NATURE NOTES ❘ FRENCH BLOOMS
France in
In her fragrant new book, fleuriste Sandra Sigman explores the French passion and skill for flower arrangement and picks her favourite gardens and florists
W
hen it comes to style, the French seem to have been born with it. Whether we’re talking about fashion, home design, or flowers, they exhibit what I can only describe as a sophisticated chicness with a soupçon of casualness and understated
grace. Whether you’re in Paris or Provence, you see it everywhere, from the whitewashed country kitchens filled with collected cutting boards to the elegant neck scarves that remain perfectly in place. It’s a unique and utterly irresistible style and one that defines my way of arranging flowers. The French buy flowers as if they were selecting cheese for a dinner party. I’m not kidding. Instead of rushing into a florist and grabbing a pre-made bunch of flowers (which they’d seldom find), they enter knowing what sort of arrangement they want and where it’s going in their home. Then, they and the florist choose only the finest-quality specimens that are regionally sourced and at their peak to create an arrangement with the perfect size, shape, and colours – just as I do at Les Fleurs with my clients.
SEASONAL BLOOMS
French florists rarely carry anything out of season, in the same way authentic French restaurants only offer, say, asparagus in spring, chestnuts in the fall, and root vegetables in winter. The wholesale flower stalls of Rungis, where most Parisian florists buy their blooms, support this tradition. For example, in early May, they sell multiple varieties of peonies. When peony season in France ends, approximately nine weeks later, that’s it. When I went shopping for flowers with my mom, she used to buy whatever was available – in season or not. But when I lived in Paris, I saw the glaring difference of peak-season florals versus out-of-season ones. Take tulips, for example, which are at their peak in spring. They have large petal heads, and you’ll find an immense variety. Come summer, the choice of varieties and quality of the heads have begun to fade with the heat. The same holds true for dahlias. The ones that bloom in early summer are less hearty and vibrant than those that flourish in the fall.
When it comes to colour choice, French florists tend to work in specific colour palettes, often all warm- or all cool-coloured blooms. If they mix colours, they tend to choose no more than three; otherwise, the bouquet will look too busy. These similarly hued arrangements, like mine, grace the home with an understated elegance. Regarding the shapes of their arrangements, French florists rarely follow the traditional
38 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Jun/Jul 2023
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