A couple of weeks ago I was at my favorite new (well, new to me) restaurant in Seattle, The Whale Wins, and was so surprised to love a huge arrangement of multi-colored tulips. Usually I'm a purist - one color of tulip at a time, please.
The interiors of the restaurant are comfortable and beautiful - both modern and rustic - with an open fire, food displayed as part of the decor (the meringues are artwork), everything white except for the soft blue doors. There's always a big seasonal arrangement on a free-standing table just inside the door - here's an autumn scene....
Well, last week the table held a huge white vase stuffed with tulips - there must have been a hundred, in every shade they come in. It was like being drenched in springtime, all those colors mixed together seemingly artlessly.
So I've been inspired to experiment with color mixing, and while three different colors (bunches of very fresh tulips are 3 for $10 at Metropolitan Market this week) aren't anywhere near as stunning, I'm still liking the effect. If the thought of mixing a bunch of different tulips together makes you as uneasy as it did me, here's what I've learned. Use similar shapes of tulips, in as many colors as you can muster. And choose the colors you love best, and then they'll all look good together, right? Because you love them...
The pale, icy blue vase doesn't fight with the various colors, and it works paired with a bunch of just-budded up branches coralled in a matte, butter yellow vase. The contrast of the wintery branches with a burst of color to remind us we're on the cusp of spring....only seventeen more days until the equinox. If you need something besides tulips to get you through until then - find a winter-flowering daphne (Daphne odora) and inhale deeply - these extravagantly fragrant shrubs are just coming into bloom...
Wow! If that pop of color isn't a sight for sore eyes, after looking at grey for months! So cheery!
Posted by: Chris | March 05, 2014 at 08:23 AM