I have a thing for tiny vases. Not fairyland tiny, just, you know, small. Wandering around in any shop, I will home in on any vase that is under six inches and ignore the proper sized ones with the result being that anyone bringing me a bouquet of flowers will find me looking perplexed in my cupboards wondering what in blazes I'm supposed to put the huge thing in. It's not that I don't like big vases of flowers—they are abundant and glorious and make any tabletop pop. It's just that I'm drawn to the sweetness of a tiny bouquet sitting unexpectedly among the unopened mail on my crowded desk, or the little pop of color it provides on my white bathroom counter or the cheery floral faces sharing space with the napkins on my breakfast table.

photos by Joy Humphrey Coreopsis UpTick 'Gold & Brown'

I also find it less daunting to fill a small vase, and I'm more likely to cut the flowers in my garden knowing I won't be decimating an entire patch to fill a large vessel. One of my favorite flowers to snip is tickseed (Coreopsis). It blooms profusely, so there are always plenty for my vases as well as for the landscape. Another favorite is pincushion flower (Scabiosa). I find the pale purple-blue color goes with everything. Yarrow (Achillea) is wonderful and long-lasting, but since mine are newly planted this year and still small, I hesitate to cut the few blooms I have, although I couldn't resist the yellow of my ‘Little Moonshine.' I was surprised that impatiens and begonias make good choices for a tiny bouquet. When snipping off some leggy stems of each, I decided to put them in a vase and was pleased that they were long-lasting and had the added bonus of putting out roots--beautification and propagation at the same time.

Pincushion flower with 'Double Delight' and 'Burst of Joy' rosebuds

When it comes to arranging, sometimes I like to feature one type of flower and keep it simple. Three roses in a small vase shine very nicely on their own. But most of the time, I'm filling in with cuttings from my herb garden: tall sprigs of rosemary, mint that needs to be cut back anyway, lemon balm. Bolting parsley makes a lovely delicate arch, and sprigs of lavender never go amiss.

I know it's popular to go big, but I think I'll continue to go small, making tiny bouquets for every room, and happily losing track of time while experimenting with different floral and herb combinations. (I do need to buy some bigger vases, though.)