Flower Girl

Yeah, that’s me..the flower girl! I have decided that I’m going to buy flowers once a week and practice arranging them. I need the practice…it’s been soooo long. I really love it! I would have to say that flowers and plants are my passion. They even rank above jewelry making. Of course, after I make the arrangement, then I will spend some time practicing my flower photos…I also love, love, love that!

Yesterday I bought two bouquets at Trader Joe’s…they really have nice flowers. I found a bouquet that I really liked and the wheels started turning…what can I do with this? It had Queen Anne’s Lace as a filler or accent flower…I love that. They really add dimension and movement to an arrangement. As I turned around to put the bouquet in my cart, Kira picked up another bouquet and decided that we needed to have sunflowers. I love sunflowers, but I really wanted the other bouquet. I compromised…I said she could pick the flowers this time, but next time it would be my turn. She agreed…hopefully she will remember that next time. ( I won’t count on it.) Anyway, we walked away with a Sunflower bouquet and a Wildflower bouquet.

I wouldn’t say that the arrangement was the best I’ve ever done, but it was pretty good for not having done it for almost a year. I uncovered the Oasis in the basement and went to work…trying to keep in mind all of the tips I learned in my Floral Design classes at Longwood Gardens. I filled a bucket with water and let the Oasis absorb the water. When I pulled it out of the water, I cut it with a knife to fit the container…making sure not to cram the edges of the Oasis, but cut them to ensure the best water absorption by the flowers. I got out my floral scissors, which I am careful never to use for anything else, and went to work. I had a lot of flowers to work with…Sunflowers, Lilies (which I was unable to use), purple Mums, Yoko Ono Mums (green mums), Wax Flowers (little pink filler flowers), Solidago (yellow filler flower), Babies Breath (which I think is overused and didn’t use in this arrangement), white spray roses, Salal (greens), and a few blades of floral grass. I try to really look at the flowers to see where they want to go…where they seem to fit best in the arrangement. I wait to cut until I have measured the height I want the flowers to be….sometimes I still move them, but not too often. Continually moving them turns the Oasis to mush and then it doesn’t hold your flowers. Usually, I also try to use all of my greens and flowers if possible…it wasn’t possible this time since the lilies were trashed and I don’t generally use baby’s breath. All in all, I’m pretty happy with the way the arrangement turned out. These are the best of the photos of the Sunflower Arrangement…I took one of the whole arrangement, but the photo turned out to be less impressive than the arrangement itself. I think most flower shots are best close up, so that’s what I usually do. I plan to keep practicing using different flowers and containers, so stay tuned…there will be plenty photos of each arrangement.

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