London recently recovered from snow and temperatures below zero. The last few days have been perfectly balmy i.e. temperatures above zero celsius, in fact as high as 14°C! I need to be surrounded by beautiful living things and given the price of cut flowers, I resorted to buying small pots of spring bulbs. Then I enhanced it with some cut flowers that last. Hyacinths, Narcissus Sol d'Or, Paper Whites and Anemones remind me of spring and they are great lasting flowers.

The blue Hyacinths and Paper Whites I had actually bought as bulbs in small pots and placed them around the house. When they grew too long and lanky I simply cut off the flowers and put them in this vase with a bunch of anemones (my favourite flowers).  I kept the bulbs as my sister will plant them in her garden. I had a month of pleasure from the bulbs, I'll get a week of pleasure from the flowers and then my sister will have years of pleasure from the bulbs flowering every year in her garden. A win/win situation!

Two stems of blue Hyacinths that I cut off the bulb as they had become too long and kept collapsing. I'll get at least another week's life from the flowers in this blue bottle above my kitchen sink.  Their perfume is divine when I am standing at the sink.

Narcissus Sol d'Or, one of my absolute spring favourites. They remind me of my father's florist shop in NZ which was full of their perfume in the spring. These are very reasonable as cut flowers in the supermarkets and they last for ages.  Their perfume is intoxicating.  I have put them in a old French jar. Don't they look fab?

You can't beat the good old Singapore orchid plants which last for months and months.  This is in my bathroom and requires little or not water or attention. It will last up to 5 months, adding a splash of colour and style to the bathroom! The distressed pot is from Petersham Nurseries, one of my absolute favourite places to visit in London.