One exquisute bloom.

I have the very great pleasure of spending my days working with some amazing pieces of nature - beautiful flowers, lush foliage and sculptural branches are just some of the things I have used today.

It's a bit of a tired old saying, but (and be honest with me), when was the last time you stopped to smell the roses? Or stopped to look at the hypnotising swirl of seeds in a sunflower? Or look at a stem of orchids and be amazed at how such a little bud at the very end can turn into such a big, gorgeous flower?

It's very easy to get caught up in the busy activity that consumes our lives, but it's surely good for the soul to just stop and absorb something's gorgeous-ness, don't you think?

My new favourite thing for this week is "One Exquisite Bloom".

I'm absolutely delighted with the clear glass bottles that arrived at Red Fragrance on Monday, because they are a perfect vessel for (you guessed it...) One Exquisite Bloom. Something so intensely beauiful and special that sometimes one is enough; sometimes one is perfect.

Just having one stem in a lovely glass bottle lets us stop and really look at it - it's no less wonderful when surrounded by other flowers, but we might neglect to give it the attention it might in fact deserve.

I'm so excited. Today I put amazing purple slipper orchids, light magenta miniature phalaenopsis orchids and chunky purple vanda orchids in the bottles. Beautiful. Don't you think?

x.