Blooms and blossoms
country style,garden inspiration
Pink jam jar filled with spring flowers and jug with tulips
Celebrate the pretty blooms and blossoms of the season by gathering and arranging favourite flowers in an array of country containers to brighten corners of your home and garden. Then sit back and revel in their cheering spring colours and subtle, uplifting scents.
Styling by Hester Page, photographs by Charlie Colmer
Vintage pressed-glass jug, £17.50, The Long Room (020 8392 4966). Jam jar coloured with glass paints, from a selection, Hobbycraft.
Spring clean
country style,garden inspiration
Laundry hung outside on line with pretty jars of flowers and spring sunshine
Vintage slatted garden chair, £38; blue painted chair, £40; enamel pitcher, £35; antique jug, £20: all The Long Room (020 8392 4966). Enamel colander, £15,
John Lewis.
Pretty primulas
country style,garden inspiration
Jug of flowers, stack of plates and jug with blossom
Highlight the delicate form and colouring of primulas, snake\'s head fritillaries and cyclamen by arranging small bunches in jugs or jam jars, or stand a single bough of blossom in a vase
Pierced china, from a selection, Royal Creamware. Other china, from a selection, Liberty. Stationery, from a selection, Paperchase.
Blanket of blossom
country style,garden inspiration
Table and chair outside among fallen blossom
Folding metal chair, £525 (set of two chairs, table and bench),
Plantstuff. Metal garden table, £135,
Parterre. Sisal shopper, £19.50,
Voodoo Blue.
Beauty in buckets
country style,garden inspiration
Bucket full of flowers standing on metal garden chair
Bucket, £15, The Long Room (020 8392 4966). Zinc flowerpot, from £3.95,
Grand Illusions.
Garden inspiration
country style,garden inspiration
Mugs placed on ceramic candle plates with vintage garden fork
Plastic beaker, £1.50,
Zara Home. Mug, £22, Brickett Davda for
Toast. Vintage garden hand-fork, £15, Garden Brocante (0118 9402967). Ceramic candle plates, £5.95 each,
Mia Wood.
In bloom
country style,garden inspiration
Jars of flowers on zinc topped table
Similar zinc-topped table, £350,
Lavender & Sage. Floral-print hammer (with screwdriver set inside) £9.95,
Bloomsbury. Glass jar lantern, from a selection,
Grand Illusions.
Colourful campanula
country style,garden inspiration
Trug full of flowers and basket tied with ribbon
Create a portable arrangement inside an old garden trug: try colourful campanula with a collection of tiny-flowered alpine plants.
Wooden trug, £36, The Truggery. Woven yellow shopper, from a selection, Zara Home; tied with Kinsale striped trimming, £8.50/m, Zoffany.
Pretty posy
country style,garden inspiration
Jam jars of daisies and forget-me-nots on chair
Mixed together in jam jars with spring snowflakes and purple pulmonaria, even unsung flowers such as the forget-me-not and the common garden daisy can make a pretty posy.
Vintage slatted garden chair, £38, The Long Room (020 8392 4966). Colander, £15, John Lewis.
Say it with flowers
country style,garden inspiration
Flowers in buckets and jugs on table and chair
Pick bunches of fresh spring flowers from your garden to give to friends and neighbours...
Similar zinc-topped table, £350, Lavender & Sage. Vintage folding slatted garden chair, £38; buckets, from £12.50: all The Long Room (020 8392 4966). Large galvanized zinc pitcher, £16.50; cake stand, £16.50; small pitcher, £12.95: all Grand Illusions.
Plant sale
country style,garden inspiration
Stall of flowers on table
...or set up an impromptu stall on a potting table and sell any surplus blooms to raise money for a local charity
Similar zinc-topped table, £350, Lavender & Sage. Vintage folding slatted garden chair, £38; buckets, from £12.50: all The Long Room (020 8392 4966). Vintage garden fork; £35; watering can, £15: both Garden Brocante (0118 940 2967). Large galvanized zinc pitcher, £16.50; cake stand, £16.50; small pitcher, £12.95: all Grand Illusions.
Tulip fever
country style,garden inspiration
Jug of tulips on table with jam jar of flowers
Cream metal garden table, £135, Parterre. Vintage pressed-glass jug, £17.50, The Long Room (020 8392 4966). Pierced china, from a selection, Royal Creamware. Other china, from a selection, Liberty.
Garden path
country style,garden inspiration
Woman with bike and basket in garden
Woven shopper, £18, Toast.
Vaseline joins list of Reader Recommended buys
Personal trainer: worth it?
