It's been awhile since I have presented floral ideas. Kinda makes me sad since I love flowers and love arranging them. Anyone who knows me, knows my obsession with flowers. Fact is, I've been traveling around and have not been to the city much, therefore haven't visited my favorite NYC floral shop, Dahlia * in Grand Central Station. Hence the lack of floral inspiration. But I happened upon an arrangement I created awhile back that I thought I would share. My idea, if you don't have real flowers to look at, at least look at a pretty picture. I am stretching it a bit?? Maybe.
This is not my usual color scheme, or theory on color, which is why I wanted to share it with you. As I have often professed, I prefer to stick with a single color theme and vary the flower types, or when mixing colors stick to two of high contrast. This arrangement does neither. Go figure. Yet somehow it worked. Well, at least for me.
One of the leaves I really enjoy working with is eucalyptus. But not the one with the highly intense aroma, and inflexible stem version. I like the leafy, droopy kind. Their branches are long and bit floppy which produces a huge spray that creates a wonderful backdrop for the florals.
After choosing the eucalyptus, for some reason I then selected three very different colors of 2 different flowers.
Deep Red and Yellow Alstroemeria
Pale Pink Lysianthus
A very odd day for me, apparently.
Ready, set, arrange.
Often times when using eucalyptus branches I reach for a tall vase. (However, I have also arranged them in a long, low vessel to create a wide arrangement that was super dramatic.)
Proportion is everything with flowers. This long tulip shaped vase was a wedding gift, and I adore it. I usually add stones to lift the stems a bit.
Decorative stones in the bottom help to lift the stems.
Tall and elegant, the wide mouth aids in creating a full boquet.
Once the branches are placed to create that spray, I started with the Lysianthus, placing them around knowing I would fill in with the other two flowers.
Grouping all the Lysianthus together creates a higher point of interest.
My thought was to color block since I had such varying colors. I concentrated the pale pinks in the center, then surrounded them by the yellow Alstroemeria. Since the deep red Alstroemeria had yellow in their centers, I surrounded the yellow flowers with the red.
A burst of pure joy.
This turned out to be an interesting color palette, and one that seems to work due in part to keeping the same colors blocked together for the most part. I also feel the reason it works is because the massive size and spray of eucalyptus. The key aspect of flower arranging is do what brings a smile to your face, and a sense of peace when you see them. In this episode of creating floral joy, I chose a Eucalyptus Burst.
* I can't stress enough how I adore the flowers and service at Dahlia. Their prices are always reasonable and the flowers durable. If you go to the Grand Central location, ask for Simone. She is the best.
