Calhoun County, AL – Floral Designing Vases of Flowers, by Betty Clark 9.18.24. During the summer of my 16th birthday, I worked for a florist. That experience taught me floral design basics. I was lucky the shop owner was a perfectionist. She told me when the summer job concluded that my sports banquet corsages for football teams were identical to her ribbon work. She said she could not distinguish my floral corsages from hers. She taught me funeral casket displays, and floor displays for weddings, banquets, and church events. All her fundamental basic vase arranging techniques were carefully installed in my intern job. As a gardener and an organic gardener since 1998 I always planted seasonal flowers for vases. I suggest to readers to research in the fall of the year the type of bulbs that need winter coldness to become spring bloomers. After the frost danger, plant in the spring your summer perennials, shrubs, tubers, rhizomes, and corms. Many of the summer blooming flowers and plants continue blooming through fall, until the frost. The basic instruction for a floral vase arrangement is to first place vertical greenery in the vase. A vase of flowers cannot look professional without the greenery or filler. I use many types of greenery as filler. I like to use ferns from my shade garden. Ferns are very vertical and wide, with feathery, fanned leaves. Many shrubs and trees produce great filler. Such as Crepe Myrtle stems or Sunshine privet stems. In the winter the holly stems look amazing in holiday vases. Ornamental grasses are nice filler. Such as purple crown prince grass or Zebra grass. Once you create your filler you will start inserting your largest blooms first. In floral design, you might prefer symmetrical blooms. However, the option to tilt the blooms toward the right or left can create an interesting, unique shape. Floral design can be conservative or trendy. Always add your smaller blooms to fill in any gaps. Many floral designers use ribbons inserted attached to floral sticks to fill the gaps. Be creative and appreciate your vase of choice! I gift my vases to clubs, neighbors, and friends who are under the weather! My joy is growing the blooms and watching others smile.
Betty Clark is a contributing writer. She has been an organic gardener since 1998. The signature flower she grows is Dahlias. She has a straw bale garden, raised bed garden, and in-ground garden. Both her surnames are agricultural farming families (8 generations). Her hobbies include ancestry research, antiques, continued education classes, and workshops. She also has a background in marketing & promotions including expos. To contact Betty Clark with gardening questions: [email protected]
