Valentine's Day Flower Vases
Posted by Kevin SharkeyWith Valentine's Day next week, it is important to have a beautiful vase to show off all of the gorgeous flowers you receive (or buy for yourself).
Whether its a dozen roses or a small nosegay of violets, there are many options available. Flowers often naturally pair themselves with appropriate containers. However, sometimes inspiration strikes and a beautiful option presents itself from the most unexpected places.
1 Three glass tumblers filled with three colors of roses top a cake stand for a pretty, light-filled centerpiece. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
2 Bright sunflower faces peer up from individual Fire King mixing bowls. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
3 Containers in six basic shapes and various sizes allow you great flexibility in arranging flowers -- they hold stems upright, tilt them, let them sprawl, or allow them to float, like this pink water lily in the white low pan. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
4 Snapdragons, by nature, create full arrangements with very little effort. To make this bouquet, you will need a floral frog, waterproof floral gum, and a piece of cellophane large enough to line the glass container to prevent scratches. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
5 (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
6 When they're on view in a clear vase, straight stems become more shapely and dynamic if they're given a slight twist. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
7 Greenish-white dogwood blossoms seem to flutter above an oversize white pitcher. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
8 Saucer magnolia blossoms, their stems cut short, float seductively in a parade of glass custard cups, creating an informal centerpiece. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
9 The elegant swell of the nineteenth century blown-glass apothecary jar allows branches of varying lengths to be crisscrossed, forming a full, shapely spring arrangement. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
10 Rather than mix purple crocuses, white crocuses, and irises in a single vessel, Martha shows off each flower individually, then groups the bouquets into a quintessential spring display. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
11 Before inserting the bouquet into a vase, cut the stems as evenly as possible, and give them a slight twist. A clear jar reveals the swirl of green stems -- a perfect foil for the yellow flowers. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
12 (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
13 Clean white tulips spill from an agateware wash pitcher. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
14 Five open peonies float in a mid-nineteenth-century English transferware punch bowl in Martha's Turkey Hill dining room. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
15 Five Oriental poppies, leaning from etched flip glasses, form a breezy centerpiece. The flowers encircle a fancy wheel-cut apothecary bottle atop an antique mirror plateau. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
16 Big pink antique 'Comte de Chambord' roses and the modern apricto-colored 'Abraham Darby' are combined into an arching dome in a nineteenth-century blown-glass compote. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
17 A voluptuous bouquet of white roses is part of a dazzling group with two smaller bouquets and pieces from Martha's prized collection of Victorian mercury glass. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
18 A turn-of-the-century carnival-glass fruit bowl holds a bouquet of pastel roses culled from Martha's garden, at once cradling the blossoms and letting them sprawl. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
19 This Victorian blown-glass epergne, once used for candy, now holds a remarkable collection of garden roses. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
20 Pale-pink sweet peas were first arranged stem by stem in the hand to form an orderly, domed bouquet. Martha then snipped the stems to the same length and gently slid the bouquet into an especially tall, elegant trumpet vase, allowing the arrangement to spread. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
21 For the most uncomplicated, elegant centerpiece, Martha snipped three nearly identical dahlia blooms and set them at different heights -- in a sawtooth-patterned compote, an 1880's pressed-glass sugar bowl, and a cut-glass finger bowl. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
22 (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
23 A five-part arrangement for a buffet uses paper-whites -- easy to force in winter -- roses, and ornithogalum in silver julep cups. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
24 Martha's mercury-glass vases hold "Curioso Orientalis" roses, unopened bittersweet, and skimmia. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
25 Place translucent-white snowdrops in antique juice glasses on a glass cake pedestal to take advantage of late-winter light. (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
26 (The Best of Martha Stewart Living -- Arranging Flowers)
27 The form of a bud vase should be as striking as the beauty of the bloom it holds. (Martha Stewart Living)
28 Most vases are a variation on one of six basic shapes. (Martha Stewart Living)
29 Oil Lamp Vases. (Martha Stewart Living)
30 Urn vases (left to right): metal, ceramic, glass, and stone. (Martha Stewart Living)
31 A selection of sphere-shape vases. (Martha Stewart Living)
32 A selection of trumpet vases. (Martha Stewart Living)
33 A pail widens ever so slightly at the top, giving flowers some freedom. (Martha Stewart Living)
34 Another selection of trumpet vases. (Martha Stewart Living)
35 A selection of cylinder vases. (Martha Stewart Living)
36 A flare vase. (Martha Stewart Living)
37 Pansies and violas in blue vases. (Martha Stewart Living)
38 Arrangement of a lily pond in a vase. (Martha Stewart Living)
39 Dahlias in a vase. (Martha Stewart Living)
40 A carnival glass vase. (Martha Stewart Living)
41 Flowers in a carnival glass vase. (Martha Stewart Living)
42 Rose colored glasses and vase. (Martha Stewart Living)
43 This relatively recent vase features a daisy and fern pattern, which was made for many decades. (Martha Stewart Living)
44 Grouped together, these pieces create a vignette that is transparent yet rich. (Martha Stewart Living)
45 A hundi shade throws a rosy cranberry glow over mismatched pieces spanning a century of glassmaking. (Martha Stewart Living)
46 These glass stovepipes, which became extremely popular, show the whimsical side of the material. (Martha Stewart Living)
47 A colored-glass assortment illuminated with natural light casts unexpected pink shadows into the room. (Martha Stewart Living)
48 Enamel and gilt bouquets decorate a brilliant blue vase and turquoise decanter both with characteristically Bristol crenellated tops, and a shiny, trumpet-shape vase. (Martha Stewart Living)
49 Among Martha's favorite Bristol colors are the khakis and the purpley-browns. (Martha Stewart Living)
50 Mysterious in both origin and nomenclature, a splendid grouping of vases gleams softly behind a scrim of frosty, misted glass. (Martha Stewart Living)
51 Together with the small blue vase, the mint-green covered jar, with its illdefined turnings, has the far-from-crisp look of the late Bristol of the thirties and forties. (Martha Stewart Living)
52 Of many mercury-glass forms, the vase is the most common. (Martha Stewart Living)
1 Crystal Pedestal Trumpet Vase. (jamaligarden.com)
2 Catherine Flower Vase. (williamyeowardcrystal.com)
3 Plaid Vase. (tiffany.com)
4 Octagonal Vase. (tiffany.com)
5 Sierra Square Vase. (tiffany.com)
6 Tiffany Vines Vase. (tiffany.com)
7 Dover Footed Vases. (simonpearce.com)
8 Anemone Vases. (simonpearce.com)
9 Windham Bud Vases. (simonpearce.com)
10 Addison Vase. (simonpearce.com)
11 Martha Stewart Collection Vase Trousseau Bud. (macys.com)
12 Martha Stewart Collection Rose Bowl, Trousseau. (macys.com)
13 2-Inch High Glass Bolws. (jamaligarden.com)
14 8 Inch Pedestal Bud Vase. (jamaligarden.com)
15 Amber Luster Ball Vases. (jamaligarden.com)
16 Yellow Bubble Glass Cylinders. (jamaligarden.com)
17 Pink & Yellow Glass Mini Hurricanes. (jamaligarden.com)
18 Glass Rectangle. (jamaligarden.com)
19 7-Inch Glass Cube. (jamaligarden.com)
20 Glass Cylinder. (jamaligarden.com)
21 Clear Glass Cylinder, Set of 4. (jamaligarden.com)
22 Cut Glass Mini Squares Pedestal Vase. (jamaligarden.com)
23 Trapez Vase. (jamaligarden.com)
24 Large Mocha Helene Vase. (gretelhome.com)
25 Joyce Bud Vase. (cb2.com)
26 4-some bud vase. (cb2.com)
27 Daisy Bud Vase. (williamyeowardcrystal.com)
28 Kimberley Vase. (williamyeowardcrystal.com)
29 Steuben Handkerchief Vases. (bergdorfgoodman.com)
30 Tourbillon Vase & Champs Elysees Bowl. (bergdorfgoodman.com)
31 Tulip Vase & Bowl. (bergdorfgoodman.com)
32 Michael Aram Large Wisteria Vase. (barneys.com)
33 This Martha Stewart Collection Ice Bucket would make a beautiful vase. (macys.com)
Here some of my favorite vases from a variety of shops here in New York City (you can also order them online)...
Kevin Sharkey 
