A flowerless room is a soulless room, to my way of think ing,' wrote Vita Sackville-West, but even a solitary little vase of a living flower may redeem it." As any interior dec orator will tell you, a strategically placed bunch of blooms is one of the most effective ways to enliven any room, imbu- ing it with cheer and colour. And few are better at this than the floral designer Shane Connolly, who has spent decades perfecting the art of bringing the outdoors in.
When arranging flowers, I always try to make it seem as if they might have come from the gar den,' he says. "Even if the venue has no outdoor space at all, I'll choose stems that suit its character, to create that same illusion. At his Worcestershire home, Connolly keeps his bouquets simple. "Often I will just pick a single sprig of something: it allows you to fully appreciate its individual beauty. At the moment, there's a broken-off rose on my desk and that's giving me more pleasure than I'd get from 40 of them all massed together.
"A flowerless room is a souless room, to my way of thinking," wrote Vita Sackville-West
