The house (and garden) of the gardener, designer and styling devotee Butter Wakefield is a bounty of colour, intrigue and comfort. Layers of colour, textures and cosiness ooze from the furnishings, collectables and most importantly the pickings from her garden. Admiring the images on her instagram account, you’d never think she lived right in the centre of the London hubbub, seeming more like a peaceful slice of the countryside.
Wakefield grew up on the East Coast of America in a family of keen and accomplished gardeners, very much the foundation for her work, style and passion for gardening. She trained at the English Gardening School and The London College of Garden Design. Before setting up her own garden design studio, Wakefield worked as an interior design assistant at Colefax and Fowler, where she was immersed in the world of decorative interiors, which formed the basis for her love of the creative process and knowledge of scale, texture, pattern and colour.
There is a definite floral trend in the appreciation of individual flowers, rather than big showy bouquets. Delicate arrangements such as the Easter arrangement (pictured) by Wakefield allows one to admire every delicate detail of the flowers. Also, as one can use just a few flowers to make a big impact. Garden designer, Dan Pearson is a master at this type of floral styling, just have a look at his latest post on DigDelve. Another dab hand at this, is the florist and author Willow Crossley, seen here making a last minute Easter table arrangement with just a handful of delicate daffodils.
The ‘less is more’ floral trend, seems to also be translating to gardens. Sarah Price took the 2023 RHS Chelsea Show by storm, with her magnificent ‘The Nurture Landscapes Garden‘ which was a masterclass in allowing plants to stand proudly on their own, without the need for (too many) supplemented companions.
For these delicate floral arrangements, a small vase or vintage apothecary bottles will do beautifully, but sometimes cunning accoutrements such as those Wakefield always seems to find can be efficacious. In this case, it’s an old cigar press, reworked by floral design studio JamJar Edit to fit a range of glass tubes of varying heights to accommodate a variety of delicate stems. Probably down to Wakefield factor, but to replicate this particular arrangement one shall sadly have to wait as the cigar press vases are currently sold out…