Fall Flowers 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 we're looking forward to the autumn season and all the beautiful flowers that are perfect to use for an arrangement in the home. 

For flowers, I turned to our friends at Florabundance.com. Went through their website looking for the perfect things. First up, I found these amazing golden yellow roses. They're called Heart of Gold. And this deep, intense hue is so perfect for autumn. Then I started just looking for things that would go with that. Ninebark, the intensity of that mahogany hue. Banksia, this almost copper color. Unique eucalyptus, following through with that yellow based color. Then, what's special about Florabundance is they always have unique things. They have crab apples. And when I use crab apples, I remove the leaves so that I have just the bare branch and the apples so that they show very, very well. Then I went through their site and gathered all kinds of different things to add texture and contrast. 

The container, a heavy pottery. Now, it's not waterproof so I have a plastic liner inside. Then to keep it long lasting, foam free, using floral netting to support the flower stem, just wedging that in place. Then adding fresh water premixed with flower food. 

The crab apple stems are fairly long and heavy. So placing those first, going into a central binding point, making sure they're nice and stable, coming back. Now, some of your apples will fall off. Just save them. You can always work with them later with a little different design. And once those are all securely placed, coming back on the opposite side with the ninebark. Giving it a cut. It's very thirsty so you want to make sure you have a nice clean cut every time. Then in the center, the eucalyptus, giving three distinct placements. Weaving it around the apples and then tucking it down in and adding some coming out the back to break the line of the container and repeating that in the front.

 For focal emphasis, of course, the Heart of Gold roses. Giving them a cut and then placing them towards the center of the design. Bringing some a little shorter to draw eye through towards the back. Then to complement and enhance that color, some of the banksia. They're very woody, so sometimes I just break it. Other times I'll whittle it with my knife. Placing that down in as well and repeating until you have a nice full focal emphasis. 

Now comes the fun. Gathering from the wonderful things and enhancing. Some autumn chrysanthemums. Getting a little lighter color. Tucking it in. Getting some contrast. Maybe a little bit of sedum. Getting great texture, and also that lighter hue. Pulling it through. And then for some softness, grasses coming up through the top. Adding a bit of height in the center. 

In addition to wonderful fresh flowers, unique items, grasses, and textural pieces, they also have preserved and dried materials at Florabundance. The preserved beech has the perfect color to enhance, coming out the side, giving a little more fullness. Tucking it in from towards the back, and then feeding a little bit in at the very front to carry the color through.

 The recipe. Everything came from the Florabundance.com website. I started with the five Heart of Gold roses. Then three of the copper banksia, three ninebark, and three crab apple. A stem of the eucalyptus, three of the chrysanthemums, and then of course, the grasses, some sedum and the copper beech. 

Autumn is such a wonderful time in the flower shop. We love the colors, the scents, the materials. You'll find more creative inspiration on our website, Flower School .com. If you have questions, you can reach us 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 for the autumn season? 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.