This week’s bouquet doesn’t qualify as a bouquet, or even an arrangement. Actually, not even close. But it is a centerpiece, and that makes it close enough. In my mind anyway.
I purchased this sweet white cyclamen several years ago at Trader Joe’s and it came in a tiny 2″ pot. Maybe even smaller. Despite my occasional neglect and its constant battle with scale, it has come along quite nicely. It seems to love being outside for the summer and is showing its happiness with an abundance of blooms.
I rarely take my bouquets or arrangements inside the house. For some reason I like them best on the screened in porch, at a table I actually never eat or sit at. But I do pass by it constantly as I go in and out to the back yard. And it always brings a bit of joy to see something pretty on the table.
There is something very simple and pure about this centerpiece that I love. It’s not colorful or extravagant. But just lovely in a simple way I can’t put into words.
The foliage and the flowers are equal partners in this decorative centerpiece, which is something bouquets seldom achieve. It’s obvious that it appreciates your benign neglect and its location inside your screened porch, where it echoes the simplicity of the white furniture..
For some reason I can’t pinpoint, I think this will be my new centerpiece for the summer. It makes me feel so calm and peaceful. I have another place on the porch I could put bouquets/arrangements that would look lovely too. I just realized that I put my arrangements outside because there is so much more light out there. Because I have such large oak trees in my yard, my interior gets very little light in the summer and is so dark and dreary. I like to tell myself that the flowers last longer out on the porch because they are in their natural surroundings and not my dark house.