Winter white

Southern Living, Jan 2001 by Riley, Ellen

The season's surprise is a wealth of pristine blooms.

White is winter's color, crisp as a frosty morning, and fresh as a blanket of newly fallen snow. It also provides a welcome interlude between autumn's intensity and spring's fullspectrum outburst.

The number of white blooms available this time of year is astonishing. Some thrive as houseplants, while others can live indoors or out. Mix and match your options for arrangements that celebrate this seasonally perfect color, and enjoy a wide array of easy-care flowers.

Camellias are unfolding pristine petals and look magnificent when brought indoors. Immerse stems in warm water immediately after cutting. Trim again just before arranging. Christmas roses' clear white blooms are now pushing above their umbrella-like foliage. Choose mature flowers for a longer vase-life.

Forced bulbs, so abundant this month, adapt to arrangements inside as well as out. Purchase paperwhites, crocus, hyacinths, and snowdrops in bud or early stages of bloom. Crocus last only several days indoors, so choose tightly budded plants. Paperwhites may be grown outdoors in potting soil or pebbles, where cool temperatures and good light will keep them stocky and upright.

Primroses love sunshine and cool weather, and will last for weeks outdoors. Inside the house, maintain moist soil and keep plants away from a heat source. There are several types, with varying heights and flower shapes.

Other white-blooming houseplants are cape primrose (Streptocarpus) and cyclamen. Cape primrose must remain indoors unless temperatures are above 55 degrees, and it prefers a window with early-morning sunlight. Monthly feeding with a blossom-boosting fertilizer will keep it flowering freely through the season. Cyclamen prefers a cool indoor climate, but will easily adapt to life outside under cover from frost.

Take a cue from the flowers, and keep your containers in the same color palette. Paint terra-cotta pots and saucers white; green leaves appear brighter, and blossoms sparkle against them.

Make miniature vases for cut flowers by covering small jars with delicate rice paper. A piece of double-stick tape will hold it in place, and a silk cord tied around each one turns something simple into elegance. Small vases require few flowers, so an arrangement can be inexpensive as well as easy. Use one type of flower in each jar, then group the containers on a pretty tray. For a more informal assembly, use rounds of white birch bark to cover pots of candytuft, Christmas rose, and crocus.

Bulbs in pebbles and water have a dressed-down look, appropriate both indoors and out. If you use soil-grown bulbs and want the casual appearance of pebbles instead, shake the soil free, and rinse any remaining residue from the roots. Then tuck each bulb into an antique jelly jar or ice-cream dish with pebbles, and add water.

Winter is the season to enjoy a pause from the hurried past, and to catch a breath before spring. White flowers are a lovely promise of this simple season.