Styling Spring blooms with Bloom & Wild’s letterbox flowers [AD]

This is a paid partnership, written in collaboration with Bloom & Wild

I don’t know if the same holds true for where you are, but here in London it feels like Spring is yet to bloom. So while there’s still grey skies and rainy days outside, what better way to embrace the uplifting mood of Spring than to bring the outside into the home. Whether you plant fragrant hyacinth bulbs in old jam jars, brighten up a corner with a big bunch of seasonal stems or arrange some sculptural eucalyptus on your mantlepiece, it’s a guaranteed pick-me-up for any interior.

Today I’ve teamed up with flower delivery company Bloom & Wild, who create fresh, seasonal, of the moment bouquets handily delivered through the letterbox, to showcase a few, simple, easy ways to style your home for Spring. I’ll be sharing how I like to arrange flowers in my home, finishing off with some quick tips for getting the most out of your Spring letterbox flowers and prolonging the life of your blooms for longer.  

I chose Bloom & Wild’s ‘Lavender Blush’ letterbox flowers – a delicate arrangement of soft, Spring tones and textures, with buttery roses, blush lisianthus and frothy white rice flowers complimented by the sweet scent of lavender. There’s peach roses for a gentle pop of colour and fluffy green alchemilla to give a relaxed, wild look. Finally, star flowers, a tight Spring bloom that at first sight looks a little like asparagus, but opens up into fragrant, sweet little white flowers, complete the bouquet. I love the variety you can get with a flower delivery, it just makes it feel a little bit more special than a standard supermarket bunch.

Bloom & Wild’s arrangements come conveniently hand-packed in a long, thin box that can fit through the letterbox if you’re out. It’s my first point of call if I’m sending flowers as a gift as I know they can be delivered easily and the receiver won’t have to go to the post office if they miss a delivery.

I’ve arranged the flowers into my favourite Alvar Aalto vase, but with three or four stems of each variety in the arrangement, you could also separate them out into smaller bouquets around the house. I love having fresh blooms on the coffee table or dining table but the ultimate luxury for me is having flowers by my bedside. There is nothing better! Obviously this doesn’t show my bedroom, but here, the soft blush of the white rice flowers tie in with the natural linen cushions dotted around my home, while the natural greenery offsets my light grey walls nicely.

Once you’ve decided where to display your flowers, you want to get the most out of them, so here’s my quick tips for keeping your blooms fresher for longer:

– When buying your flowers, choose stems that haven’t bloomed and opened up yet. You can test how old the blooms are by gently squeezing the base of the bud, with roses for instance you want them to be quite tight and firm, so they come into full bloom in your home, rather than being already past it by the time you get them

– Buy flowers in season – Spring is a great time for ranunculus, peonies, tulips and roses

– Bloom & Wild cuts out the middlemen and sends flowers directly from the growers, so you know they haven’t been hanging about a shop or supermarket before they come to you. The good thing about letterbox flowers is they come with nets around each bud to ensure they don’t get damaged en route

– Lay out your stems and strip away any excess leaves – you don’t want any leaves to be below the waterline of your vase, they’ll begin to rot, ruining the water and shortening the life of your flowers. I like to arrange the stems by type so I can then I individually place them in the vase and get a cohesive, balanced arrangement

– Don’t just unwrap the flowers and put them straight into a vase. Trim your stems to open them up so they absorb water better – cut at an angle,taking 3-5cm off or however much will suit the height of the vase you’ve chosen. Cut the stem at an angle to increase the surface area that can draw up water

– Choose a vase to suit your blooms, a kilner jar for shorter varieties and a tall vase for longer stems, so the stems are supported, preventing any drooping

– Fill your vase with clean water and stir in any provided flower food, it keeps flowers in a good condition and helps closed buds to open up

– Change the water every other day or so, to keep it fresh and prevent any bacteria from growing. You can also trim the stems by 1cm again to keep them happy

– Keep your bouquet out of drafts, direct sunlight and away from radiators, the heat of which can cause stems to wilt. Placing your vase away from fresh fruit and bananas can also help

– Different varieties have different life spans – after a few days or a week or so, remove any stems that look like they’re dying and rearrange the bouquet into a smaller vase or a few individual vessels for a fresher look. I like to dot these around the house so every corner has a lovely, vibrant touch

– Some stems look equally good when dry – the colour of eucalyptus and foliage will dull with time but they last for ages (I find that especially true if they’re in the bathroom). Keep in a vase without water once they’ve dried out. You can also hang roses or hydrangea heads upside down to dry them and create an arrangement that will bring joy beyond the months of Spring

– With this bouquet for example, I can pick out the dried lavender and sew the scented flower heads into a fabric pouch to create a scented sachet for my drawers. They’re great for putting next to your pillow and helping you sleep or keeping laundry smelling fresh in the airing cupboard

The pink, green and hints of soft yellow bring life and texture to my understated, pared-back home. I love adding colour in my interior with plants, flowers, books and postcards on the walls, picked up from art exhibitions or flea market trips. That way the space can adapt and change easily with the seasons, without having to re-paint a wall or regret the purchase of that brightly coloured piece of the furniture. I’m all for simple, easy, accessible ways to update the home without spending a fortune, and I think this Spring, a bunch of blooms holds the answer.

All images Cate St Hill

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