Blue & White Autumn Garden Floral Design
Cool blues and crisp whites bring a fresh twist to autumn floral design! Delphinium, hydrangea, eryngium, scabiosa, and delicate grasses create a graceful parallel garden style filled with line, texture, and seasonal beauty.
Video Transcription
The autumn garden can come in so many different colors. Today, starting with the hue of blue and then transforming it to a beautiful autumn garden. Foam free, of course.
The mechanics. I'm using floral netting that I've tucked in, anchored in place with waterproof tape. Then I'm ready to add fresh water, pre-mixed with flower food so it'll keep those flowers alive and happy for as long as possible. For the hydrangeas, using a bit of alum, the little white powder, and just taking each stem as I get ready to place it, giving it a cut. I like to whittle it just a little bit to make sure it drinks well, then tucking it in the alum and placing it down in, really low to begin the base to conceal. Also, a bit of variegated pittosporum. You can break it or cut it. And then also placing it quite low because all we're doing is creating a ground cover to conceal the mechanics.
With the base established, I'm ready to add my line flowers. I filled it in all the way around so that it can be looked at no matter which direction. Then I come back with the delphinium, letting it be stately and tall. Find the perfect spot to place it down in. It doesn't have to be perfectly straight. It can angle slightly, because then you bring back in another stem and let it angle in the opposite direction, but group together so that they look like they're growing from the same plant. Adjusting, there we go. Then coming back with scabiosa. Their stems are so straight and skinny. Sometimes it's a good idea to cluster them in your hand so that you can adjust where you want them. And then before you cut and insert, using a bit of corsage tape, down low where it's not going to show, I tape them together so that you have a thicker stem to work with that will fit better into the floral netting without scooching around. So then giving it a cut all at the same time and sliding that down into the base, letting them come up parallel to the delphinium.
With the lines established and the ground cover, now it's time to add a little texture and interest, maybe bits of eryngium, just cutting it apart so that you don't have quite so full a stem. Maybe cutting it from here, and then using the smaller bit first, tucking it down deep, feeding it into the wire netting, and then coming back you can use the other bit, letting it be just a tiny bit taller to add some movement. Then some cat mint. This will give great fragrance. Mmm, it's so delicious. And texture as well. Cutting it down, placing it maybe even into this center area. Little bit taller than the ground cover, but shorter than my line. Bring it around towards the backside as well because I want this to be all sided, just like a garden. We'll turn it so that you can see. We want it to be beautiful from all directions and have texture included throughout.
You could stop at this point, but I want to add just a bit of whimsy. If your garden is like mine, there's always a weed or two. No matter how hard you try, the weeds crop up. So how about adding just a bit of weed into our arrangement? The grasses really finish off the autumn feel. And that angle, it's that same thing that a weed does. It just has a mind of its own and fills in, whether you want it to or not, giving it that very weedy, bushy appearance.
For this arrangement, I worked in threes as I created the recipe and I started with three portions of the Variegated Pittosporum and three of the Hydrangea. Then I moved on with three Delphinium and three Scabiosa, three bits of the Eryngium, three stems that I cut apart of the Cat Mint. And then lastly, three of the Grassy Weeds to enhance the design.
Blue is a wonderful color that transfers across the seasons. Adding it with hydrangeas and grasses gives it that autumn vibe. You'll find so much more autumn inspiration on the website, FlowerSchool.com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there, but now it's your turn. Find the perfect blue flowers, create an autumn design, be sure to take a picture, post it on social media and #FloralDesignInstitute. That way we all can see what you do as you do something you love.
