I have been inspired by my mother-in-law, Penny, to bring more flowers in to my home. She has the most amazing garden, which is filled with gorgeous blooms, so there is never a time that she doesn’t have some sort of floral arrangement in most rooms of her house. My lovely friend, Sara, follows me on Instagram and left this comment on one of my photos the other day: “Do you buy fresh flowers everyday???”. This got me thinking about some of the things I do to make sure there is always at least one vase of flowers in the house, despite the fact I probably don’t buy flowers more than twice a month and I never spend more than about £8 on any bunch I buy.

I promised Sara that I would share some tips on how to fill your home with flowers without having to spend an absolute fortune and to illustrate my point I am using lots of the Instagram photos that she may have seen in my feed.

Tip one: The basics

Im sure most people know all of this but when you make a flower arrangement, to make it last as long as possible, cut the stems diagonally so they can take in as much water as possible, change the water frequently and always remove the leaves – they should never be submerged in the water. Also, don’t over-crowd your flowers, allow them the space they need to survive as long as possible.

Tip two: Never buy bouquets

I learnt a long time ago that even though beautifully arranged bouquets of flowers look very tempting and seem like the easy option, they actually never look quite as good once they are unwrapped and they are not good value for money. When you buy flowers always choose your own, even if that can be a bit daunting. Don’t worry if you have the florist loitering behind you or you’re not sure which flowers go with which, just grab a few of anything you love the look of.

Always pick your own flowers – it’s much cheaper and they go a lot further.

I bought these flowers because my flat was being shot for a magazine. I wanted to make arrangements for every room of the house, which cost me £12 in total.

Tip three: Make a few small arrangements instead of one big one

If you want a glimpse of colour and cheer in most rooms, it is far easier to achieve this for less by creating several small arrangements, rather than one large one – something my mother-in-law does so well. If you worry about not having enough vases use jam jars, kilner jars, empty spice bottles, jugs, even a mug! Group flowers together by colour, size, texture or height or a complete mix: there are no rules. However, make sure you only include in any arrangement an odd number of stems i.e. 1,2,3,5,7,9 and so on (I know 2 is not an odd number but this is the only exception to the rule). This will always look better than an even number of stems. Also, cut your flowers to different heights as this will make a more interesting lokking arrangement.

From the bunch above, I managed to make these three smaller arrangements as well as…

…this one (which is in an empty cinnamon bottle) and…

…this one for the bedroom (a single rose can make just as much impact as a whole bunch)…

…and the main one in the green vase in my sitting room.

Tip four: Grow your own flowers

The best way to save money on flowers and to have a readily available supply is to grow your own. You do not need a garden for this, a small outdoor space will do, but you need to choose what you grow carefully. I have two Hydrangea plants on my balcony because I know they will give me flowers throughout summer and when you cut them, they last for ages – cut them at an angle, put them straight into cold water and if you have extra time and energy a spritz with water on the petals is a good idea as they feed through their petals. I also grow a Lavender plant, which is very hardy, easy to look after and has lovely flowers throughout summer and gives scent to the home. Plant a container of wild flowers, too, if you can, as they make the most beautiful, rustic arrangements during spring when not a lot else is in flower. Don’t be afraid to use herbs in your floral arrangements as these are really easy to grow and add an unexpected element to a posie – I use Mint, Rosemary, Sage and Thyme.

Grow as much as you can yourself – these are my Hydrangeas on my balcony that have already started giving me flowers this year!

I made a May Day posie this year using just flowers and herbs from my balcony – Hydrangeas, Cornflowers, Forget-me-nots, Lavender, Mint and Rosemary.

Wild flowers are a great thing to grow as they provide flowers in the spring that can be used for teeny tiny arrangements or something more rustic like my May Day posie.

I love this collection of wild flowers I picked from my balcony – beautifully photographed here by Katharine Peachey.

More wild flowers with a few Grape Hyacinths that I grew indoors.

I picked these this week from my balcony before friends came over for dinner. They would have cost a fortune if I’d bought them.

Don’t be afraid to break apart a large bloom and create a teeny tiny floral feature, which can have a really big impact.

Just add one stem to a vintage bottle – just as nice as a whole bunch of flowers.

I always grow Sweet Peas as they produce so many flowers and they smell amazing! During the Sweet Pea season I have a vase full everyday.

Tip five: Recycle

Keep an eye on your floral arrangements, don’t just leave them to languish. If a stem is dying take it out and throw it away leaving the rest to continue. If the head of a flower is fine but the stem has collapsed, remove the head and place in water in a bowl or tea cup – they can last for ages this way. Also, if you have a few small arrangements, when they start to fade salvage the freshest looking and bring them together to form a new arrangement that will last that bit longer.

When this gorgeous bunch of Ranunculus started to fade, I removed some of the soggy stems and salvaged the heads…

…pop them in a pretty tea cup or bowl and they will keep on giving for a few extra days.

Tip six: Plant bulbs indoors

Such an easy thing to do but adds so much colour and cheer and you have fresh flowers in your home for weeks for nothing! I did a tutorial about how to grow bulbs indoors so check it out.

So there you go, my six top tips for adding flowers to your home for a minimal amount of money. It may seem a lot of effort, but once you start getting in to flowers, it almost becomes a bit addictive and the joy of having even the smallest posie sitting next to you as you sleep, eat, watch TV or work is just wondrous.

Katy x

P.S. Sara, I expect a bunch of flowers for writing this for you. Just sayin’ 😉

A happy coincidence happened a few weeks ago: I discovered Urban Jungle Bloggers, a monthly series aimed at bringing green into our homes, and then I was lucky enough to be sent a lovely LSA cheese dome by Pavilion Broadway. Maybe not an obvious connection, but I decided to use my new cheese dome as a mini green-house to help me grow herbs for my windowsill and balcony (this was the Urban Jungle Bloggers’ April  theme – late, I know!).

I dream of having my own garden and especially the potting shed that will be so pretty! In the meantime, however, I am lucky enough to have a two bedroom flat with a balcony and a communal roof terrace so if I want to grow plants, flowers or food I can. Herbs are the thing I put most effort into growing; they are easy to grow and so useful in everyday cooking. The only problematic bit is growing from seed, which is the cheapest way of planting. Trays of seedlings in your home can be unsightly and require space and I don’t have much of that and I know lots of other people have the same problem.

The solution is to choose the herbs you use the most, plant these and use containers for planting that can form a centrepiece in your kitchen, on your coffee table or windowsill instead of ugly plastic planting trays. My LSA cheese dome from Pavilion Broadway was perfect for this as seedlings need to be covered in their early stages. The dome looks great and is big enough to house my key plants: Parsley, Mint, Tarragon, Tomatoes, Coriander.

The dome can take pride of place on the kitchen table, worktop or coffee table as it looks so pretty. It’s also a bit of a conversation point.

A peek out onto my balcony beyond the windows in my sitting room. I’m growing: Sweet peas, Hydrangea, a terrarium of ferns, Camelia, Wisteria and Rosemary.

Once your seedlings are ready to be planted out, if you don’t have outdoor space, you can use old tins and put these on your windowsill. Have a look at my recycled planters tutorial for ideas.

Thank you so much to Igor and Judith for the Urban Jungle Bloggers inspiration. Thank you, also, to Pavilion Broadway for the lovely cheese dome – there is 20% off LSA gifts perfect for your dad in the lead up to Fathers’ Day, so pop over!

Katy x

I’m a teeny bit late but I love the May Day posie idea that I saw over on Little Green Shed blog so I’m taking part, even if it’s not technically May Day today! The Pagan tradition is to leave an anonymous posie of hand-picked flowers on someone’s front door to celebrate the beginning of May. Pop over to Lou’s blog to see so many lovely examples or search for the hastag #NITHmayday on Instagram (NITH = nature in the home).

So, this morning I got up extra early and picked some flowers and herbs from my balcony and roof terrace – Rosemary, Mint, Lavendar, Cornflowers, Forget-me-nots and Hydrangeas.

I wound twine around a Mason jar and wrote an anonymous note and left it on the office door of a special friend at work. I hope it makes her smile at what is a very difficult time.

I hope you enjoy the coming few weeks and all the colour, warmth and promise May brings.

Katy x

As I write this there is the most wonderful sun in the sky and warmth in the air. It is truly delightful: Spring is springing, bulbs are out, birds are singing. Seeing colour in the park makes me smile and I’ve loved growing my own bulbs at home this year. I’m inspired to have more house plants and display these in different ways. I’m currently collecting ideas that I would like to share with you today. Plants can totally transform the feel and style of a room so it’s something to consider with more thought than I have done in the past.

1. Planting indoor bulbs.

How to grow indoor bulbs by me!

2. Hanging jars and bottles:

Image from Terrain.

3. Trailing plants placed on a high shelf:

Image from Fat Cat Brussels flickr.

3. A fruit tree:

Image from Freunde von Freunden. Photograph by: Natalia Guarín.

4. Succulents and cacti in vintage tins and pots:

Image from Homebarn Lookbook, styled and photographed by Caroline Davis.

5. Plants EVERYWHERE:

Image from Old Chum flickr.

6. A ladder shelf:

Image from Weekday Carnival blog. Photograph by Riikka Kantinkoski.

7. A dedicated trolley or table for plant pots:

Image from Design Is Mine blog.

8. Placing plants in crates hanging on the wall:

Image from Smile and Wave blog.

9. Add just one statement plant:

Image from Bungalow 5 blog.

10. A fiddle fig tree in a basket:

Image from Smitten Studio blog.

Just LOVE all of these images and I hope you’ve got some ideas about how you can display house plants a bit more creatively.

Katy x

At this time of year it seems more important than ever to fill my home with flowers and colour. However, buying fresh flowers every week is expensive (Jules bought me flowers every week for the first year of our relationship – wonder why that stopped!). Also, I think some people find arranging flowers, knowing what to put them in and changing the water a bit of a hassle.

Planting bulbs indoors is the answer. They are so easy to plant, need no care other than a few turns so they don’t grow towards the light and the flowers last far longer than freshly cut ones.

I’ve decided to plant some this year in some of my tea cups, jugs, jars and old tins as it means I can have these on display too – bonus. If you want to do the same, you need to use a Bulb Fibre compost that has lots of fibre and charcoal in it as this allows the water to drain otherwise the roots will rot in a container with no holes.

Here’s a quick run down for you of how I planted each different type of bulb:

Hyacinth – you can plant these bulbs with no compost. If you don’t have a hyacinth vase, use a jam jar. Pop some pebbles to about half way up and place the bulb on top. Fill with water to just below the top of the pebbles so the bulb is just touching the water. The roots will grow and fill the jar so this looks really pretty. Keep the jar topped up with water, never filling it beyond the base of the bulb.

Crocus – these bulbs need very little compost as they have a really shallow root base. Therefore, they are perfect to be planted in shallow tins, serving dishes or bowls. Plant them so that you can see their shoulders. I’ve used a small enamel dish and a soup terrine for mine.

Daffodils – if you are planting these outside, you would plant them at least 10cm below the surface. However, inside plant them just below the surface. I’ve used a tea cup for mine.

Muscari (grape hyacinths) – these need a deeper container to grow in as they have a larger root structure to the other bulbs so I’ve used a deep cake tin and a jug. Plant them close together and just below the surface of the compost.

Snow drops – plant them just below the surface of the compost.

Freesias – plant them just below the surface of the compost and don’t crowd them.

Remember to turn them every now and agin to stop them from bending over backwards towards the light, and keep the soil moist but not flooded.

For far more detailed and expert advice have a look at these articles written by Sarah Raven: The Inside Job Part 1, The Inside Job Part 2, The Inside job Part 3.

Happy planting!

Katy x