Home Flower Set "Bookmark"

The word book, by one long-standing account, comes from the beech tree: early Germanic peoples carved their runes into beech, and German still keeps the pair, Buch and Buche. That is where this set takes its name.

So: a pot of tea, the book you save for quiet days, an armchair, three vases. You read a chapter, look up, and the room has moved on without you. One rose has opened; another has turned its petals towards the window. You slowed down. The flowers did not.

The beech is the one thing that holds still. In the woods it is a tree that refuses to drop its leaves in autumn; botanists call it marcescence, and the leaves cling on until spring buds push them off. These branches are preserved: the sap is gradually replaced with a glycerine-based solution drawn up the stem, so each leaf stays supple and keeps its shape and colour for months, without water.

Against that, everything else keeps time. Julietta spray roses come from the French rose house Delbard: several full, many-petalled blooms on one stem, opening one after another, peach on the outside and deeper at the heart. White gladioli rise beside them, named from the Latin for "little sword" after the shape of their leaves.

In June, Parisians go to the rose garden at Bagatelle, where more than a thousand varieties come into flower. In winter, I can bring the roses to you instead.

The set arrives loose, for you to arrange; vases are available separately. 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.