I am passionate about creating arrangements that have a lush, abundant look and show off each ingredient's best features, specially when they convey movement like arching stems, frilly foliage, and show stopping blooms.
To create this style, it's essential to use materials from each of six categories of ingredients. They are:
Structural foliage
Supporting ingredients
Textural elements
Supporting flowers
Focal flowers
Airy accents
The first ingredient is foliage. It establishes the framework and size of an arrangement. It forms the shape and sets the path to the next ingredient. This fist category is filled with shrubs, trees and wood branches. Some of them are:
Salal
Eucalyptus
Boxwood
Viburnum
Hedera
Then we move on to the supporting ingredients. Once the shape is established using the foliage, supporting ingredients mimic the existing framework and create a base for the next ingredients. The examples are vast and contain any foliage plant. Here are some of them:
Lady's Mantle
Spirea
Viburnum
Hypericum
Amaranth
Bell's of Ireland
Rosemary
Now we have the basic structure done, we move on to the textural ingredients. They help add dimention and movement to an arrangement. They are often foliage with curving or weeping movement, like vines, fruit of the branch, ferns, pods. Some of them are:
Honeysuckle
Hops
Clematis
Sweet pea
Fern
Angelica
Once the first three fundamental ingredients are in, supporting flowers infuse the bouquet with colour and interest. They are usually stems with sprays of blossoms, or we create clusters of flowers to mimic the way they are naturally in the garden. As many plant features change throughout the year, some ingredients can serve as multiple types depending on how they are used among other flowers and foliage. For example, Hellebores can be focal or supporting flowers depending on what they are combined with, or even textural ingredients if you are using their seed pods. I never restrict myself to any rule but it's easier to work if you have this information in mind. Here are some supporting flowers:
Cosmos
Spray Rose
Anemone
Ranunculus
Calendula
Larkspur
Foxglove
The next step is to add focal flowers. They are larger, showier flowers such as peonies, garden roses and dahlias. Each season has it's floral stars. Again they could have worked as supporting flowers in one season and become focal flowers in another season. Examples are:
Peony
Rose
Dahlia
Ranunculus
Aster
Lilly
Tulip
The final of the six are airy accents. They are ingredients that add magic to an arrangement. These delicate details are the finishing touches that take a bouquet to the next level, catching people's attention, drawing them in. They are feathery like materials like grasses, pods and tiny etherial flowers.
Fritillaria
Bleeding heart
Forget-me-not
Grass
Grain
Bluebells
Campion
The final tip is to work with a wider variety. The wider it is the more interesting the result will be.
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