Hey there! How is this nice weather outside treatin' ya? As I sit and type, I look outside and am tempted to open up the windows to let this fresh, Spring air in. Just one second.... okay, there we go! Windows open, fresh air billowing in. :D
This Spring (and each Spring, really) we host Complimentary Spring Classes and ask well-known gardeners around this area to come teach budding gardeners and Master Gardeners alike. We've been blessed to host an amazing set of classes this Spring, and were so excited to have Shelley Horton and Carla Hughes of Flourish Nashville with us a couple of Saturdays ago for an unique Floral Design class. These ladies were so much fun to be around and man, do they know their stuff!
Below are tips and photos of their G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S arrangements! These classes are complimentary- our gift to you!!! So be sure to check out the list at the bottom of this post of the exciting classes we still have coming in April! :D
To get started, you need a good set of tools.
Tools:
*Floral picks
*Good ribbon cutting scissors for wrapping vases
*Clear florist tape as well as green florist tape
*Wire cutters
*Woody stem cutters
*Floral Preservative
*A floral hydrating and protecting spray that hydrates the flower head
*Thin florist wire
*Vases: a vase can be almost anything- a pitcher makes a beautiful vase
*Floral foam if your project needs it
Prep Your Vases:
*Make sure your vessel is clean. It seems like such an obvious tip, but a spotless clean vase can help your flowers last a lot longer.
*Shelley shared that when you have larger vases, you can make a grid on the top using clear florist tape and then place your flowers in the grid. Don't let the tape get wet, so you will want to already have water in before making the grid.
*No leaves need to be below the water line in the vase, so pluck off any leaves that will be.
A Few General Tips Before We Begin:
*Cut your flowers at an angle.
*Change the water in your vases every 2-3 days to make your blooms last so much longer.
*Hydrangeas love water. Hence their name Hydra. Awesome tip here the ladies shared: to keep their bloom longer (we all know Hydrangeas tend to wilt quickly once cut), dunk their whole flower head in fresh, room temperature water and leave it in there overnight. Then they will last a week or two for you! (This tip changed my life. Okay, not my whole life, but as far as gardening life it has- I love fresh cut Hydrangeas inside, don't you?!)
*Roses are one of the only flowers that continue to heal themselves once cut. So each time you change the water in your vase, re-cut your Roses by about a half inch (every two or three days) and they will last much longer.
First up, a Citrus Fruit Arrangement (probably my personal favorite! Share your favorite in the comment section below! :) ):
Tips on how to make this arrangement:
*Use a large clear vase with a smaller vase set inside it. The smaller vase will hold the flowers, the larger vase will hold cut fruit. You can use a ziploc bag inside the larger vase if you don't have a smaller vase to set inside.
*Slice oranges, limes, and lemons. Set the smaller vase inside the larger one and place sliced fruit around small vase. You can add water in the large vase and it gives it a nice look. Fruit will last up to 5-7 days like this.
*Tulips, Lily grass, Plumosa Fern were the main flowers added to this arrangement. You could also add smaller flowers and if you don't have a Plumosa Fern readily available, Asparagus Fern would work great too.
*Add water into the smaller of the vases. Now, on to the next fun stage- adding flowers!!
*Usually you add flowers tallest 1st in the center, then work your way around the sides with shortest on the outermost sides. The ladies added fruit on thin sticks into the arrangement (you can see the lime tucked in above) also which I loved!!!
Next up, Shelley and Carla showed us how to make a fun Easter Arrangement:
Imagine how fun and beautiful this would look on an Easter tablescape (or several of them if you have a long table!). I am planning to make one similar to this soon- my kids would love the jellybean touch (and, let's be real here, my son will probably try to sneakily eat one of two of them!).
Tips on how to make this arrangement:
*Similar to the last vase we learned, this one has two vases- a larger one holding the jelly beans with a smaller one inside to hold flowers. Add jumbo jellybeans to the bottom of the large vase (with the smaller one already inside larger one) and then halfway up, fill larger vase with the regular size jellybeans. No water added to the larger vase this time!
*Some fern was added to this one (Plumosa or Asparagus would work great), then Irises were added, and then Forsythia was added last. Wired ribbon topped it off and I love the checked ribbon for Spring, don't you? :)
There were still three more gorgeous arrangements the ladies shared, but I don't have room to cover them all in this one blog post! The final one I will share is the one below which is a Horizontal Arrangement using Hydrangeas.
Horizontal Arrangement, which would make an awesome Mother's Day gift idea (or any-day-of-the-week-for-anyone-you- love great gift idea!):
Tips on making the fabulous arrangement:
*In this one, Shelley and Carla used floral foam. They recommend letting your floral foam soak in a bucket of water rather than putting it under a hose to get it wet.
*They used Contorted Filbert, Hydrangeas, Lilies, Lily grass, and Ferns to achieve this look.
*Water the floral foam every day or two- check it, especially if you have Hydrangeas in it as they love to soak up the water.
*For the lilies, take the brown center out of each lily before placing in the arrangement. Contorted Filbert was added inside the vase twisted in the bottom and around the sides to add another dimension.
Here are some photos of the other two Shelley and Carla made- aren't these ladies amazingly talented? You can find more info about them at www.flourishesnashville.com !
Above: a Permanent Arrangement using silk flowers and accessories (pardon the large blue bucket I captured in the pic!).
Above: Using a pitcher to make a stunning arrangement is a great way to also use something you have on hand already. I love the pop of unexpected in the polka dot ribbon- it just adds such a fun, girly touch!
As you can see, this class was SO FUN and we hope to have Shelley and Carla back again in the future. Thank you to all who came out and here is the list I promised of still many more amazing classes coming up these next few weeks!:
So, I asked earlier, which one of these was your favorite? Maybe you liked them all- we all sure did! We'd love to hear in the comment section below! :)
Have a beautiful day and we would love to see you at your locally owned, locally grown Nursery soon!