Rustic Autumn Centerpiece
The colors of fall, soft and warm like a sunset, work so well in a relaxed, rustic centerpiece arrangement. In this Flower School How-To Video Leanne shows you how it's done -- foam free, of course! -- in a wood and metal crate full of textural summer blooms like zinnias, cottage yarrow, gomphrena and more. Enjoy!
Video Transcription
Designing with rustic flare is easy during the autumn season. So many colors, so many textures, so many perfect materials. Let me show you how it's done, foam free, of course.
The mechanics. I lined the box, filled it with floral netting, and then added water with flower food premixed. The color palette, going analogous. Oranges over to the greens, and you can see so many beautiful flowers that'll blend beautifully in this box.
Starting with a base of foliage, some ruscus, setting it down in weaving through a central binding point, getting that deep green. Then coming back with the yellow green of the sedum, giving a little bit of brightness. Again, radiating from one side to the other. Then to bring in the bright of orange, a bit of hypericum. Cutting it down. I remove most of the leaves because the leaves don't hold as well as the berries. The berries will stay pretty for quite a while, but the leaves, they fade, look sad a little bit too quickly. So, taking the time to just remove them, and then setting it in and then continue filling ‘til you have a lush base to support all your flowers.
The base, a classic round. Now adding pizazz, Red-Hot Poker in a soft orange, letting it come up a little taller, adding movement to the arrangement, repeating. Zinnias, picking up a bit of the yellow, leaving them a little taller as well, and yarrow, paprika colored under that orangey rust with just a tiny hint of yellow. And again, radiating around until it's full and lush.
To finish, some bright gomphrena, tucking it in towards the center to brighten this area. I'm repeating that with a few more stems and then some grasses to soften and dd some flowing movement, tucking it down, feeding it in. The stems are so slender, it's easy to just weave them right in. There are so many different types of grasses, just finding the ones that you love the most, and then tucking them in, and then turning it and looking at around from all the sides to make sure it's balanced.
For the recipe, I started with the analogous color harmony and with the greens, 10 stems of the Israeli ruscus and 10 stems of sedum. Then I went to the wonderful oranges and yellows, and again, worked in tens, so 10 of the kniphofia, or Red-Hot Poker, 10 gomphrena, 10 zinnia, 10 of the grasses, 10 of the yarrow, and 10 of the hypericum, to give that little bit of base color. Easy when you just use bunches to gather. If you don't have 10, do nine, do 11, it really is an easy design to do mix and match.
The classic colors of autumn with a little bit of rustic flare. You'll find more creative inspiration on the website, Flower School .com. If you have questions, you can reach us there. Now it's your turn. Find your favorite classic autumn flowers and create a design. Be sure to take a picture, post it on social media and hashtag Floral Design Institute. That way we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
