In the past couple of years my family’s collection of gardening books has noticeably increased because a passion for plants sprouted in my sister and me (pun very much intended). My latest additions include Floret Flower Farm’s three books on flowers. I absolutely adore these books and I regularly pull them off the shelf to admire the floral gems inside. My favorite of these books is “Floret Farm’s A Year in Flowers: Designing Gorgeous Arrangements for Every Season.”
Erin Benzakein and her family run Floret Flower Farm, a cut-flower farm in Washington with an online shop. Benzakein’s books are filled with information on all aspects of flower growing and lovely photos of her own blooms. The first book I read is “A Year in Flowers,” a book that completely changed any notions I had about flower arranging. Prior to reading “A Year in Flowers,” I thought that bouquet making was as simple as sticking flowers in a vase with just a little rustling to make sure you could see everything. Finding out that there is a method for creating arrangements as beautiful as Benzakein’s was extremely eye opening.
My latest creative pursuits made me realize that a lot of forms of expression have a method (or several) of creating something beautiful, and flowers are no exception. In Benzakein’s words, she designs arrangements that look like they’re “growing out of the vase.” She only uses seasonal flowers in her bouquets. Foliage, seedpods, fruit and vegetables all have their places too. Pictured above is one of my favorite bouquets from “A Year in Flowers.” There’s a lot of beautiful flowers, but visible behind them are peony leaves, crabapples, raspberries, blackberries, rose hips and more. Doesn’t it look so lush and gorgeous?
While “A Year in Flowers” is an accurate title, this book is so much more than that. Benzakein includes information on choosing proper arranging vases, when to cut flowers and how to care for them, understanding the aspects of design, color, ingredients and much more. All of this is included in the first two sections of the book. The next section details Benzakein’s “essential techniques.” She explains the process and order of using different categories of plants, such as textural ingredients, focal flowers and airy accents. Benzakein then applies this order to seven types of bouquets. The bouquets feature photos of each step to make the arrangement.
Next are the seasons, each with six bouquet styles from the previous section as well as a different bonus technique in each season. Every bouquet has a list of the plants used and photos of the varieties. There aren’t any instructions for the seasonal bouquets, which I rather like. I can gather the ingredients and follow the instructions from earlier in the book, or treat the bouquet as inspiration. Benzakein does write out how to create the season’s unique arrangement though. I don’t want to imagine what would happen if I tried to make spring’s arrangement, a flower crown, without any instructions.
Honestly, “A Year in Flowers” is one of my favorite books. There is so much information and the instructions and accompanying photos are clear and helpful. Nearly every spread has a photo taken by Benzakein’s husband, Chris, and they are absolutely breathtaking. Photos are an extremely important part of books, especially for a book devoted to something as lovely as flowers. The old gardening book might be filled with relevant advice, but beautiful photos are going to attract a bigger audience. While we don’t personally have a coffee table at my family’s house, “A Year in Flowers” could absolutely be considered a coffee table book. It’s that beautiful.
So far, “A Year in Flowers” is the only book about flower arranging that I’ve read. I really don’t have any criticism, though. The wealth of knowledge and photos inside, coupled with the beautiful design and effective layout, makes it a lovely addition to any gardener’s collection.
What I like most, though, is that Benzakein acknowledges that learning to arrange such stunning bouquets was difficult. It took time and a lot of practice. When Benzakein learned to arrange, she mostly taught herself. While it’ll still take many arrangements to learn the technique, at least non-florists have a resource. The technique has been discovered and it’s been shared with the world. It only has to be learned. I’ll continue to attempt this natural style of arranging for however long it takes me to learn it. I know it will be a while. In the meantime, I have “A Year in Flowers” to keep me tied over with beautiful flowers, helpful advice and incredible inspiration.
"Anna" is a teenage girl who loves to write, read, and do just about anything artsy. She enjoys writing about nature crafts and her experiences while learning to hunt and cook wild game. Anna firmly believes that backyard chickens lay the best eggs and that spending time outside with her flock every morning will start the day off happily. She is extremely grateful to her best friend, who inspired her to really take writing seriously. You can find her lost in her latest idea or listening to her sister "Rose" read book quotes. View all posts by Anna
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