Reflex: A floral technique

This post is a collaboration with Kaitlin from The School of Styling and Marcie from Marcie Meredith Photography.  Today I'm going to share a floral technique called reflexing.  See if you can guess which flower in this arrangement has been reflexed.

If your answer is tulips, you are correct!  In the flower world, REFLEX means gently peeling back the petals of a flower.  Everyone has their preferences, but I like to start at the base of the flower and "pop" the petals inside out.  It works best if you've let the flowers age a little bit, and they should be at room temperature.  These two things soften the petals and make them more flexible.  If you try this with a freshly unpacked, cold, crisp flower you'll have poor results.  It's one technique for speeding along the opening process if you're in a pinch!  You can do this with lots of flowers.  Below I've reflexed some spray roses for you.  As you can see, a reflexed white spray rose could double for a gardenia at a fraction of the price.

Now, In the rest of the world REFLEX means an automatic reaction to something, not a purposeful action to make something more beautiful.  You know, the doctor taps your knee with a hammer and your leg jumps, a car pulls out in front of you and you hit the brakes — Reflexes.  

What is your reflex when things go wrong with your flower business, or maybe something else you are facing?  Give in, give up or give it all you've got?  You think I'm about to tell you to give it all you've got don't you?  Plot twist!  I think there is a place for all three of these reflexes.  Sometimes giving in or giving up is the smart thing to do.  Often times these are little projects within your big dream.  You peel back all the layers and at the center you find a bumble bee that's coming in for the sting — drop the project, pull the plug, and don't think about it for another minute — move on.  But, if it's a challenge that's come up against your big dream, reflex like a kneecap at the doctor's office and kick!  When you want to stay in bed and surrender, physically make a fist, and put that hand in the air!  All of a sudden you'll find yourself leaping out of bed.  You'll see your mental reflexes changing as your physical posture changes.  When we are talking big dreams, give it all you've got.

Ingredients: tree ivy, fatsederna leaf, calathea leaves, silver dollar eucalyptus, hyacinth, amaryllis, paperwhites, tulips, spray roses, anemones, blackberries