My tote La Countess de Monet is enjoying her day at the farm.
Hello, My Lovelies! What's going on in your neighborhood? It has been a very rainy week and month. I wanted to work outside in our containers, but I'm having to put it off. Instead, I thought I'd pop in and share about a flower arrangement class I took earlier this month at Stone Hollow Farmstead.
City the Cat seems to have an opinion about my "greening out" options.
The class was a birthday present from Mr. Bookish. I thought it would be fun to spend a morning at a farm learning new skills and having lunch with other creatives. I am on our church's Flower Guild, and I thought the class would help me learn tips about making better arrangements. Our teacher was a professional, and he even majored in botany and flower arranging at Mississippi State. He was very patient and helpful to all the students. He taught us about some of the new materials being used in floral design that don't hurt the earth like floral foam does. One of the products discussed was floral wool bricks. Coated chicken wire is also good for the environment because it can be washed, reshaped, and reused.
We were gifted cute little journals and floral shears to use during class. Lunch consisted of a delicious green spring mix salad grown on the farm with homemade chicken salad on top. We all had such a nice time.
Below are a few of the most helpful tips I learned.
- Green out first! Gather your filler plants and place them in your container first. For a medium sized vessel you should start with about twelve stems of greenery. This will save you money because you won't need as many "statement" flowers. Plus, it helps give the illusion of a garden with all the greenery "background."
- Next comes discs and points (an aster would be a disc, and a delphinium would be a point).
- Think of classical forms, like in art. Arrange in a triangle using odd numbers for secondary flowers. Odd numbers are always pleasing to the eye.
- Focal points are last, and sometimes only one, like a fabulous dahlia or peony, is all that is needed.
- Tiny flowers like feverfew are perfect for greening out.
- Negative space gives the eye a place to rest in an arrangement.
- Always cover the rim with trailing greenery or flowers.
I learned many other things, and a very fun tip is how tomato vines are fun additions to low arrangements.
This is my finished arrangement. I used a lot of mint and hellebore greenery to start.
My secondary flowers included delphiniums, and I chose a sunflower as my statement flower.
The delphiniums provided the structure for the triangle shape.
Feverfew can be used as a greening out element because the flowers are so small. I used a lot of it, so it's more of a secondary element in my arrangement.
Verbascum is so pretty, and I love the little paper-like petals. Our grandmothers probably grew them because they were staples in Southern gardens. I am so happy that these old-fashioned beauties are making a comeback!
Here are two of my classmates' arrangements, and the one on the left was created by a very sweet and talented floral designer named Emmie. She is the owner and floral designer at Glorious here in Birmingham.
Until next time...
Blessings!
Ricki Jill
Ricki Jill
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