All tagged Spring

Video: Long-Lasting Spring Floral Arrangement

Video: Long-Lasting Spring Floral Arrangement

Kelly Perry
Videos

Watch a video tutorial on how to make a long-lasting, inexpensive, and cheerful springtime arrangement. I use fresh-cut daffodils (often available for $5 a bundle or less) and a handful of potted bulbs. Container aside, you’re looking at about $12 in supplies for this piece!

Transcript

Hey, I'm Kelly Perry. And I'm here to show just a quick little fun with flowers segment. I was out picking up some groceries and saw these hyacinth bulbs for a dollar. And I was like, well, let's do something fun with those this afternoon. So I'm here. 

And had some rocks left over from another project that I was working on and I thought we'll just do a little hybrid potted plant/fresh cut flower arrangment. So I'm going to put a couple rocks in the bottom of this to help with drainage since there aren't any drainage holes in this container. And then I'm going to add a little bit of potting soil. And then I'm going to go ahead and put in-- I had these left over from another project as well, so I'm going to pop these in-- little tulips. 

And we'll put in the hyacinth in here as well. I love hyacinth in the spring. It is the smell of spring to me. 

They're also really fun to make hairpieces out of. I was at a class recently in New York, and Shane Connelly was the teacher. And he does flowers for the Royal Family. 

And it was really fun to hear his perspective and take on things. And he loves using potted flowers. And so we have that in common. 

And then he taught us how to wire hyacinth flowers to use in bouquets and things like that. And that got me thinking about hair crowns and just all the versatility and things that we could do with those. So anyway, just a little tidbit there about the hyacinth. So once these bloom, I might pop them out and practice doing some more wiring with them. 

OK, got these potted in here how I like them. I pulled some moss out of the backyard. I'm going to put that in here just around. I'm going to not do the whole way around quite yet, because I want to add some of these fresh things with water tubes. But we can just kind of get this base started so we have a better idea of what it will all look like when it comes together. 

Perfect. OK, these are water tubes. I'm going to just pop them open and I'm actually going to just snip the ends off these. I'm using these little daffodils and their stems are hollow. So I don't want to upset them. 

I'm just going to pop these inside. 

In this arrangement, I'm just going to like a mass of spring flowers. No particular consideration to lines or anything like that. I just want it to look like it is just happening. 

So all the different stages of the flowers are in. Perfectly fine, because that's how they are outside. Some are high. Some are low. 

So do this with whatever you have in your garden. Maybe you have some of those really pretty magnolia branches blooming. Or a few little cherry blossoms. Whatever you have, go for it. 

I have this dogwood that I think I'd like to put in. And this will open up over time. It's not open at the moment, but it will be. Actually, let me give that just a quick little fresh snip so it can have an easier time hydrating. 

[HUMMING] 

I want to add just two more flower tubes. 

And I'm going to be adding the moss in so that will cover up-- oh, these are poking up through the soil right now. That'll take care of that. And these little tubes of water you'll want to keep an eye on if you're trying to keep your arrangement fresh for a particular day. Just keep an eye on those little tubes. They don't hold a lot of water. 

And I'm putting about two daffodils in each. So they'll drink that up pretty quick. Keep a little eye on that. OK, we'll fill in and cover up those tubes with the moss. And then we'll be all ready to go. 

The hyacinth already had quite a bit of moisture in the soil so I'm not worried about giving those a fresh drink just yet. But I'll keep an eye on that in the coming days. 

But once those start shooting up through the soil, and these tulip bulbs that are in here start blooming, it'll really fill this arrangement out. And it will be very, very sweet. Lots of longevity to this. 

If you do weekly arrangements for maybe a business or some type of office setting, this would be a great way to offer something with a lot of longevity to it. 

All right, there you have it. Just give this a little dust around the edges and we'll call that done. 

Thanks for watching. If you'd like to see more like this, you can visit Teamflower.org/free. I'm Kelly. Thanks for watching. 

Video: Spring Wedding Flowers for Arranging

Video: Spring Wedding Flowers for Arranging

Kelly Perry
Videos

Learn how to arrange flowers for a wedding. In this video, you'll see some of floral designer Kelly Perry's favorite flowers for spring wedding arrangements.

Transcript

Today I'm going to show you some wonderful flowers that you can use for your next spring event. Some of these are just available in spring. Some are available year round. We'll go through the list and I'll let you know when these are usually available.

One of my favorites and a staple that I like to use in my events is called the White Majolica spray rose. I love this because it easily transitions from blush to cream. And a lot of times within the bunch you'll have a variation of those shades.

So if you're working with a bride that loves blush, this is a great option for a flower for her. If you need a spray rose that is a true white, you might want to look at something like princess or snow roses.

What I love about White Majolicas is that they open really beautifully. And you can just pluck away some of those inner petals and get that great, beautiful, golden center if you would like.

These are available usually year round. They do have a pretty big spike in price increase midsummer, whenever they're in really high demand. So that's something you want to talk to your wholesaler about.

And maybe that's something that will affect you in your area. Maybe it's not. But it's something that I've run into. So that's the White Majolica spray.

These are combo roses. They're really unique color and I love them. There's also a rose called camel that might be a great substitute if your wholesaler isn't able to get combo roses.

I love these. As they open they just-- they're really beautiful and a unique color that transitions well between a lot of different palates. So this is kind of one of my staple flowers as well.

The last rose-- well, we have two more here. This one that we're working with today is called the amnesia rose. It's a little bit lavender, a little bit dusty pink. Has some green tones in here. So it's really great if you're working with a muted palate.

And then another one that I think pairs so beautifully with White Majolicas and also a quicksand rose is this champagne rose. How beautiful is that? They have a lower pedal count so they open wide. And it's one of my absolute favorite roses.

This is a standard rose. Every rose that you've seen here is a standard rose. So they come with that standard price tag, which is great.

This is spirea. And one of my favorite greens. It's great to grow in your yard if you have the space. It just grows wild and crazy. And you can cut it and it grows back fairly fast.

So this is something that I get locally. You can also get it wholesale sometimes as well. But just a really sweet texture to work with.

This is purple feather acacia. And it does have a tendency, and this is a little bit, to wilt at the end. So make sure that you always have this in a good water source.

This is kind of what it looks like when it first arrives. But once this takes up some water and is really well-hydrated, this will perk back up a little bit.

But the color variance in it is really interesting and great. It kind of goes from like a silvery tone, like that would pair well with seeded eucalyptus. And it has this dark foliage, of course. And then some of it is actually-- kind of has like a little bit of a yellow undertone in it. So I think this is a really interesting foliage to use in projects.

This is blue Muscari. A really sweet flower that you'll commonly find in gardens. Maybe your mom or grandma has grown it or something. This is something that I really love and think of as a springtime thing.

If you are getting this locally, a little trick-- or you're growing it in your garden. Down toward the base, if you just pull as opposed to clipping it, you can get a little bit of a longer stem for these. Since these are something that have a very short stem.

But these are available wholesale pretty frequently as well in the spring. And that's just a spring thing. These are some Japanese Sweet Pea. The color variations in them is really beautiful and nice.

And they smell absolutely fabulous. The scent just filled up the whole studio when they arrived. I really love these.

This is called fruitalaria. And one of my very favorites. It comes in several different varieties. So this is just one variety of fruitalaria Here is another variety.

And they do have a little bit of an unpleasant scent, but it's not to the extent that it would bother me. But it definitely is a difference between the sweet peas in the fruitalarias as far as how they smell.

This is called leucadendron. And a lot of times, maybe you've seen this at your wholesale. This is a very, very common wholesale plant. But you'll probably see it looking a little something like this and maybe not all that attractive.

But you'll see, and if you read a little bit on our blog reflexing flowers, you can just gently coax those to flip inside out. And you have a really interesting flower to work with. And check out the color variation on the inside.

This variety is called Safari Sunset. And I think it's a great substitution for brides who might like the look of a magnolia. If they're open to color, this is a direction-- it reminds me of that shape, and the center, and everything.

These are viburnum berries. Very beautiful, and some of them almost look iridescent in color. These are available locally and also through wholesale.

This is ranunculus. One of the smaller varieties. And then here you have some of the beautiful hybrid Japanese ranunculus that, in some cases, are as big as a peony or a large faced flower. So those are two varieties of ranunculus that are available in the spring.

This is an antique carnation. I really love the color variations in here. And again, if they come to you and they're closed you can just gently coax them open. I think these are a really, really lovely flower.

Here we have some anemones. These love it in the chill, in the cold. That's something that you'll find in the winter as well as the spring.

This is some Japanese Lisianthus. A little bit more Japanese Sweet Pea. Some tulips here. This is passion vine.

We have a little bit of Jasmine vine. It's normally blooming around this time of year, you'll get it with the buds. But you can get it a lot of times year round, just the foliage.

Here we have some olive. This is a really sturdy foliage, holds really well.

And then last but not least, my very favorite flower. And something that a lot of people have commented, oh. It's all in your arrangement. Well it's my very favorite. I have this beautiful foxglove.

So it's one of my favorite flowers and I grow a lot of it here in the garden. This is coming in wholesale but that is another great flower. So that, in my garden, it blooms from summer the whole way through the fall. And the more you cut it, the more it pops up and keeps producing.

So those are just a few flowers that I wanted to share with you today. And I hope that you enjoyed it and that it inspires you to create more beautiful things for your brides.

It's Time to Plant Tulips!

It's Time to Plant Tulips!

Kelly Perry
Articles

Below is a scene from Keukenhof in Holland. I traveled there with Florabundance and recommend hopping on the bus and traveling with them! We had a lot of fun, and I met some great friends. When I visited this vibrant display, it felt a lot like like going home even though I was thousands of miles from home.

Video: Make a Simple, Elegant Floral Design with Only 2 Ingredients

Video: Make a Simple, Elegant Floral Design with Only 2 Ingredients

Kelly Perry
Videos

Watch as Kelly puts together a simple two ingredient arrangement. Poppies and Solomon's Seal are a sweet late-spring pair. This design is perfect for dressing up a windowsill at home, wedding bar or guestbook table on the fly!   

Transcript

Hey, I'm back, excited to share an arrangement with you that this time only has two ingredients. I have Solomon's seal and poppies. I also have a message for you on the upper side of my camera. And it is that you are awesome. OK, have a flower frog in my container. This is also [INAUDIBLE] decor, if you're looking for one. Have my pieces of Solomon's seal are arranged by size. I have one that's long, and then two that are more of a smaller/medium size. 

Gonna start with this one. We're going to go straight up. Going to be fun. And I'm going to clip it down just a little bit. Got a frog in here that's raising my levels. Whenever you're not using a lot of flowers, mention frogs are great, because they're just kind of pretty to look at. I think they look nice in an arrangement. 

So I have to be as conscious about covering-- kind of the point is to show negative space in the arrangement. We're using the principle of design of radiation in this arrangement. Everything is going to-- all the lines are going to come out from one point with this base material that we're working with. 

And for balance, I'm wanting to keep this as my center point, and then same amount both to the right and left. And what I'm doing with these pieces, I'm kind of moving around in this circle a bit, and I'm creating a little house for the poppies to live, making room for them. 

So this is where we are. This is the front side of the arrangement, and my poppies are going to live in this area here. So we created the general shape, the general size, that goal of level one. We're not going to worry about covering the base. And this sort of is just another part of that. And then we're going to use the poppies as both level two and level three. We're going to have them work together to create a resting point for the eye. But then we're also going to use them to create movement through line. 

Now, a lot of the times I like to use gradation in size whenever I'm arranging, but my smallest poppy has the shortest stem, so we're going to reverse that. This is probably technically-- let's see here. One third, it looks a little bit-- yeah, the poppy is a little bit too high proportion wise. So I'm going to let him come down a little bit. 

I was reading somewhere that poppies like to drink through the little hairs on their stems. So getting them this way, you singe the ends to seal off that little wound, and then put them in deep water till they're properly hydrated as these ones are. 

OK, so those are going to be my bottom two. With poppies, too, I think they're really pretty if you could just have their faces pointing in different ways as you work. They're all looking straight at you, staring you down, making you feel a little bit uncomfortable. Poppy etiquette. 

So this is something that would be fantastic for a guest book table or bars, anywhere to add a little extra thing, only 10 stems, 10 stems, two ingredients. Big, the whole way down to small. We're doing this kind of trickle, faces up, faces out, moving in and out throughout the arrangement. OK. Be back with another one for you. 

Video: Using Potted Plants in a Floral Arrangement Alongside Cut Flowers

Video: Using Potted Plants in a Floral Arrangement Alongside Cut Flowers

Kelly Perry
Videos

In this springtime video, Kelly will show you how to pull together an arrangement perfect for an Easter lunch table.  Learn how to become a florist and take floral design classes online with Team Flower. Here you can even learn tips on flower gardening for beginners. We'll show you how to do flower arrangements in flower arranging videos.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Kelly Perry with Team Flower. And I wanted to share an Easter centerpiece with you today. I'm reading this book called Flower Arranging Through the Year, by Daphne Vagg.

And in it there is a little idea. They call it pot-et-fleur. Literally means pot in flower. It evolved about 20 years ago to describe an arrangement of growing plants that are still rooted with a few cut flowers.

At times of the year when flowers are scarce or expensive, a pot-et-fleur can provide a type of decoration which has never really enjoyed the popularity it deserves for its economy and long life. A well-planted and cared for bowl will last for two or three years.

Well, maybe not if it lives in-- maybe not if it lives in my house. But if you're a good house plant person and very attentive, this is a great idea.

I love the concept behind it. In the book that they show here, they have some begonias, succulents, dusty millers, ivies, things like that. And then they've added in some little lilies.

A great idea to have some simple house plants that then you can, throughout the year, go back to and simple little if you need a little extra in a boutineer. Or just to have something fresh and growing in your house all the time that you can then take things they're blooming outside and add into your bowl, just to keep things fresh and fun. But it doesn't take maybe quite as much work as an arrangement.

So that is what we're going to do today. And I am using some things that I would probably plant these things out. It's not house plant kind of materials. But these are things that are available at the garden center now.

And we're going to plant them, pop them up here for our Easter bowl. And then after frost passes we're going to go ahead and plan these things out in the garden.

So my version is not as strict. But that's something that you could do is plant the house plants. And then follow the same kind of set up and concept to have something that's fresh and growing throughout the year.

So we are going to start by taking our terracotta pot. And I'm going to flip it upside down. I'd kind of like to age it a little bit, but I don't have time to go through the whole process of covering it and letting that process happen.

So I'm going to do a quick little cheat. And I'm going to just use some chalk. Some simple classroom chalk or some sidewalk chalk if your kids have some.

And I'm just going to go back and forth on my bowl with the chalk. And then we're going to smooth it over and kind of blend it all together just with a towel.

You will, of course, want to be careful when you pick this back up to take it in your house so you don't have chalk all over the front of you. But this is just a really quick way to get some interest, and texture, and age to your pot instantly. It's fun.

Kind of like we're giving her some makeup. Putting on the powder.

Now next, we're going to add some-- get a base level of some potting soil in here. We'll go back over where I just put a little thumb print. OK.

And I'm just using a simple Miracle-Gro potting mix from the hardware store that has some nutrients for the plants in it already. This is only designed to last for a little while in terms of nutrients for your plants. So you'll want to check the brand and the bag that you have to see what's in it, how long it will last, and what you'll need to add or supplement to keep your plants looking great long-term.

I know a lot of times with house plants-- I'm getting a little bit better at them. But I was on a real losing streak with them because I kept getting insects in the soil.

And so I did some Dawn dish detergent and have been doing flower food in them regularly. And that's really helped. So maybe my black thumb of death is going to leave here pretty soon.

OK. We're going to add these first. They're just a sweet little-- what was this called? Saxi-- frage? Fr-ah-g? Did we look this-- we looked this up and-- oh, man.

If I haven't heard it said before. I have a tough time with that sometimes. But it is spelled highlander white. And it's S-A-X-I-F-R-A-G-E.

I'm just going to break up this little bit at the bottom so that the roots can move around in the pot. And I chose two different ones. This one has more compact flowers and this one was a little bit leggy looking. But I liked that because I can have this one that is doing a little bit more movement come and drape down the front like this.

So I'll tuck that little baby in the there. I'm going to add-- I have some different kinds of lettuces. I guess this is a lettuce, a kale, and I think this is cabbage. Yep. A little bit of cabbage.

That one I lost. I tell people a lot with cut flowers, feeling the flowers to know if it's going to hold well for use a cut if you're cutting some things from your garden. If you feel lettuce it feels very tender and soft. And then if you feel this cabbage down here it's very leathery.

That Cabbage will do just fine out of water. But the lettuce, you'll have a little bit more wobbling around. And we're experiencing that even now just here on the plant. The cabbage and kale over here, same thing.

And I wanted to have a little bit of lettuce in here. Have a little spring garden. Thought it would be sweet. So we'll see how it does.

Let's put a little thyme in here next. Thyme is one of my-- this is a lemon variety. I love thyme.

It's very sweet smelling. It's great to have on hand for cake decorating flowers if you do wedding flowers. I like to use that on wedding cakes a lot. Of course, I make little cookies and Jesse and I had it in scrambled eggs the other morning.

When I was choosing these plants at the garden center I was thinking about the different shapes of the leaves and how they might look grouped together. I wanted to have some varieties, so that's why we have long lettuce leaves.

And these cabbage leaves have just a little hint of purple in them, which I really liked. Just add a little bit of depth to our green. It's, of course, primarily green. But I wanted to have a little hint of color.

Now This, you could plant the whole thing in the ground I suppose. I want to liberate it for what we're doing.

It has become-- the roots have come bound around the bottom of this. Try not to disturb them too much but let them go free so they can keep moving.

Easter is one of my favorite-- well it is my very favorite holiday. So I'm excited about this one. Parents are coming down to visit. And we'll have our little brunch with this centerpiece.

Nice thing about these is you can do them in advance and keep an eye on them, keep them watered, and happy. And that's one less thing you have to do when company comes. You don't need to be arranging fresh flowers. You can just touch your potted arrangement up and pay attention to your guests.

OK. I think I'm going to reserve these last two, just in case we need them. And I'm going to fill in with a little bit more potting soil. Then we're going to add some fresh flowers.

And these daffodils will be-- they will be all done blooming. They will have lived their life by Easter for me right now. But there will be more in the garden when Easter rolls around and I'll run out pick some more.

Same with-- I think we're going to add some forsythia to this. It's a great plant to use.

But again, that forsythia will actually very likely still be looking great for me around Easter. Forsythia is one of those flowers that roofs in water. And those kinds of things are always very long lasting in arrangements.

I don't know if you've ever noticed ivy. If you cut ivy and put it in a vase, it will start to shoot out little roots at the bottom. Maybe after about two weeks of being cut.

And forsythia acts the same way. That's how it spreads in the ground and multiplies is by putting out roots. So that is a great, great cut. Great thing to have in your garden if you don't have already. OK. Cute.

So to put these flowers in, I'm going to use some little water picks. But I wanted to show you a few other options.

In the book, whenever they talk about putting together the pot-et-fleurs, they have thin little containers or little vessels that they actually plant in the soil that then they can put their little bouquet in. So I wanted to show these. These would be great little things that you could plant in there. With what we're doing with it being so low and just the shape of what we're doing today, this isn't what I need.

We could, if we wanted to, perhaps use this. This is a little pin frog cup that you can put a little bit of water down in here. And then you have the pins that you can set the flowers in and around.

So I'm going to just-- there's a little place right here that I've created that would be fine to put that in. Since it's green it mixes in with the things that we have. I'm just going to put a little bit of water in that.

And since I might want to put some flowers in a spot other than this or maybe just one little flower over here, I also have some water tubes to use as well. And they just look like this if you haven't used them before. They have a little poke and you just poke it down in there. And then kind of hide the mechanics of that as needed.

So I'm going to start with the forsythia. And I'm going to use this to create the kind of more interesting shape at the top. We've filled in the base of our arrangement. But now opposite of this rosemary that's probably the most prominent thing that we have coming up, I'm going to do the forsythia right over here.

And I'm not getting real serious about precisely how this is going in there. I want it to feel casual and just that it was a walk in the garden. But naturally, just because that's how my eyes bend, I'm thinking about the lines and the movement that I'm creating in the arrangement with the pieces that I put in.

And then the little daffodils. You can see how they get this little-- where they've been living and forming. You can just pull that off and liberate the flower. So there she is. Glad and ready to roll.

I'm going to take a quick peek at my flowers. See which ones are the biggest, which ones are medium, which ones are small. That helps me as I place them.

You place larger flowers at the base of the arrangement and smaller ones higher. It feels a little bit more grounded, I guess is the word you could use to describe that.

And as I place the flowers in, I'm thinking about just putting maybe one a stair step above the other, rather than crunching them together. Because I want this to just look like they're growing there.

And as you go out and gather your flowers, you don't have to use daffodils. You don't have to use forsythia. Use whatever is in your garden.

But notice as you bring it in and as it's growing there, just the natural bend to the flower and how it seems to grow. And if you mimic that kind of look as you arrange it in the bowl, you'll get a nice garden feel.

So I'm going to show you-- I have this one in here and I'm going to take it out. And I'll show you why I think-- I mean it could stay there.

But I kind of think it's a stronger composition to me if I just pull this out and we have that. These were kind of on the same level and similar. So I'm just going to readjust how this one is facing. Maybe use it a little bit further back in the arrangement.

So now I'm going to work this angle. And see how as we do this we're creating depth in the arrangement. You can tell that it's moving backwards here just a little bit more. Movement.

You really could, I think, stop there with the flower placement. What I might do with some of these other smaller daffodils that I have is just create a small little grouping in a little bud vase and put these in front of each person seat. I think that would be a sweet way to use the rest of these.

And I wanted to add in my little bunny here. I have two younger sisters. And the one next in line to me, her name is Kristin. But we-- from the day she was born she just looked like the sweetest little snugly bunny. And the name stuck.

So this is little bunny right here. She can't make it down to Easter. So we're going to put this little-- we're going to put this little bunny in here to remember Kristin. I think we will put that right here. Cute.

And just these last two that I have. There's a little spot back here. I'm going to fill them in.

OK. I think that took care of that. I think we're done.

Another thing you might want to do down the ends of the tables. I know everybody's dinner tables are a little bit different. Some people are eating family style. Some people are having it on a buffet or something like that. So just a few other things.

So the daffodils in the bud vase is another way that you could add and make something with this. And then there are little sweet terracotta pots that you can get at the hardware store. They have little tiny mini ones too. That might be something that's sweet that you could put at each person's place setting.

And I also have some carrots and I have some cabbage leaves. I took some leaves off. And I have the actual cabbage head here. You can arrange these down your table and make it sweet and special.

Or you might even consider using one of these cabbage leaves as maybe a place card. Maybe you paint, just with some little-- bit of acrylic paint, you paint their little name in there as a place card. Or you could serve a chicken salad in it, you know. Whatever you think.

But there's so many sweet ways you can use something like this. And what a beautiful leaf, all the colors and veins within the leaf. So those are a few little ideas for you with that.

I already mentioned planning it out after you're finished using it as your centerpiece. And don't want to forget to give it a little bit of water here before we sign off as well, since we've disturbed those-- disturbed those roots, go ahead and get them some water back to their way.

So that's what I've got for you. Wishing you a wonderful, wonderful Easter. And hope that you enjoy spring and all the beautiful things that it has to offer.

Talk to you soon. Have a great day.

In-Depth Techniques You Need for Growing Delphinium

In-Depth Techniques You Need for Growing Delphinium

Nancy Viseth
Articles

Growing delphinium as a cut flower crop can have its challenges, but if you follow an orderly process, it can be a very rewarding flower to grow. Delphinium has several advantages such as its striking, dramatic quality and large stature which can be useful in larger arrangements. It also blooms during that early June window when your spring flowers may be finished, but your summer annuals aren’t flowering yet, helping you fill in that gap. It also provides that hard-to-find true blue color in both light and dark shades.