It’s summertime – you’re in cottage mode and so is your entertaining style. Forget the tasteful, polite floral arrangements of formal dinner parties. Instead, embrace your wild side. Today’s look is a little boho, a little boreal forest and a little cottage country, whether you’re talking botanicals in vases, rose petals in recipes, or lilac prints instead of gingham for table linens. It’s the perfect backdrop to offset your favourite seasonal fare, from straight-from-the-grill mains to bright salads and bowls of just-picked berries. The botanical buzz also reflects society’s indefatigable quest for wellness – the power in those pretty plants has, after all, been tapped for centuries.
Take your aesthetic cue from interior designer Nam Dang-Mitchell. Scroll Instagram to spy her as she wedges chartreuse hydrangeas into a floral arrangement that flows asymmetrically across a mantel and down, brushing the herringbone-patterned wood floor. The occasion? Dang-Mitchell is hosting a dinner to celebrate the Smythe boutique opening in Calgary. It’s a high-style guest list, but the vibe is relaxed-chic.
That sprawling, romantic arrangement perfectly captures the zeitgeist; the right choice of flowers brings colour and character to home entertaining. And yes, florals are the vibe fashion-wise, too. Think makeup-free Pamela Anderson in her deconstructed floral print Oscar de la Renta dress at the Vanity Fair Oscar party and Zendaya in a swirling 3D rose Dolce & Gabbana dress on Vogue’s May cover. Style leaders are making themselves seen in over-the-top loud prints and ironic matchy-match ensembles.
“Flowers are magic,” says Karen Marshall, co-founder of Fleurs de Villes, a Vancouver-based company that works with florists around the world to create installations and experiential floral events. “Flowers bring people together, they can celebrate and memorialize, as well as create opportunities for people to be united. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, who you voted for, or where you come from.”
Marshall points to the slow flower movement as a starting point when prepping flowers for a summertime soirée.
“It’s a trend for using things that grow slowly and are not forced in greenhouses,” she explains. “For a cottage-inspired table, I would use a foraging theme so it feels like the environment around you, rather than going with store-bought flowers. Maybe some hydrangeas – smaller buds with some leaves so there’s lots of green. You want to be more seasonal and local.”
Lauren Mote, global creative director for Patrón and Bacardi, notes a current floral fixation in drinks.
“At many bars, florals are popular – especially in whole-plant programs that use every part of a botanical in the drink: bulb, stem, leaves, flowers, fruit, etc.” This is more than a trend, she says. “It represents a shift towards more natural and artisanal ingredients.”
Mote loves flowers for their ability to add a fresh and aromatic dimension to drinks. Her go-to bloom for the bar? “Edible flowers like nasturtiums, cherry blossoms, honeysuckle and violets are famous for their vibrant colours and flavours,” she says, riffing on their use in bittersweet aperitivo drinks, martinis and dessert cocktails.
If you’re looking to explore the trend at home, Mote says the first step is to follow seasonality. Floral-flavoured simple syrups are easy to make and the resulting sippers feature nuance and complexity. (Tip: To make a lavender simple syrup, combine one cup water with one cup white sugar and two tablespoons of fresh or dried lavender blossoms in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for one to two minutes, before removing from heat to cool. Strain and use to flavour divine summer cocktails or iced lattes!)
More pink and purple gins, infused with rose and lavender, are appearing on store shelves too, with industry reports citing jasmine and cherry blossom as the next botanicals set to headline ingredient lists. To round out the bar, look also for floral bitters and syrups, such as wild violet or lavenderbitters, and hibiscus flowers in syrup. For alcohol-free lifestyles, delve into options like Tanqueray 0.0 Flor de Sevilla with orange blossom, or Martini Floreale Aperitivo, an aromatic blend of artemisia and chamomile. Premixed mocktails such as Wild Folk Beverages’ Bee’s Knees with notes of red clover and dandelion seem plucked straight from farmer’s fields.
You’ll always have your barbecue and blueberry pies, but this summer, think beyond your burger to edible florals. “Flowers are the new herbs,” says Loria Stern, author of the recently published Eat Your Flowers. In this delightful cookbook the L.A. native shares a bounty of botanical recipes, from floral summer rolls to whole fish stuffed with marigold, rose and pansy petals.
In the past, flower usage was as commonplace as herbs, says Stern. “They were used not only as flavouring but as health and wellness agents. Brightly coloured petals offer a lot of nutrients and antioxidants.”
At Ikea, the iconic brand is celebrating Marimekko’s 60th anniversary this year with dinnerware in punchy, pop-art-ish flower prints. And the perfect tableware for this season’s fresh- air gatherings? Flower-patterned melamine, of course, which you’ll find in the seasonal collections at priced-for-everyone chains. And with that, let’s raise a glass to the petal-powered summer nights to come.
Dishing up Drama
Tableware geeks know the iconic positions held by many traditional floral patterns in the world of fine china. These days, however, flowers are being newly discovered by fashionable foodies and decor fans, whether in the embrace of historical or new patterns from Royal Doulton, Spode, Portmeirion and Royal Albert.
Venerable Wedgwood has also been breathing life into its floral tableware portfolio, with new patterns that look powered by a dose of Miracle-Gro. Their exceptional Wonderlust collection features dramatic, archive-inspired designs of peony blossoms and playful monkeys, flora and fauna of Kathmandu, or golden parrots perched on azure flowers. Talk about giving tradition a twist!
At their best, the latest floral patterns are modern yet ro-mantic. Mixing and matching patterns, whether vintage, new or a combination of the two, likewise feels fresh. (Tip: When combining patterns, try sticking to one common colour theme to keep the look unified.)
Mix this up with hemstitched linen tablecloths, runners, placemats and napkins, as well as stylish candlesticks in a wide range of materials from rustic wrought-iron to shimmering crystal and glass.
Flowers: Free-form, foraged & fabulous
Karen Marshall from Fleurs de Villes, an experiential floral event company, shares a few ideas to inspire your creations:
1. Find your wild side: Don’t worry about old-school flower-arranging rules. Today’s look is less structured and formal. Create free-form shapes. It’s all about an untethered, organic aesthetic.
2. Embrace the wonder of weeds: “Your garden is full of surprises and what looks like a weed can be really beautiful.” Gather the sunnny dandelions, goldenrod and black-eyed Susans that explode across Canada every summer to refresh your point of view.
3. Think in multiples: Replace a single floral centrepiece with many mini vases: “Place wildflowers in individual bud vases in multiples. How charming.”
4. Adjust your perspective: Revisit your relationship with traditionally sneered-at flowers like carnations and baby’s-breath. Call the latter by its Latin name, gypsophillia, gather up a generous armful of the dainty blooms in a big vase and marvel at the dramatic art you’ve created.
5. Humble grasses are hot, hot, hot: Just as in your outdoor gardening, cuttings of these flowing plants look of-the-moment; they’re an easy way to bring the outdoors in when tucked into a vase or added to an arrangement.
6. Play with your palette: This is a trend with a more-is-more attitude. Feel free to experiment with mixing and matching bold colours together – think red with pink or coral with purple.
7. Try colour blocking: Combine four, five or six different types of flowers of a single colour, and enjoy the beauty of their different textures and details.
8. Raid your cupboards:
All manner of containers can become a vase. Just make a grid of tape on the mouth and you’ve got a sturdy way to secure your stems.
9. Become a forager: Approach your yard with curiosity. Pieces of wood, moss, dried flowers and leaves bring unexpected and welcome individuality
to floral decor.
10. It’s summer so think tropical, too:t “With these blooms, a single flower serves as an anchor and you can forage all around it.” Try southern hemisphere flowers like the prehistoric-looking protea.
Garden-variety Cocktails
Notes of rose, hibiscus, lavender and elderflower perfume today’s bar cart, and that holds true whether your beverage of choice is a spirit-forward or alcohol-free cocktail. From G&Ts to refreshing spritzes, a floral foundation gives all types of sippers a delicious and fashionable twist.
A version of this article appeared in the June/July 2024 issue with the headline ‘Garden Party’, p. 88.
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