Flower School Recipe Board
Base Stems: Crape Myrtle
Focal Flowers: Spray Rose, Delphinium, Peony, Lisianthus
Texture Elements: Helleborus, Pentas, Trumpet Vine
Easy, step-by-step instructions on creating a Garden Style Flower Arrangement
Base Stems: Crape Myrtle
Focal Flowers: Spray Rose, Delphinium, Peony, Lisianthus
Texture Elements: Helleborus, Pentas, Trumpet Vine
This design uses Crape Myrtle, a showy bloom in abundance during the summers in South Florida. It's beautiful as a cut stem in floral designs, but considered a "weekend" flower, with a 2-3 day vase life. Be prepared for some shedding as you design with these blooms. They can be substituted with lilacs if available.
Select a pedestal or urn style vase that is deep enough to hold your stems in place. This will allow you to design without using a holding grid or floral foam. A vase with a wide opening will help your flowers gracefully display their unique features in harmony.
Add Crape Myrtle, keeping stems long enough to freely flow out the vase. Place the tallest stem to the right of the arrangement and a shorter stem to the lower left. Allow lower stems to drape over the opening of the vase. Keep a dip in top center of the design. Aim for an asymmetric shape. This will define the general shape and core size of the design.
Group the Delphiniums toward the right, taller portion of the design, creating even more of bold asymmetric shape. Place clusters of Spray Roses at an angle toward the bottom of the arrangement. Fill in the center and top portion with additional Spray Roses, saving enough space for the other focal flowers.
Add the Peonies, placing bottom stems at an angle. Avoid a top-heavy arrangement by keeping larger peonies toward the bottom and the smaller peonies toward the top. For added depth, bring some of the peonies in the foreground and keep some recessed in the background of the design. Soften the arrangement by adding Lisianthus to the outer edges.
Finish the arrangement by adding the texture elements to "spring" out of the core design, keeping them well in front of all other flowers. Allow some of the Pentas, Helleborus and Vine to drape as low to the base of the vase as they will allow. This will bring movement and the true garden character to your design. Take your time, adjust to your liking and enjoy!
Check back with our flower school for more fun, DIY flower design classes filled with design themes along with step-by-step instructional guides.