Stop and smell the…Lilies?
If it’s not already obvious, I’m a lover of a very plush and femine bouquet. Regardless of flower type, whenever I pick my flowers for the week, there’s usually a 90% chance that I’m going to incorporate white, pink, or purple in my arrangement. These are some of my favorite colors, and absolutely enhance my very feminine apartment, so why not?
Last week I visited Trader Joe’s for my arrangement and since it was fairly late in the day, the flower selections were somewhat limited. I could’ve easily waited until the following day, but since I was already there, why not chalenge myself to work with what was available? The majority of the roses were gone, I wasn’t in the mood for tulips, I love hydrangeas, but decided my home needed a break from them, so I went to the next best thing to display as this week’s center of attraction - Oriental Lilies.
To be honest, they have enough beauty and greenery to stand alone. The problem with this is that it also takes time for them to fully bloom, so while I wait for them to open, I’d also love to be able to visibly see other flowers that make up for their absence. Though Trader’s was limited, they had lots of Alstroemerias (As they almost always typically do), so I decided to use these as fillers to make up for the absence of the Lilies. For $3.99, can you blame me?
There’s many perks to Trader Joe’s flowers, but particularly when it comes to Alstroemerias:
#1 - They’re almost always in stock
#2 - They can stand alone, but are also great vase fillers
#3 - Did I mention they’re only $3.99?!
With that said, this time I decided to free hand everything. This is one of the first times I can remember where I didn’t use the grid method, I didn’t cut the stems, NOTHING. I lliterally filled my vase with water and flower food, placed the lilies in the center, filled in with alstroemerias (Also known as Peruvian Lillies) around them, and voila! a very plush arrangement came to life **Insert rejoice emoji hands here LOL**
Pink & Purple Alstroemerias - $3.99 each
Oriental Lily Bunch - $5.99
Total price was only a little over $15, and the scent alone makes it all worth it
I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying to “Stop and smell the roses”, but what we should ALSO do is stop and smell the lillies! I’ve placed this arrangement on my coffee table, and it’s the first thing I smell AS SOON as I enter my apartment. I absolutely love it. I’ve always loved lilies, but it wasn’t until this arrangment that I realized how unfortunately underrated they are. Hydrangeas and roses are usually in my rotation, but I might have to start incorporate these instead! Let’s see how long this phase lasts…!