IN AN ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN...

With Summer in full swing (well... almost), Autumn just around the corner, and a weekend thinking through vintage, hand picked designs for a potential bride, I thought I'd take this weeks inspiration from our garden and all the beauty that comprises it.

I've always loved the pure, natural beauty of the quintessentially English Country garden. Masses of climbing roses... the pungent jasmine with their stunning star-shaped blooms and wayward tendrils... the sublime scent of lavender mounds dotted here and there... the prominent peaks of delphiniums overlooking the full, luscious borders that spill onto the pathway. The overall look is loose, understated and naturally beautiful!

This purely natural look for your flowers can be achieved in a number of ways and can help transform your wedding ideas and musings into day you have always dreamt about!

There is a truly diverse range of flowers cultivated in Britain that combine to make the perfect arrangements for garden or vintage themed weddings. Handpicked blooms of Dahlias, Nigella, Ammi, Veronica, Asters and Anemones... loosely gathered and informally tied with lace ribbon, would make the most perfect bouquet for a vintage Bride. And instead of using formal vases and candelabras use glass pitchers and jam jars holding more loose arrangements. It'll look like they have been freshly picked out of the garden and create the most beautiful ambiance to your reception!

Brides who are after something a little more formal, but are still keen on using natural styled blooms... look no further than the unassuming garden rose. Bouquets and arrangements formed of a mass of these roses look formal and structured yet retain the natural charm that is lusted for... A highly desirable choice would be any variety of the David Austin roses. Each hue is perfectly formed and when combined, it certainly has the wow factor. Have your florist select some soft foliage to complement the grace of the rose... perhaps some Thlaspi or tendrils of jasmine (...this would look amazing) and have it binded with a luxurious silk ribbon and secured with an antique brooch - a beautiful, personal touch that looks spectacular!

Perhaps my personal favourite by far is a combination of both... relaxed meets formal! It creates a wonderful look. Combine your larger garden roses with some informal choices. Veronica would introduce some line to your arrangements, Waxflower also sits beautifully with this form of rose and succeeds in softening the whole look. Eustoma adds a certain charm to this sort of bouquet also. The twisted closed buds sit nicely above the arrangement and champions the handpicked feel. Add a touch of soft foliage to break up the mass of flowers and introduce a little more relaxedness... et voila... there you have the pinnacle of the English Country Garden bouquets (... well in my opinion, that is!)

Aside from the sheer and obvious beauty of this look, it usefully lends itself to a number of colour ways. Dark pinks, blush pinks, creams, peaches, lilacs, magentas... I could go on! And not only does this look stunning in summer, quite a few of the named flowers in this weeks blog post are available all year round and so you could even add a touch of summer to the darkest of winter days!... Pretty fantastic don't you think?

With thanks to:

• Beautiful garden scene: Mooseys Country Garden 
• Jars of handpicked lovliness: 1 bp blogspot
• Utterly gorgeous bouquets including the vingtage brooch: both featured in style me pretty blog.