Sometimes I'm embarassed about the number of vases I can't stop collecting. But then I do an arrangement that just doesn't work, and I realize that what contains the flowers makes all the difference. It's a question of height, girth, material, transparency; how the vase supports the flowers (or doesn't) and how it contrasts or compliments them. You need plain sturdy jugs and earthenware vases for big mixed flower bunches, but you also need more individualistic vases to show off a special flower or leaf. Here's a photo gallery, fresh from the garden, that explains better than words how fun it is to play around with the synchronicity between vase and flowers....
A cluster of small vases each holding a single special flower or foliage:
A slim vase shows off the splendor of a single tree peony. The cookbook is a fabulous new one from Phaidon, with an amazing Italian ricotta cheese cake recipe..
This last vase is called "carrot top" and was made by Johanna Nitzke Marquis:
