Autumn Basket Arrangement
One of the joys of designing with late season flowers is that they are naturally long lasting. Late season chrysanthemums and hydrangeas will hold for weeks and hydrangeas will dry beautifully within an arrangement. In this Flower School How-To Video Leanne creates a traditional autumn basket design updated with today’s flowers and an contemporary flair. Enjoy!
Video Transcription
Welcome to the Flower School .com video library. I'm Leanne Kesler, director of the Floral Design Institute, and today, I'm here to share with you a contemporary autumn flower basket arrangement.
The base, a basket, but with metal accents to give it a more contemporary vibe, lined with foam, pre-soaked with flower food, taped into place. Then, going for the classic chrysanthemums, the flower of autumn, but adding contemporary, beautiful coral ranunculus.
As a contemporary alternate to foliage, I'm going to use hydrangea as my base layer to cover my mechanics. Now, the hydrangea has been hydrated, but it'll do best if when I cut it, I dip it in just a bit of alum, the pickling spice, and yes, you can buy it online through us, but alum will make it last so much better. Then tucking it very low, deep into the foam, so that it's down deep into the water. Hydrangeas are very, very thirsty blooms, so if you don't get them into the water, they won't hold well. But if they're dipped in the alum, then tucked low, they'll last for weeks.
With the base layer in place, then it's choosing the favorite blooms. Be it classic, the chrysanthemums, and tucking them in, or the more contemporary with the ranunculus. Again, making sure it's a down into the water so it'll drink. And then adding some contrast with the deep burgundy red of spray roses and the ruffles of lisianthus in this beautiful peachy hue. Cleaning them off of any broken leaves and such, and then tucking it. Group them together for a little added value, then continue adding until you have a nice, full, symmetrical design.
The final layer, adding something a little more delicate and placing it a little higher, over the top, to help enhance the depth of the design. The Queen Anne's lace, beautiful in this mauvy hue, tucking it in but letting it be lace over the top and repeating. Finding a little spot, letting it layer over the top and then turning it, looking at it from all angles, making sure that you've got all your mechanics covered, and it looks beautiful, no matter which direction you look.
For the recipe, I worked with threes and sixes. I started with three hydrangea to create the base layer, then six ranunculus, three spray mum, six lisianthus, and three spray rose. Then for the final lace over the top, six stems of the Queen Anne's lace.
One of the joys of working with autumn flowers is they're so long lasting. Chrysanthemums hold and hold and hold, the hydrangea with the alum, at this stage, will literally dry, not only lasts for days but weeks, but almost seemingly forever because it becomes a dried blossom. This particular design, some will dry beautifully, some will start to fade. You can pull out the faded blooms and enjoy the rest for so very long. You'll find more creative inspiration at Flower School.com. If you have questions, you can reach us there or pick up a telephone and give us a call at (503) 223-8089.
Now it's your turn. Create something beautiful for the autumn season. Be sure to take a picture posted on social media and hash tag Floral Design Institute. That way we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
