Spring Flower Trends

Some spring flower trends have been posted by the UK Flowers and Plants Association.  I think they are right on point with selecting gray as one of the trends.  I have seen lots of gray out there.  It is a neutral color that allows the flowers to pop against it.  Here is some  information about the trend,  which they name "Colourful Grey" (British spelling), from their site:

Colourful Grey’ symbolises all that is fabulous in nature.  Like the first splashes of dawn glimpsed over dark and sleeping hills. Like walking along a pebbled beach on a crisp, spring morning, and noticing one bright orange starfish, washed up by the surf and glowing like a flame amongst ash. Like looking up at a greying spring sky at dusk, and seeing the blues and greens of a magpie’s wing glinting in the dying sun. This is nature personified; with a duality of opposites coming together to form exquisite beauty. 

Here are some pictures of how to design floral arrangements using the gray and colorful pops of gerbera daisies.

[Pictures from UK Flower and Plants Association]

More spring flower trends to come later this week and next!

Calla Lily

[images from minette, tanakawho, and tanakawho]

Calla or arum lilies (Zantedescia aethiopica) are native flowers from southern Africa. These elegant flowers, with their sculptural shape, are commonly used in weddings. But they are beautiful for all sorts of occasions and work as a great focal point in floral arrangements. Calla lilies are available in shades of pink and cream, yellow, green, terracotta orange, and dark purple. They also come in a miniature size, mini calla lilies.

[images from tanakawho and robbie jim]

Care tips:

Calla lilies are delicate, so take care when transporting them. As with most flowers, start with a clean vase. Take your calla lilies, re-cut the stems, remove foliage that will be below the water line, and put flower food into the vase water. Once you have the flowers arranged, keep them away from direct sunlight and air vents. After a few days (2-3), change water, recut stems, and clean vase. Check your arrangement daily for dying blooms and foliage, remove immediately.

[image from phil wood]

For more information, Flowers and Plants UK

Branches

With the Atlanta Dogwood Festival coming next weekend and the National Cherry Blossom Festival starting this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to post some information about branches.  Seeing the flowers bloom on the trees is one of my favorite signs of spring!

Sunset Magazine recently posted an article about displaying blooming branches.  If you are taking the branches from a tree on your yard, clip them when the first buds open and make about an inch slit at the end of the stem.  Then, put the branches in a vase with some warm water with flower food.  The general rule is to use branches that are about twice the height of your container.  When you change the water, recut and reslit the ends.  Click here for more details and for some specific ideas for using magnolias, blooming fruit trees, flowering quince, and dogwoods!

[image from Sunset Magazine]

Vase Alternatives

Here are some more vase alternatives that I have stumbled upon over the past few weeks.

Tons of vessels can serve as vases, such as scientific beakers or test tubes in a test tube holder, Wellington boots, mason jars, or wine carafes. The other day, I saw a bunch of flowers nicely arranged in a plain white-coffee mug! Basically, you can use anything!

The important thing to remember is to use a small glass to hold the flowers for anything that is not watertight or waterproof. The picture below, from Better Home and Gardens, uses Chinese take-out boxes (via All Things for All Parties). I have also seen pictures displaying flowers in tea tins. Just get creative!

I love the idea of just wrapping something around a vase to give it another look. You can use ribbons, beads, paper, any type of material. We posted an idea a few weeks back that used placemats. Judith Blacklock from the UK has two great ideas posted on her website. Wrap some cloth around a vase and tie some twine around the cloth to get the look below.

Judith Blacklock Flower School in the UK

Or take a regular vase, a rubber band, and some sticky stuff, get some rhubarb and lily grass, and make a vase covering like the one below. Click here for complete instructions! You could use bamboo or pussy willow as alternative ideas.

Click here and here for some vase ideas that we posted in previous weeks.

update: I just saw a post by Silly Little Mischief that suggests using pitchers, sugar bowls, and teapots - check out her blog for some great pics!

Wedding Blogs

When planning my wedding back last year, I discovered a few wedding blogs that provided wonderful ideas and inspiration.  My three favorite wedding blogs are:

 

So, if you are in need of wedding inspiration, be sure to check them out!  Something old, something new has a great eye for accessories and bridesmaids gifts.  Style Me Pretty posts beautiful inspiration boards.    And Weddingbee is a community blog of brides going through the planning process, so you can follow them from ordering their wedding invitations to selecting their flowers!

Finally, I have had this bookmarked ever since I saw it and it is about time I posted it!  So here goes...

Back in January, Style Me Pretty featured a few posts on Parisian floral trends.  The guest blogger, Laura Dowling, had recently returned from Paris and reported back on some of the current trends.  In three gorgeous posts, Abby from Style Me Pretty, and Laura posted picture, after picture of amazing wedding flowers. 

In terms of bouquets, Laura summed up the trends, as follows:

"Overall, current bouquet trends run the entire spectrum from being highly structured bouquets with extraordinary detailing and flourishes – like the haute couture style – to being very natural and unstructured, as if the bouquet is coming from the field or garden and the flowers are springing up from the base.  The latter trend of an au natural style is the dominant trend in Paris, and is often juxtaposed against stark, modern backdrops, producing surprising and exciting effects."

Click here, here,and here to see the posts.  Here are some little slivers of what you will find!

The Twist

Matt from PlantTherapy (of Apartment Therapy) posted a wonderful guide on how to twist your tulip stems when making a tulip flower arrangement. The twist is a simple, modern touch that adds a beautiful and sophisticated element to your arrangement. With a little practice, I am sure you can master this design technique too!

Check out the tutorial here - it is complete with instructions and pictures to give you a good idea of what to do. A video from Martha Stewart also shows you how to twist tulips stems - they start talking about the twist around 5:30 minute mark. *I had already posted this link back in February with some more information about tulips.*

Gerbera Bouquets

For a bridal shower a few months back, we created monochromatic gerbera hand-tied bouquets.  The mini-bouquets were placed throughout the entire room.  I loved the bold, bright colors of the flowers. I think overall it was modern and simple.   Plus, with the gerberas, it looked super cute!  Check out a few of the arrangements.  We got lots of complements on them!