fleurs

This is the flower arrangement I was speaking about yesterday.  Red gladiolas and pink lillies.  I saved the ends of the gladiolas after I trimmed them, and ended up using the tips of the parts I removed in my smaller vases.  (Vases from Simon Pearce.) 

We have a very high ceiling, so I like putting tall things on our mantle - gladiolas work - so do ornamental grasses, pussy willows, evergreen sprigs, anything with lots of height.  

Although I love and appreciate all flowers, this arrangement looks quite outstanding in this space.  I love making mini arrangements in the smaller vases, too.   

I actually have six mini glass vases (three on each side) beside the chimney space, but I did not take a wide enough photo for you to see them.  If I have a particularly large amount of flowers I like to put one flower in each of these glass vases.  Our mantle ends up being full of life and water, which sets a nice tone in our living space.