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.
To borrow a phrase from the great British Baking Show, Week Thirty-Nine of the Bouquet-a-Week Project was a “showstopper.” It had everything thanks to height from two orange gladiolas, a riot of color from a medium-sized sunflower, a cabbage flower, one spiky orange-and-yellow dahlia, two variegated orange-and-yellow dahlias, one variegated maroon-and-white dahlia, and five sprigs of goldenrod.
I purchased this showstopper from Erlinda, my favorite flower designer at Flower Garden in the Pike Place Market for $15. I love her blossoms because the stems are clean and free of much extra foliage which makes them easy to work with once I arrive home. Here is the original bouquet.
Week Thirty-Nine: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers
And here is Week Thirty-Nine’s showstopping bouquet “painted” using the Waterlogue app.
Week Thirty-Nine: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
The blossoms look trés magnifique when laid out in tandem.
Week Thirty-Nine: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers in a Row
And painted in Waterlogue using the Vibrant setting.
Week Thirty-Nine: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers in a Row Painted in Waterlogue
Lately, I have enjoyed putting all the blossoms into a large vase to see how they look before dividing them into smaller bouquets.
Week Thirty-Nine: Big Bouquet
I couldn’t resist grouping several of the most unique blossoms together in a glossy Asian-leaning vase.
Week Thirty-Nine: Orange Gladiolas and Giant Dahlia
A single maroon dahlia and greenery looks pretty cool when painted in Waterlogue using Bold Mode.
Week Thirty-Nine: Giant Scarlet Dahlia in a Striped Vase
Week Thirty-Nine’s single sunflower formed a copacetic match with a few sprigs of goldenrod–two very different shades of yellow.
Week Thirty-Nine: Single Sunflower in a Blue Buddha Vase
The cabbage flower and goldenrod formed a fitting duo in a pink Buddha vase.
Week Thirty-Nine: Cabbage and Goldenrod in a Pink Buddha Vase
The two smaller bouquets seem to be saying hello to one another in the Waterlogue painting below.
Week Thirty-Nine: Two Buddha Vases
And here are Week Thirty-Nine’s three small vases.
Week Thirty-Nine: Pink, Blue, and Green Small Bouquets
And three more from this showstopping bouquet, just for good measure.
Week Thirty-Nine: Two Blue and One Pink Small Bouquet
Even leftover green leaves and a single frond from one of the gladiolas look fetching when presented in a simple glass vase and backlighted in green.
Week Thirty-Nine: Green Leaves in a Triangular Vase
A few days later, after the blossoms began to fade and I wanted a change of pace, here are the arrangements I came up with. I just love the “Van Gogh” look of the sunflower in this striped vase.
Week Thirty-Nine: Giant Sunflower in a Striped Vase
And what’s not to like in the way the narrow throat of this purple ceramic vase seems to hug the towering gladiolas and dahlias?
Week Thirty-Nine: Orange Gladiolas and Huge Orange Dahlia in Purple Ceramic Vase
My trusty tall baby-blue vase gets an Ikebana feeling when planted with orange and red dahlias and pussywillow sprigs.
Week Thirty-Nine: Orange and Yellow Dahlias in a Tall Blue Vase
When the individual flowers on the gladiola stems began to die from the bottom up (as they always do), I pulled them off, cut down the stems, and placed the two leftover gladiolas in the whimsical cat vase. Meow!
Week Thirty-Nine: Orange Gladiolas in a Gray Cat Vase
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.
For Week Thirty-Six of the Bouquet-a-Week Project, I returned to the Pike Place Market on a Monday afternoon around 4:30 p.m. I was tired after stopping at the grocery store on the way home preceded by a long, but much-needed workout.
To my delight, Erlinda from Flower Garden was in her usual spot in the Market’s Main Arcade, near “where they throw the fish,” the tourists’ name for Pike Place Fish.
When trying to decide between two gorgeous bouquets, I asked Erlinda for her advice and she pointed me toward this one. It was a real bargain at just $10 and I chuckled as I kept hearing passersby remark on how beautiful the Market’s flowers are and at such inexpensive prices.
“The guys have it easy who live here,” one woman said. “They can pick up a bouquet for ten bucks on their way home!”
So true.
Here are the gorgeous blossoms from Week Thirty-Six, fresh from the Pike Place Market.
Week Thirty-Six: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers
And here are the bountiful blooms “painted” in Waterlogue.
Week Thirty-Six: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
I love to line up the flowers by variety and color. These are so spectacular!
Week Thirty-Six: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers in a Row
For Week Thirty-Three of the Bouquet-a-Week Project, I returned to the Pike Place Market and chose the bountiful bouquet myself, versus having my darling husband pick one out.
Because it had been several weeks, I went a bit crazy, spending my entire budget of $20 on a SPECTACULAR mosaic of periwinkle, deep purple, and pristine white flowers. Here is the big bouquet in all its raw glory.
Week Thirty-Three: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers
And here it is “painted” using the Natural Mode of the Waterlogue app.
Week Thirty-Three: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
I couldn’t resist laying out the individual flowers, placed together by type and color, to see just how many I had to play with during Week Thirty-Three. Here they are!
Week Thirty-Three: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers in a Row
And these are the same flowers “painted” in Waterlogue.
Week Thirty-Three: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers in a Row Painted in Waterlogue
Because of the sheer number of dramatic blossoms I had to work with, I was able to create four major bouquets for Week Thirty-Three. Here is the first one and interesting to note that the “greenery” this week is actually curly kale. You might say this is an edible arrangement–ha!
Week Thirty-Three: Periwinkle Blue and Purple Flowers Over Blue Stones in a Tall Rectangular Vase
I fell in love with what I call pom-pom dahlias and felt they would look the most impressive in my Ikebana Vase from Design Within Reach. Backlighting in pink ups the drama.
Week Thirty-Three: Pink Dahlias in an Ikebana Vase
Week Thirty-Three: A Half-Dozen Dahlias in a Tall Cranberry-Glass Vase
More curly kale and the white dahlias, with just a touch of pink, fill this beautiful bulbous crystal vase to the max. I used a Perfect Arrangers stainless-steel “frog” in the bottom of the vase to hold the stems just how I wanted them to appear.
Week Thirty-Three: White Dahlias and Curly Kale in a Bulbous Crystal Vase
Another big-boy dahlia and a single pom-pom dahlia, when paired with pussy-willow stems in my favorite Asian-inspired celadon vase, really “sing.”
Week Thirty-Three: Dahlias and Pussy Willows in Celadon Vase
A single pom-pom dahlia and pussy-willow stalk look stupendous in my pink Buddha vase.
Week Thirty-Three: Single Pom-Pom Dahlia and Pussy Willow in Pink Buddha Vase
Shooting Week Thirty-Three’s trio of small bouquets becomes even more dramatic than usual when “painted” using the Waterlogue app’s Bold Mode.
Week Thirty-Three: Dahlias and a Sunflower in Three Small Vases
I thought it would be instructive during Week Thirty-Three to show just how much of this bouquet was made up of dried pink and purple flowers as filler. This is one clever way that the flower farmers at the Pike Place Market manage to make their bouquets appear so full and also sell them at such reasonable prices.
Week Thirty-Three: Brown Bag and Dried Flowers
As mentioned in Week Twenty-Five of the Bouquet-a-Week Project, I sometimes end up making “extra” bouquets mid-week when the blossoms begin to fade and I rearrange the surviving ones using new vases and decorative fillers.
Week Thirty-Three “extra” bouquets included three interesting bouquets. The first shows a bunch of the smaller dahlias (“babies”) clustered together in a pretty rose-embossed vase that I don’t use nearly enough. It originally held an FTD bouquet I sent to my mother-in-law and that I inherited when she passed away.
To help the flowers stay upright and not flop against the lip the vase, I used a round kenzan (a.k.a, a “spiky frog”) that is used in the Japanese art of ikebana. I bought the kenzan at the Seattle Cherry Blossom & Japanese Cultural Festival but they are widely available online if you want to purchase one.
Week Thirty-Three: Miscellaneous Leftover Blossoms in a Rose Vase
A second “extra” arrangement is presented in my tall, baby-blue vase which makes any flower assortment look impressive.
Week Thirty-Three: Extra Blue and Purple Flowers in Tall Blue Vase
Finally, more “baby” dahlias and some of the dried purple flowers fill my pink Buddha vase to good effect.
Week Thirty-Three: Leftover Purple Flowers in Pink Buddha Vase
I bought my Week Thirty-Two flowers of the Bouquet-a-Week Project from Erlinda, the talented floral designer at Flower Garden in the Pike Place Market.
Because I still had some leftover blossoms from Week Thirty-One, I chose my own flowers for Week Thirty-Two versus opting for a premade bouquet.
The chosen blossoms included six peonies ranging from white to pale pink to deep crimson. There were even four “babies” attached to the bigger flowers. “Babies” are what I call unopened, lolly-pop-sized peonies. They are so fun to watch unfurl.
I also got two BIG yellow dahlias. Once again, I was delighted to discover there was a “baby” attached to one of the stems.
And here are the flowers “painted” in the amazing Waterlogue app.
Week Thirty-Two: Fresh Pike Place Market Flowers Painted in Waterlogue
A deep-crimson and pale-pink peony partnered perfectly in my glossy purple jellybean vase.
Week Thirty-Two: A Pair of Peonies in a Jellybean Vase
Later in the week, after the peonies had faded, I replaced them with one of the fuzzy yellow dahlias, bear grass, and a trio of pussy-willow stems.
Week Thirty-Two: Single Yellow Dahlia, Bear Grass, and Pussy-Willow Trio
The single white peony looks starkly beautiful over multicolored marbles in a clear-glass vase.
Week Thirty-Two: A Single Peony With Multicolor Marbles
This is a new “vase,” which actually started life as a soap dispenser in our kitchen. You never know where an unusual and useful vessel will be found! A crimson peony and its “baby,” along with a few pieces of greenery, are stunning.
Week Thirty-Two: Deep Pink Peonies in Silver Spiral Vase
The “baby” peonies look so happy in three small vases backlighted with natural-colored light.
Week Thirty-Two: A Trio of Vases in Natural Light
Just for fun, here is the same grouping backlighted in green. . .
Week Thirty-Two: A Trio of Peonies in Glass Vases in Green Light
Then, pink. . .
Week Thirty-Two: Trio of Small Vases in Pink Light
And finally, my favorite Buddha vases flank the same central vase with the pink backlight. Festive!
Week Thirty-Two: A Trio of Peonies in Glass Vases in Pink Light
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.
