Blue & white is such a classic combination of colors. From ancient Chinese ceramics, to the vistas on Greek isles, to fabric patterns or nautical lounge wear, not to mention blue jeans and a crisp white cotton shirt, a nice deep blue and clean white is hard to beat. And it works with flowers too. I was out wandering in the yard and noticed that one of the phalaenopsis or butterfly orchids growing on a tree trunk had a stem of blooms that was nearly 4 feet long. A botanist once told me that an orchid gets nourishment from the stems of blooms, so I should not cut them off, but they seem to keep on blooming and blooming again for this particular variety of orchid until they get these unwieldy, gangly things that I just feel compelled to cut the stems off once or twice a year. The problem is, with such a long stem, the flowers aren’t suitable to a classic standing vase…
I tried to place them in tall narrow vases but they looked awkward, so I finally settled for just floating them in a cobalt blue glass bowl and they looked positively stunning. I have never tried using this particular bowl, which is 14 inches in diameter, that we purchased at a GARAGE sale, for a flower arrangement but it worked really well. The flowers will only last a few days before they have to be thrown out, but in the meantime, they will certainly draw one’s eye to that classic and appealing blue and white combination!
17 Responses
i was hoping for go ateneo! hahaha!
but this is even more beautiful! so serene…
me, too … i thought, “oh marketman is an atenista and would probably crow about the recent victory over la salle.”
good thing, you wrote about something else.
so pretty.
LOL! I also thought this was a post on the Ateneo-La Salle game.
How I wish now that I have a garden.
Hahaha. I attended Ateneo for first grade only. :) But this wasn’t meant to be a commentary on the Ateneo vs. Lasalle series. :)
add some leaves to the arrangement and you have la salle
breathtaking! (both the arrangement and the ateneo win) :-) have always loved cobalt blue vases and plates.
Very pretty. Those old blue vases and fruit bowls are a classic.
no wonder you are A-OK ! you attended ateneo for only a year.
the arrangement is stunning. thanks
marketman, where did you go for the rest of the years?
Look as though you are picking up another trophy over at the Philippine Blog Awards. Not for the category I slyly suggested but for my over all one-time favorite post. Tinapa. Congratulations, we were all rooting for you.
At first glance I thought the blue dish was Murano glass, then I clicked the link. Quite close. If it’s really ‘a mano e a soffio’ (although the term used “hand-blown” does not really make much sense) as it claims to be then each piece should be unique. You really have an eye for a bargain MM. And for beauty of course :)
Jade186, it is actually a unique, hand-blown (or is it better to say man-handled) piece made in Murano, designed by Elsa Peretti, and a larger 14 inch diameter vs. the 11 inch in the link… yes, it was an absolute find at 1/10th its retail value. I don’t think they make the 14 inch version any more. And it is etched or signed on the base of the piece. :) Apicio, as usual, you called it months before everyone else! I wish they had a Cantankerous Blogger Award, I would be really proud to win that one…hahaha. jafores, JASMS, or Jose Abad Santos Memorial School when it was run by Mrs. Gamboa and was probably Manila’s most progressive and wacky school, and to whom I credit my ability to think a bit out of the box, :) then a couple of years at a Makati Catholic school (a total disaster), then middle and high school at an International School before heading off to college then graduate school… Lee, to make sure I don’t alienate Lasallites, I really should take this photo again in a green bowl. :)
MM, how about a fighting maroon bowl? ;)
beautiful arrangement MM…. I keep a pot of phalaenopsis in my “office”… the galley of course.
try them on black bowls which I did once on an Asian theme dinner we had on the boat. Fantastic.
beautiful!
Hi MM!
I attended International School, too (grade 1-7) and then attended high school at De La Salle-Zobel in Alabang.
What years did you attend I.S.?
take this photo again in a Maroon Murano bowl please :)