The Flower Composer
By Jacqueline Heriteau
With
the eye of an artist and the heart of a gardener,
floral designer Pauline Runkle plants, prunes and weeds the gardens embracing
her home in Manchester-by -the-Sea, a small Massachusetts town near Boston.
"My first bouquet came from a garden," she says. "I sat for hours
in my Grandmothers garden in Memphis picking scented violets one by one, making
a nosegay for her. I guess I was five."
When Pauline's company, floral Artistry, plans arrangements for weddings and for clients such as the Boston Pops and Tiffany and Co., she buys at the wholesale flower market. But for her own bouquets she chooses whatever nature is doing in her garden. "That ties the house into the garden and brings the season indoors," Pauline says.
There are 8 gardens on the
4 acre parcel Pauline and Joe Runkle bought 17 years ago. They designed the
house so every window has a garden view. Front windows look out on the perennial
border dominated by stately lilies and old fashioned hollyhocks. Also within the
border are antique rose varieties and French Meidiland roses. A small orchard;
raspberry, dahlia, and vegetable gardens; an herb garden; and two shade gardens
yield blooms, fruits, and leaves that inspire her exciting arrangements.
Pauline's love for flowers is evident in the pains she takes with them. She picks flowers early in the day, before the sun gets to them, and chooses stems whose buds haven't fully opened. Each cut stem is immediately plunged into a 5-gallon plastic bucket filled with lukewarm water containing preservative, and then it is recut. Before arranging the flowers, Pauline conditions them overnight in fresh water in a cool place. Both the bucket and her vases are scoured with bleach each time they are used.
"When I begin an arrangement, I remove the foliage that will be below the water line." Pauline says. "The bouquets destination-hall, terrace, and dining table-tells me the height, and whether the arrangement will be vertical or horizontal. I place structural elements, and the bouquet starts to come together in my head. ...For the final direction the arrangement is going to take, I look to the materials. Like the violets I picked for my grandmother, they tell me where they belong."
To keep bouquets fresh, Pauline protects them from direct sun and heat and changes the water every three days. If any stem is exposed to air, she recuts it under water to restart the flow.
"Making and arrangement is like painting a picture," Pauline says. "When I lecture, I say, 'Follow your heart into the garden. Your bouquet will become a thing of beauty. Making arrangements, like any art form, takes practice and doing. Do not be dissuaded. Your own special talent will evolve.'"
From Left: Thornless raspberries, highbush cranberries,
the purple rose hips of pink Rosa rubrifolia and meadow rue.
Texture, fragrance, and everything a garden means to Pauline are present in each arrangement.
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image to enlarge
White Dianthus, lavender-pink mint, and purple Buddleia scent a centerpiece starring crimson bee balm, purple fuchsia, and pink white spirea. Maroon-purple rose hips and pods of chamomile gone to seed add original season touches. |
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image to enlarge
A massive stone outcropping focuses the perennial border. |
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image to enlarge
Velvety 'Black Beauty' hybrid tea roses nestle with feverfew, highbush cranberries, raspberries, lady's-mantle, hydrangeas, and scented geranium leaves in a 10 X 7 inch basket filled with floral oasis soaked in water and floral preservatives. |
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P.O. Box 1603, Manchester, MA 01944.
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