The flowers of spring and early summer burst onto the scene with brilliant colours and heady fragrances. If you cultivate a cutting garden, take a stroll to pluck a few of your favourites, or carry blossoms home by the armful from a farmers' market or florist's shop.

No matter where you get your flowers, arranging them is as simple as the blooms are beautiful. Choose one or several kinds of flowers, cut the stems, then put them immediately into lukewarm water. Enjoy these fragile beauties while they last, then replace the bouquet with another. Their fragrance will linger in your memory long after the blooms have faded.

Ruffly flowers in a clean-lined vase present a beautiful study in contrast. Pink peonies and orange tulips harmonize softly with green hosta leaves, and the whole arrangement whispers coolness and serenity. Gently folding back the outer petals of the tulips shows off their inner petals, giving them an exotic look.

Pink hydrangeas and grape hyacinths clustered in a crystal compote make for a supremely simple arrangement. A hidden grid of floral or transparent tape across the top of the bowl supports the cloud of blooms.

A bouquet composed using a single type of flower can make a strong statement. Poppies, one of the most joyful of flowers, beg to be smiled at. It's amazing to watch the dark, hairy pods become bright orange, red, and yellow flowers. This tall, slender vase gathers the stems tightly, allowing the blooms to burst into fireworks above. Cauterize freshly cut poppy stems in a flame to seal in their milky sap; these most fragile of cut flowers last only a couple of days.



Lilacs, Iris, Peonies, Sweet Peas present an abundance of fragrant blooms that fill a pair of shapely vases. The exuberance of the large bouquet comes from the way its brilliant colours splash against one another, just as they might in the garden. For longer life, cut lilacs from the bush just as the flowers begin to open. Sweet peas make an impact on their own.