4th of July Picnic
Floral Design Institute salutes the USA with a patriotic floral design for Independence Day. In this Flower School How-To Video Leanne creates a beautiful foam-free design using an armature foliage technique. Summer blossoms combine to create a celebration-worthy design in red, white, and blue. Perfect for a summer picnic. Enjoy!
Video Transcription
Welcome to the Flower School .com video library. Today we're looking at the 4th of July, Independence Day, going retro with the Fiestaware pitcher, a gift from my mother-in-law, and then classic with red, white, and blue flowers.
Going simple with a foliage armature for the mechanics. Taking a single piece of Italian ruscus and winding it around on itself and actually tying it, pulling it right back through and then nestling that down into the neck of the vase begins the mechanics so that all I have to do is start designing. Then flowers. The belladonna is the perfect royal blue. The roses, the Freedom rose of course, is such a vibrant red. Then for the white, some scabiosa and tweedia.
When you design for a holiday and designing to a theme, it's important not to overthink it. Just going ahead and placing things in a little more casual, doing some longer, some shorter to pull the eye in and also to help build support. And repeat, angling around, letting them flop a bit. They'll just start moving themselves into position and look like a carefree, casual bouquet that you just threw together at the very last minute.
As a professional, you probably laughed when I said casual, carefree, that you threw together at the very last minute, because sometimes those are the hardest of all. The secret is to think in layers. Do some things very, very low, tucked in. Then some in the mid-level, little bit taller, and then some coming out even taller, letting them wig out, so to speak. And if you relax and design in that layer format with tucked low, medium and high, you can give that casual carefree look with a professional polish knowing that not everyone can do casual and do casual well.
When I'm designing for a picnic, a casual party, the other thing that I think about is you lose control of where the flowers are going to be, which direction they're going to be looking. So, I make sure that I turn it, that it looks good from every single angle, because you never know. They may move it to a different picnic table. They may move it inside into the kitchen because it might start raining. You really have no control. So, making sure that it's beautiful no matter which side, is one last professional tip.
If this is something that you want to create, start with going through your kitchen, finding the perfect vessel. Then flower wise, just pick your favorites. What I used, seven of the red Freedom roses, seven delphinium, 10 tweedia, three scabiosa, and then one stem of Italian ruscus. You really could mix and match and do anything you would love.
Summer festivities are such grand fun. Independence Day, the State Fair, the County Fair, Father's Day, so many celebrations and they all need flowers. You'll find more creative inspiration on our website at Flower School .com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there or pick up the telephone and call us at 503-223-8089. Now it's your turn. What are you going to create for the perfect picnic celebrating the holiday? Be sure to take a picture, post it on social media and hashtag Floral Design Institute. That way we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
