them of any small leaves that remained. Next I “arranged” the flowers in a glossy-black, bell-shaped vase filled with water that would hydrate the blossoms until I could create the smaller individual bouquets.
Here is that shot “painted” in Waterlogue. I liked it so much, I was tempted to call it a day, but that would defeat the purpose of the Bouquet-a-Week Project, which is to buy a fresh Pike Place Market bouquet or single blossoms for less that $20 per week, then design smaller arrangements.
Week Twenty-Five: Yellow Lilies, Gladiola, Sunflower, and Kangaroo Paw in Glossy Black Vase
The first major bouquet of Week Twenty-Five means a lot because of the cranberry-colored, cut-glass vase, which is a family heirloom. There used to be two of them and the pair sat on either side of our mantel in the house where I grew up in suburban Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, one got crushed when my parents moved from the family home in Pennsylvania to their retirement house in Austin, Texas. After my parents died, I inherited it.
For years, it has sat in our bookshelves looking forlorn and, frankly, rather forgotten. But, thanks to the Bouquet-a-Week Project, I pulled it down (very carefully!), dusted it off, and graced it with the gladiola, peonies, and kangaroo paw.
I imagined my mother looking down and smiling at her industrious daughter’s clever re-use of her beloved mantle-piece “objet d’art,” as she used to call it. She was an amazing woman, and you can read more about her (specifically, the words I spoke at her memorial) on the Five More Minutes With website.
Week Twenty-Five: White Peonies, Lime Gladiola, and Kangaroo Paw in Tall Ruby Vase
My favorite robin’s-egg-blue narrow vase is well suited to the yellow irises and another sprig of kangaroo paw. Majestic!
Week Twenty-Five: Yellow Lilies and Kangaroo Paw in Swooping Pale-Blue Vase
More yellow lilies and kangaroo paw form a fitting foil in an Asian-inspired vase with a double opening.
Week Twenty-Five: Yellow Lilies and Kangaroo Paw in Tall Matte-Black Vase
A few days later, the peonies had faded so I took the remaining blossoms and created two “extra” bouquets. Taking this shot at night under a neon-pink back light using the “Bold” setting in the Waterlogue app resulted in this dramatic shot.
Week Twenty-Five: Yellow Lilies and Kangaroo Paws in Violet Ceramic Vase
A small arrangement looks winsome in my pink Buddha vase.
Week Twenty-Five: Tangled Flowers and Scarlet Iris in Pink Buddha Vase
My sweet husband brought home the Week Twenty-Four bouquet and it was a bounteous beauty, bursting with several different types of blossoms that I hadn’t worked with much before. These included a vivid blue hydrangea, one huge scarlet dahlia, and three daisies with fuzzy faces that seemed to smile at me from the perimeters of the bouquet. Here are the fresh flowers from the Pike Place Market for the Bouquet-a-Week Project, Week Twenty-Four, which cost $15.
Week Twenty-Four: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
The gorgeous glob of pink Stargazer lilies caught my eye first, and I knew they would pair dramatically with a single sprig of kangaroo paw.
Week Twenty-Four: Pink Lilies and Kangaroo Paw
Next I made a grab for all the purple-and-yellow irises and the single crimson lily. I like the way the lacy shapes of the irises contrast with the strong horizontal lines of the vase.
Week Twenty-Four: Purple Irises and Single Crimson Lily in Striped Vase
What to do with the single hydrangea? I thought my Asian-inspired celadon vase would form the perfect foil for such a singular bloom, especially when paired with pink sweet peas, two of the pink petunias, purple flowers, and a single spear of bear grass.
Week Twenty-Four: Dramatic Blossoms in Celadon Asian Vase
Here’s another design using a pink lily and a huge sunflower (left over from a prior bouquet) in my swooping robin’s-egg-blue vase, my ode to Vincent Van Gogh.
Week Twenty Four: Single Lily and Sunflower Ode to Van Gogh
Sweet peas, that single crimson dahlia, and more purple flowers for contrast look fetching in a pink Buddha vase backlighted in fuchsia.
Week Twenty Four: Pretty in Pink Flowers and Vase
There rather droopy snapdragons and lively purple flowers look jaunty in a squatty, clear-emerald vase backlighted in green.
Week Twenty Four: Purple Snapdragons in a Green Glass Vase
Those ruffly daisies look happy in the Week Twenty-Four three-small-bouquets Waterlogue “painting.”
