Flowers for Mother’s Day and Lakeside Table

Celebrate Mom with flowers for Mother’s Day! You’ll find flower arranging tips along with table inspiration to create your own floral centerpiece or bouquet using both grocery store and garden flowers.

May is a busy month filled with events and celebrations, not the least of which is Mother’s Day! It’s also my favorite spring month in the garden, when the first flush of blooms arrive. . . how appropriate that they coincide with Mother’s Day, which happens to be this Sunday!

And as it’s the first Monday of the month I’m joining my blogging friends to share some floral inspiration and Monday Morning Blooms! You’ll find my floral friends’ links to their blooming creations at the bottom of this post.

I set a table in celebration of Mom and some beautiful spring weather. . .pull up a chair, all ‘Moms’ are welcome!

I started with my Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt as a tablecloth. The hexagon quilt pattern is known by several names. . . French Bouquet, French Rose Garden, Hexagon Flower Garden, or more commonly, Grandmother’s Flower Garden. I inherited this quilt from my grandmother, so technically, it’s my Grandmother’s Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt. ;)

Hexagon quilts made in the Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern contain a center hexagon~ traditionally yellow, to represent the flower’s center. The flower center is circled by six colorful printed or solid hexagons with another row of 12 hexagons surrounding the six. It’s easy to see how this quilt pattern blossomed in popularity in the 1930s, as the calico prints formed cheery garden flowers that would brighten one’s day in a depression-era time.

To create a flower arrangement for the table, I started a white fluted bowl and some chicken wire to help support the flower stems. Cut your chicken wire wider and longer than your container, so you have a several inches of wire on all sides of your container to bend and hold it inside your container. I used some clear waterproof floral tape, running strips across the width of the container to secure it so it would stay down inside the bowl. Tip: Waterproof tape is designed to hold when wet but it will not adhere to an already wet surface. Apply it before you add your water to your container.

Add some floral preservative to your water to help prolong the life of your flowers. If you don’t have any floral preservative, you can make your own with this easy formula. Now you’re ready to make your arrangement! I used some flowers from the garden to supplement some grocery store blooms~  iris, tulips, hyacinths and hydrangeas. Endless Summer Hydrangeas are covered with buds and I noticed some small blooms yesterday! It won’t be long before I have some blooms to cut and enjoy in an arrangement.

The azaleas are waning but there were still some stems to cut and use filler in the arrangement. . .

In addition to azaleas, I added some Knock Out Roses that are blooming by the Potting Shed.

Here is the finished arrangement ready to use as a centerpiece for the table. . .

Tip: Bulb flowers, such as tulips, hyacinth, and narcissus (daffodil) are heat-sensitive and tend to have a shorter life span. A trick to help prolong their life is to use ice cubes or very cold water in your vase arrangement. Also, once a flower starts to fade, remove it from the bouquet as soon as possible. A dying flower releases ethylene gas that will hasten the decline of other flowers in your arrangement.

Note: There are mixed opinions as to whether or not to use floral preservative with bulb flowers. I do, especially when they’re going to be mixed with other flowers and it seems to help prolong their life, along with cold water.

Roses are blooming on my great aunt’s delicate Limoges salad plates, framed by more flowers and scalloped borders of Mikasa Endearment dinner plates.

Blooming napkin rings, napkins and flatware add additional flowers to the table.

I noticed some activity beyond the table at the dovecote as I was photographing my table. . .

Mom and Dad bluebird have decided to move in and build a nest!

Table Details:

Grandmother’s Flower Garden Quilt / Grandmother

Dinner Plates / Mikasa Endearment

Salad Plates / Limoges, G. Demartine & Cie

Flatware / Oneida Community Evening Star

Goblets / Mother-in-law’s, pattern unknown

Fluted White Bowl / Pier 1, used here

Napkin Rings / Consignment Store

Napkins / HomeGoods

Visit my talented blogging friends to see their Mother’s Day floral inspiration this week:

Shirley at Housepitality Designs

Pam at Everyday Living

Lidy at FrenchGardenHouse

I hope you feel celebrated and loved this Mother’s Day!

Thank you for your visit!

Sharing with:  Metamorphosis Monday