Bouquet "Pomona"

Pomona was the Roman goddess of orchards, and in Ovid she wanted nothing else. She carried a curved pruning knife instead of a spear, grafted and watered her trees, and kept the gate locked against every suitor, satyrs and Silvanus included.

Vertumnus, god of the changing seasons, loved her most and fared no better. So he kept coming back as someone else: a reaper with a basket of barley, a vine-dresser with a hook, an apple picker carrying a ladder. At last he came as an old woman, admired the fruit, and kissed Pomona in a way no old woman ever would. Then, pointing to an elm with a vine wrapped round it, he made his case: the tree alone would bear no grapes, and the vine alone would lie on the ground. When he finally dropped the disguise and stood there as himself, she fell for him.

Arcimboldo later painted Vertumnus as the emperor Rudolf II, built entirely of fruit and flowers. This bouquet is named after the woman he spent all those disguises on.

It is her orchard in late autumn: orange winterberry still on the bare branch, peach spray roses, Tokyo chrysanthemums curling like caramel, velvet celosia and copper leaves. The strelitzia is Vertumnus himself, one more disguise you did not see coming. It is a large, generous bouquet and wants a big vase and a table to itself.

For a dinner you have planned for weeks, a new home, or someone you would like to hand the whole of autumn at once.

Delivered in Paris, Monday to Saturday; delivery is free from €100.

Some flower substitutions may occur if we find that the quality of the delivered blooms isn't up to our standards, but the overall color palette and style will remain intact.