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SLOW FLOWERS: Week 45

Sunday, November 10th, 2013

VINTAGE PATINA

Oh how I love the way hydrangeas respond to cool weather as fall settles in!

Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) are like little sparklers emerging from the hydrangea mound.

Ingredients:

12 stems mop-head hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla), harvested from my garden (note, the lace-cap hydrangeas don’t have the same visual impact as the mop-head form)

20 stems Dusty Miller (Centaurea cineraria), grown by Charles Little & Co.

25 stems sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), grown by Jello Mold Farm

Vase:

7-inch tall x 11-inch diameter cast-iron urn. Intended as a planter, it converts to a watertight vase when lined with a plastic bowl.

This was the very first arrangement I designed in early November 2011 when I dreamed up the bouquet-a-week-for-a-year project.

Eco-technique

Preserve your bouquet: There’s a bonus to using these late-season flowers in an arrangement. As the vase water slowly evaporates, the mop-head hydrangeas, Dusty Miller foliage and sea oats will air-dry without changing shape or color.

I created the arrangement you see here during the first week of November and by the following May it looked just about the same. By then, I needed the urn for another project, so I disassembled the preserved ingredients and tossed them in the compost bin. Not every cut flower will air-dry as nicely as this trio did, but with a little experimentation you’ll soon notice that some long-lasting ingredients can be preserved for months.

A BONUS BOUQUET: Using some of the same elements, here’s a bouquet I made this week, November 2013. It employs the same weathered urn, hydrangeas, a lacy form of Dusty Miller, rose hips, feverfew sprays and a few Cafe au Lait dahlias. This is a favorite style to which I continue returning. Love it!

An autumn arrangement glows on a table by my front door.

Posted in American Grown, Blog Posts, Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General, Plants, Slow Flowers: 52 Weeks, Writing | 1 Comment »

SLOW FLOWERS: Week 44

Sunday, November 3rd, 2013

TARNISHED AND TEXTURED

Super-popular tillandsias, especially this ghostly-white species, makes for an interesting fall centerpiece.

Ingredients:

1 Tillandsia xerographica plant, a gift from Nan Sterman (Tillandsias benefit from a light spritzing of water every week or so)

3 Japanese nest egg gourds, grown by Jello Mold Farm

5 Tennessee dancing gourds, grown by Jello Mold Farm

9 stems Scabiosa stellata ‘Paper Moon’, grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

Vase:

5½-inch tall x 16-inch long x 6-inch wide, vintage cast-iron planter, found at the Long Beach Flea Market

There’s a pleasing asymmetrical balance created by using this tillandsia on the right side of the design, as it echoes the urn’s curved handle on the left.

Design 101

Balance, a design principle: Balance is deeply ingrained in our psyches. In the garden or in a vase, a visuallybalanced design feels pleasing to the eye; when something feels out of balance, it can be agitating to look at. Balance is divided into three categories: Asymmetrical (seen here), in which both halves of a composition may express similar visual weight but are unevenly positioned.

Balance is created by a shift in weight on either side of a central fulcrum. Here, you see that the left side of the arrangement reveals the decorative handle of my urn, while the right side of the arrangement offsets it with the curved leaves of the tillandsia. Symmetrical or bilateral balance means that both sides of a composition are equal, one side essentially mirroring the opposite side. Formal flower arrangements are often symmetrical. Radial balance emanates from a central core, like the rays of a sunflower or spokes of a wheel. This dynamic approach appears in perfectly-domed bridal bouquets or centerpieces designed for 360-degree viewing.

Posted in American Grown, Blog Posts, Creativity, floral design, General, Plants, Playfulness, Slow Flowers: 52 Weeks, Writing | No Comments »

SLOW FLOWERS: Week 43

Sunday, October 27th, 2013

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Orange-glazed vintage McCoy sets the color palette for this autumn arrangement.

Two vases, same vintage; different styles. Ready for the festive autumn holidays.

Ingredients:

I used a combination of these floral ingredients in the two bouquets:

Culinary mint (Mentha sp.), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

Marigolds (Tagetes erecta), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora ‘Emily McKenzie’, grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

Fountain grass (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Rotsilber’), grown by Jello Mold Farm

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium ‘Vegmo Lime’), grown by Everyday Flowers

Vase:

6-inch tall x 4-inch diameter vintage McCoy bud vase

Flower pot:

5¼-inch tall x 5-inch diameter vintage McCoy flower pot

Grow This

Ornamental grasses: Autumn is the best time of year to harvest ornamental grasses and grains for inclusion in bouquets. Right after the fountain grass, foxtail grass and millet bloom, when the heads are still ripe, cut the slender grass stems and place in fresh water until used in an arrangement. If you harvest grasses after the seed heads have begun to dry, they tend to shatter, leaving little seeds all over your tablecloth.

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SLOW FLOWERS: Week 42

Sunday, October 20th, 2013

MARKET FRESH

The season for dahlias is almost over, but these vivid selections are a reminder of how much we LOVE this amazing flower.

Ingredients:

20 stems Dahlia ‘Audrey Grace’, ‘Keith H’ and ‘Pearson’s Patrick’, grown by Dan’s Dahlias

5 stems fountain grass (Miscanthus sinensis), grown by Jello Mold Farm

5 stems yellow crocosmia (Crocosmia sp.), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

6 stems millet (Setaria italica ‘Red Jewel’), grown by Charles Little & Co.

Vase:

13-inch tall x 7-inch diameter galvanized metal flower bucket

Grow This

Dazzled by dahlias: Perhaps it’s because of their amazing diversity in color, form, petal shape and size, but the dahlia is no longer just an old-fashioned cottage flower.

It’s an in-demand ingredient for brides, hosts and floral designers who can’t seem to get enough of this plant that originated in the highland areas of Mexico and Central America. “They vary in size from less than two inches to ten inches,” Dan Pearson points out.

“People are drawn to those dinner-plate-sized flowers for the wow factor, but soon they realize that the smaller to medium-sized flowers are useful for bouquets.” You can learn a lot more about growing and harvesting dahlias at www.dansdahlias.com.

Posted in American Grown, Blog Posts, Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General, Plants, Slow Flowers: 52 Weeks, Writing | No Comments »

SLOW FLOWERS: Week 41

Sunday, October 13th, 2013

CLUSTERS OF PINK

Autumn hydrangeas, pink snowberries, luscious dahlias harvested just before late October frost and ball-shaped gomphrena add up to something quite charming.

Ingredients:

4 stems hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), harvested from my garden

9 stems pink snowberry (Symphoricarpos x doorenbosii ‘Amethyst’), grown by Charles Little & Co.

5 stems Dahlia ‘Nijinsky’, grown by Everyday Flowers

15 stems globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa), grown by Charles Little & Co.

Vase:

6-inch tall x 7-inch wide x 4-inch deep vintage Floraline florist’s vase

Design 101

Group for impact: Tiny flowers can disappear when they are added to a bouquet with mostly larger blooms. One of the ways to give them more impact is to group three or five into a mini-bouquet, tied with bind wire or string. When added to the bouquet, the small cluster reads as a color block that’s more noticeable in the overall composition. Here, I wired together several sets of the clover-like globe amaranth flowers and inserted them between the much-larger hydrangea and dahlia blooms.

Posted in American Grown, Blog Posts, Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General, Plants, Slow Flowers: 52 Weeks, Writing | No Comments »

SLOW FLOWERS: Week 40

Sunday, October 6th, 2013

OLD WORLD MEETS NEW FLOWERS

This evocative palette of green and dark maroon expresses complementary colors in a surprising new way.

Ingredients:

9 stems Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

7 stems bells of Ireland (Moluccella laevis), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

7 stems chocolate sunflowers (Helianthus annuus ‘Moulin Rouge’), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

3 branches fruiting crab apple (Malus ‘Professor Sprenger’), harvested by Jello Mold Farm

Welcome~ the dramatic scale of my glass jar looks just right at the front door!

Vase:

13-inch tall x 9-inch diameter with 5½-inch opening, vintage Portuguese oil jar

Eco-technique

Botanical elements as flower frogs: I often start an arrangement using soft, fluffy foliage or dense flowers like the Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ as the “base” that peeks out over the top of the rim. Once the stabilizing element is in place, all the other stems can be inserted through it and they will remain just where you want them. The foliage and flowers are integral to the overall composition and there’s no need for florist’s foam.

Posted in American Grown, Blog Posts, Creativity, floral design, General, Plants, Slow Flowers: 52 Weeks, Writing | No Comments »

SLOW FLOWERS: Week 39

Sunday, September 29th, 2013

I placed my beautiful bowl of zinnias on the kitchen counter, in front of a botanically-inspired tile triptych by artist Paula Gill of Red Step Studio

Ingredients:

5 stems fancy-leaf scented geranium (Pelargonium crispum), grown by Charles Little & Co.

7 stems Boltonia asteroides, a small daisy-like perennial, grown by Charles Little & Co.

7 stems Artemisia capillaris, a woody perennial, grown by Charles Little & Co.

6 stems pink crested cockscomb (Celosia cristata), grown by Charles Little & Co.

9 stems apricot cactus zinnias (Zinnia elegans ‘Pinca’), grown by J. Foss Garden Flowers

Great details add texture and interest!

Vase:

4½-inch tall x 6¼-inch diameter hand-thrown clay bowl

Design 101

The power of green: The difference between one arrangement being just pretty and another being completely arresting is often not the flowers but the foliage. You see here that three similar-toned green elements are woven together as a textured and verdant tapestry.

They are definitely the supporting actors to the zinnia and cockscomb divas, but they help this bouquet sing. Whenever you can use unexpected greenery, your design will take on a similar star quality. Often, these elements come straight from the garden – growing right under our noses.

Posted in American Grown, Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General, Landscape Design, Plants, Slow Flowers: 52 Weeks, Writing | No Comments »

SLOW FLOWERS: Week 38

Sunday, September 22nd, 2013

RHYTHM IN GLASS

Chocolate cosmos blooms look fabulous in this art glass vase by Tracy Glover.

Ingredients:

7 stems fancy-leaf scented geranium (Pelargonium crispum), grown by Charles Little & Co.

3 stems pale apricot snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus), grown by Everyday Flowers

7 stems (tips only) light peach cockscomb (Celosia plumosa), grown by Charles Little & Co.

15 stems chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus), grown by Marigold and Mint

Chocolate cosmos, grown by Katherine Anderson of Margold & Mint.

Vase:

8-inch tall x 4-inch diameter hand-blown art glass vase, designed by Tracy Glover

Design 101

Dark and light: When you place lighter or brighter flowers around darker floral elements, the viewer’s attention is drawn to the distinct details of both. Here, the chocolate cosmos looks even better because it is displayed next to lighter-hued companion flowers: pale apricot snapdragons.

Posted in American Grown, Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General, Plants, Slow Flowers: 52 Weeks, Writing | No Comments »

SLOW FLOWERS: Week 37

Sunday, September 15th, 2013

FADING HUES

This lovely autumn palette of fading flowers, foliage and seed heads reflects the season’s beauty.

Ingredients:

7 stems smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria ‘Grace’), harvested from Lizzy Jackson’s garden

7 stems pittosporum (Pittosporum sp.), harvested from the Lila B. lot garden

5 stems Dahlia ‘Hy Suntan’, grown by Jello Mold Farm

5 stems gold and pale pink garden roses, harvested from the Lila B. lot garden

3 stems terracotta-orange lilies (Lilium ‘Olina Tango’™), grown by Peterkort Roses

5 stems pale peach stock (Matthiola incana), grown by Repetto’s Nursery

7 stems perennial flax (Linum perenne), grown by Charles Little & Co.

7 stems brown millet (Setaria viridis ‘Caramel’), grown by Charles Little & Co.

Miscellaneous seed heads, harvested from the Lila B. lot garden, including purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Euphorbia sp., and rose hips

2 clusters yellow pear tomatoes, harvested from Marritje Green’s garden

Vase:

7-inch tall x 10-inch diameter antique-finish urn with 6½-inch opening

The luscious selection of California, Washington and Oregon-grown floral elements – on display

Eco-technique

A fresh drink of water: There’s a proliferation of advice for keeping a bouquet of floral ingredients fresh and lasting for many days. But one of the most important things you can do is give stems clean water. That’s not so easy with an arrangement like this one, where all the stems are knit together in a tangle of chicken wire.

My friend Lorene Edwards Forkner shared this easy water-changing trick: Place the entire arrangement in the kitchen sink. Gently lift the foliage at one edge of the vase so the faucet’s spray nozzle is directed inside. Turn on the water and let it flow for a minute or two. The existing water will begin to overflow and go down the drain, displaced by fresh water that now occupies the vase (dry off the bottom and outside of the container when finished). Do this every day or two for the life of the arrangement.

Posted in American Grown, Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General, Landscape Design, Plants, Slow Flowers: 52 Weeks, Writing | 2 Comments »

SLOW FLOWERS: Week 36

Sunday, September 8th, 2013

SEEDPODS AND PETALS

Humulus lupulus, common hops, a dangly little element that adds character to any arrangement.

Ingredients:

20 stems perennial flax (Linum perenne), grown by Charles Little & Co.

5 short lengths common hop (Humulus lupulus), grown by Northern Pacific Farm

10 stems lemon-lime zinnias (Zinnia elegans ‘Queen Lime’), grown by Everyday Flowers

12 stems masterwort (Astrantia major), grown by Ojeda Farms

Vase:

4½-inch tall x 4½-inch wide x 8-inch long rectangular vintage McCoy vase

The hops plays nicely with the zinnia, astrantia and perennial flax.

Grow This

Instant gratification: I had been waiting all summer to use hop vines and their dangling green cones in an arrangement. These stems came from Oregon. Floral designers love the dreamy, 18-foot-long hop garlands, often using them to decorate wedding arbors. Common hop is also used by home brewers. With fast-growing, twining stems, hand-sized lobed leaves and bract-like flowers, the female form of Humulus lupulus is also a “quick” screen for a fence, wall or trellis. It does, however, need to be cut back once a year (usually in late fall, after the first frost), in order to produce a new flush of vines the following season.

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