Flower School - Vines

Vines are often overlooked for their ability to bring life and transform a somewhat flat, unruffled floral arrangement into a lively work of art with passion, movement and a sense of growth.

If there is one element I have luck with in my South Florida garden, it’s “Vines”. I love everything garden, but as we all know, weather, climate, soil and luck all play a role in successful gardening. Over the years, I’ve learned to let inspiration & mother nature design my garden and although it’s not always the ideal picture-perfect garden, it’s been humbling to relinquish control & watch the power and determination of vines to transform my garden into a living paradise.

It’s always exciting to introduce a new vine variety and study its personality. I’ve found most vines to be aggressive, with an intense ability to fight against being tamed or pruned. Yet, the more I cut them back, the faster they grow, some forming spirals of tendrils within a weekend, almost in retaliation, just to show me.

And as aggressive and unruly as they can be, I can’t help but admire these beauties of strength & determination - not just to live - but to grow with passion. It’s this passion that has inspired me to include vines in my floral designs. Without much effort on my part, vines allow me to transform the ordinary, still design into “living art”. I’ve found that some will even root over time in a vase arrangement, with the fight to thrive continuing once more. Sometimes, when the flowers have died and I’ve removed all the stems from the vase, it’s rewarding to discover new life – and that’s the incredible power of vines. These wily trespassers not only transform and beautify their surroundings, they often beat the odds & triumph.

Every plant has a role in the garden and every stem has a role in an arrangement: the vine definitely takes a leading role in mine!
~Petal