When you have tired of being "arty" in your house bouquets, try a mille fleurs, after the manner of the mediaeval tapestry weavers. Before me as I write stands a modernistic brass vase...and in it a loosely jumbled bouquet of white, cerise, plum and pink Cosmos, lemon yellow and orange Calendulas, pale lavender and white Larkspur, purple Asters, mauve and white Scabiosa, and burnt orange Zinnias.
Richardson Wright in
The Gardener's Bed-Book
This year when I read it I decided to see what our garden had to offer.
Although the only flower I had that my favorite author listed was one burnt orange zinnia--and it was a volunteer...
And even though I didn't have a brass vase and had to use an old copper piece, I was pleased with how my own little mille fleurs turned out.
When I researched mille fleurs, that means "thousand flowers," I read that these were usually shown on green background, the flowers shown on European tapestries during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
My flower arrangement rests on top of a stack of old interior design books edited by Richardson Wright when he was editor-in-chief of House & Garden magazine. These are treasures to me that I lose myself in over and over.
I also own five other books written by my favorite author and my top literary crush, and they stay out all the time for me to read and study, line by line slowly, pages of notes written down.
I count Richardson Wright as a blessing in my life, sent from the early 20th century to me, especially for such a time as this.
How about you? Is there a special author who is your own Calgon, take me away blessing?
