After so many requests I thought now to be the best time to solves a few floral design issues! Yes, you can put artificial with fresh & if you want to use foliage that wouldn’t normally grow with the flowers, I say why not. As I see it, there seem to be too many rules & these place unnecessary demand which eventually put stop to the creative flow.
I am here to set the record straight. Flowers are like food. Some like it hot and spicy and some like it mild. Some like Asian, some like Mediterranean and then there are those who love savoury over sweet. With floral design I think that you should do what visually makes you happy. I’m not fussed on a lot of combinations but I’m not living with it and as long as your balance is correct, at the end of the day, does it really matter. Flowers are sent to enhance and offer joy, not give grief.
In today’s design, I’m using a few green protea, green amaranthus and as a foliage, an artificial maidenhair bush. Why? Well because it helps to soften the heavy visual weight of the proteas. The green hanging amaranthus help to give movement and further diffuse the weight of the proteas and to finish it off and tie everything together, a few end of season, garden hydrangeas. The colour ways of the hydrangea give not only a lovely roundedness but help to blend and connect visually.
Things to gather –
- The vase I’m using is one that I recently crafted and although busy, as long as the colours and textures all work together, the end result will be visually pleasing to the eye.
- Several stems of green protea
- Several stems of hanging green amaranthus
- 1 x artificial maiden hair bush – as an aside and design tip, the reason we don’t use fresh maidenhair is because it really doesn’t last that long fresh. You can burn the stems of the fresh, but to be honest, it still doesn’t last much longer than a few days. If you are ever unsure, might I suggest that you snip a few stems, place them in water and test in your environment. This will give a good indication of longevity.
- 3, 4, or 5 large end of season garden hydrangeas. Mine started the summer a lovely lush pink, but as the season has progressed, they’ve thrown up gorgeous deep rosy red burgundy tones.
The great thing about using them at this time of the year is, if they have a dried crisp feel to the touch, then they might not need any water, which makes them perfect for long term display. Once dried off they will keep months, slowly fading over time. I find this dried off tonal feature a real winner when combining permanent botanicals in with a lot of autumnal seasonal blooms.
Another little trick is to cut and hang them upside down in a cool airy place!
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