Floral Wonderland

One of the things I most enjoy about floral design is coming up with unexpected arrangements. I have always had a little love affair with the baby artichoke as used in floral design but only recently decided that it is perfectly married to the hydrangea. Combining the two in a striking blue and white Chinese vase and popping in some blue berries and meadow grass made the whole thing feel kind of otherworldly to me. Something I would have on my own mantel or dressing table. I don’t tend to veer toward arrangements that are too soft or feminine. I like them to be weird. That’s really my number one criteria. If it’s pretty and weird, I’m sure to love it.

I want the arrangements I make to be interesting enough to cause people to stop and look at them for more than a moment. I want the receiver of the flowers to know that more than two minutes were spent putting it together or that their special blooms did not come off a standard menu or web site. I kind of shudder when I think of people receiving the “Big Bloom Bouquet” in the smiley face ceramic mug. Okay, nice thought that someone got you flowers. I do give them points. I just wish they would have given you flowers you had never seen in a vintage vase you would be excited to display on your bookcase long after the flowers had died. Sigh.

I’ve also been doing a lot of floral design with succulents lately. They make the perfect long-lasting “rosettes” and can be replanted in soil when the bouquet is done. It’s a great and surprising way to present flowers.

I loved the combination of the pink in these succulent blooms mixed with the tropical foliage and the blush pink anemones. In fact, right now is anemone madness at the SF Flower Mart and I can’t get enough of them!

I am smitten with the way the flowers look against the tarnished silver of this antique teapot.

I also think that people don’t take enough risks when it comes to holiday-themed florals. I don’t think you need to stick plastic pumpkins or spiders into an arrangement to make it say “fall” or “Halloween”. In fact, using unexpected foliage such as meadow grasses gives an arrangement a season-appropriate hue that says just as much.

I personally think warm autumn hues are gorgeous in a floral arrangement.

I’ve also been expanding my succulent gardens to include really strange “planters” that add whimsy and fun to any room they’re in. I found this 1960’s iron “spoon” at a flea market and painted and planted in it. I have no idea why someone would want to hang this on their wall without succulents in it so I just fixed an obvious dilemma (smile).

Please remember that we do a great deal of special order planting here. If you bring me a container of some kind, I’ll design in it! I also offer private or group floral arranging consults for a small fee. I don’t want to call them “classes” because that’s not really what I do, but if you want to learn a little bit about how I design, we can schedule a time to grab some amazing flowers, containers, and wine, and make some magic! Just give me a call.