Having Fun with Flowers: Design Workshops, Special Event Florals
Zinnias are some of the most colorful, easy to grow flowers in the garden. Sowing seeds in the spring ensures blooms are at their peak in late August and into the fall. Bees and butterflies love zinnias, an easy way to help the pollinators thrive. Next year, I am planting more orange zinnias!
Dahlias come in many colors and sizes . . . they are at their peak in late summer in the garden. At the same time of the season, there are many complementary greens and fall blooming flowers available to add to the centerpiece or bouquet. The Dahlia Garden design below includes barberry twigs, sedum, russian sage, salvia, dusty miller, and eucalyptus.
Every summer in late August, the sunflowers are in bloom at local farms in the midwest. These are from a Wisconsin flower farmer and were just picked when this arrangement was made. The container is an original pottery piece celebrating Indiana’s bicentennial. Thanks to artist Bob Brehmer of Lebanon, Indiana, for showing his work at a recent art fair!
Lavender roses were the star of these centerpieces for a baby shower. The mom and dad opted to be surprised (no gender reveal) so we did not use the pink, blue, yellow pastel theme for this fun event. Since the mom loves birds, we added a bird and nest to each arrangement . . . Babe orange spray roses, dianthus Green Trick, purple statice and a small daisy like aster completed the design. Hydrangea and sedum were added from the garden for contrast.
Summer is a bonus . . . flowers are at their peak in the garden in June and July. Stars this year include Bells of Ireland, daisies, dahlias, and lisianthus. Perennials are here briefly … delphiniums, butterfly weed, and hydrangeas are just a few.
The peonies bloom in early June in southern Wisconsin but are here for only a short time. Pink peonies plus hosta leaves, Solomon seal leaves and snow on the mountain blooms combine to make this garden arrangement.
Arrangements sourced with garden flowers are fun to make on the spur of the moment totally based on what’s in bloom today. Here are some backyard bouquets using flowers, branches, and greenery picked directly from the garden.
The centerpieces for this June wedding shower were arranged in gold painted cans of various sizes. The request from the bridal party was to arrange the flowers in the containers as if they had just been picked from the garden. Yellow, blue and cream were the dominant colors. We used spider mums, snapdragons, thistle and Queen Anne’s lace complemented by chamomile daisies and billy balls (craspedia).
The color theme for this wedding was purple/marsala accented by lime green and creamy white. We used deep purple calla lilies, Vendela roses, jade green roses, lavender freesia and wax flower to create these bouquets.
Special thanks to C.Mae Photography for the use of this photo.
I have been studying mixed media collage which often uses a combination of paper images to create a themed message. In this piece, I used stamps and inks to create a ‘book’ of continuous designs. Called “Spring,” this collage combines birds, music and flowers in one of my favorite flower combinations: pink, green and gold.
