A Flower Arrangement for the Home

Video Transcription 

Welcome to the Flower School .com video library. I'm Leanne Kesler, director of the Floral Design Institute. And today, I'm here to share with you a beautiful arrangement, perfect for the home. It features the complex colors on trend today. 

When choosing the flowers, I started with GardenRosesDirect.com and looked at the roses, sorted them by color. They have a brand-new site. It's beautiful, made it so easy. And I started with the Golden Mustard. It's a beautiful complex hue. A bit dark. I wanted brighter, something to bring it into summertime so I added the Princess Maya, the two together, quite stunning. Then I turned to Florabundance.com for related flowers and so many things to choose from. Some strawflower, foxglove, delicate butterfly ranunculus. Aren't those grand? And then the intensity of the agonis, to bring in that deep chocolate brown. 

The mechanics, starting with a classic bubble bowl and then adding fresh curly willow inside gives it a very organic, almost a rooted effect, but that's old school. That's one way. Let's take it to a little more current vibe. A bit more of the curly willow cut to size, then pulling it down and creating an armature but will be above the vase. Tying that off with bind wire, lashing it together and giving it a clip and setting it in, weaving it into the original nest and adding water ready for flowers. 

The armature curly willow makes it easy to go back with additional stems and weave them in, knowing that they'll stay put. They won't wiggle around. You'll have control. Adding the agonis, letting it leaf out. Some shorter pieces can be tucked low and then longer coming out the sides, making sure that none of it goes in the water. The curly willow is fine in the water, the leaves not so much. Then coming back, bring in the roses, the Golden Mustard. Giving it a cut. The garden roses are perfect for everyday design because they hold so well. They'll open out and be full and luxurious for several days, making the customer very, very happy. The Princess Maya to brighten it and they're a little bigger and brighter so tucking it down a little lower so that it looks balanced in the design.

At any point you could stop and it's beautiful. The roses will open out but there's so many more wonderful things. The foxglove, finding a good bit and stripping the leaves. Estimating the height, easiest is just to hold it above the vase, eyeball it, then give it a cut, nesting it in, adding some height to the design. And a second. Then bringing in the delicate butterfly ranunculus. Gives such softness and the soft buds. Letting them dance over the top, feeding it through. They look fragile, they're actually so sturdy. They're an amazing, amazing bloom. Filling in all the way around, keeping it all sided. I don't want it to have a front and a back because if it's going in the home, people may look at it from all different angles. Then coming in with the strawflower, getting a little more intensity of color. Pulling the eye up to the center then turning it and looking at it from all different directions to make sure there's no holes. 

As I turned and looked at my design, I decided I really want one more of the foxglove, carrying your eye up on the opposite side. A little different angle, little different height to balance off visually. Then coming in, another of the strawflower, pulling your eye to the side facing me, bringing that color in and then a little bit more of the butterfly ranunculus, adding fullness. Deciding where to cut, dividing it out, bringing it up nice and tall and out to the side. Then once again, turning it, looking where else I want another stem or two. 

Shopping for these flowers was so fun and so easy. Again, I started with GardenRosesDirect.com and I used four of the Princess Maya roses and then four of the Golden Mustard roses. Then I hopped over to Florabundance.com, got the curly willow. Then I used three of the foxglove, four of the strawflower, almost five full stems that I cut apart of the butterfly ranunculus. And you can see, that with the agonis, makes a beautiful design, really featuring the complex hues. Creating casual flowers for the home is so fun and easy when you have beautiful flowers. Done in this carefree, bespoke style, it's sure to be a favorite. You'll find more creative inspiration on our website, Flower School .com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there or pick up the telephone and give us a call at (503) 223-8089. Now it's your turn. What are you going to create? Beautiful flowers for your home or for your customer's home? 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.