Flower Arrangements at Skylands

There are some blog posts that bear re-blogging. Martha's recent blog post about Kevin Sharkey's flower arrangements on The Martha Blog left me speechless and awestruck. The sheer beauty of the flowers in their spectacular arrangements - both large and small - around the rooms at Skylands, Martha's home in Maine, are some of the most beautiful images I've seen in a while. All of the blossoms were harvested from Martha's own cutting gardens. I hope you enjoy the photos! (All photographs by Kevin Sharkey and Martha Stewart for TheMarthaBlog.com)

This arrangement combined pink lilies with Rodgersia leaves. The leaves of Rodgersia first emerge as bronzy-green on the plant, and then this mat-green in summer.

 A lovely warm, rosy pink arrangement of lilies with striking green-red foliage. I think this one if my favourite.

 On another occasion, Kevin made this lily arrangement for the living room.

These lilies added such vibrancy and color to the room. They make excellent cut flowers - choose lilies with buds that are just about to open with a bit of the color showing. Just be careful of the pollen - it will stain clothes and carpets.

Aster is a genus of flowering plants in the Asteraceae family. They are daisy-like perennials, many of which have starry-shaped flower heads. These flowers bloom late, so they are wonderful to have when many other flowers have faded. Jens Jensen, the landscape architect who designed the gardens at Skylands, had called for abundant plantings of asters in his original plans.

 An arrangement of dahlias in the living hall in various shades of coral, pink and yellow.

 Pink cosmos for the pink guest house!

 More pretty dahlias in white, burgundy, and shades of pink.

All the flowers were cut from Martha's own gardens. Here was an arrangement of hydrangeas Kevin made for my giant faux bois table at Skylands.

Sometimes, the prettiest arrangements are the most simple. Here, Martha filled several small, white vases with white phlox. Phlox is a perennial, and among the most popular choices of wildflower - most likely because it's so easy to maintain

These lilies in the living hall were arranged with hay-scented ferns, Dennstaedtia punctilobula, a species of fern native to eastern North America. And, they do smell like hay when bruised.

A pretty blue arrangement of Ageratum. Commonly known as 'floss flower', these fluffy blooms are lavender-blue, but they also come in pink, lilac, or white, and form small, compound umbels.

Dahlias on the dining room table - small, clear vases mixed together with glass votives.

On this day, a spectacular show of lilies and ferns lined the dining room table, catching the rays of the setting sun.