Garden Rose Thanksgiving Compote

Welcome to the FlowerSchool.com video library. I'm Leanne Kesler, Director of the Floral Design Institute, and today, I want to share with you a fabulous autumn compote. 

The flowers? We're featuring gorgeous garden roses from GardenRosesDirect.com and additional materials from Florabundance.com. This is going to be a great video. The mechanics are easy. We're going to be doing it casual, carefree, so I chose to work with floral netting and just tape that into the compote. The flowers, I started with the roses from Garden Roses Direct, using two different yellows so that we get a little variation, and they are just grand. Candlelight, golden yellow. Beatrice, a little softer, buttery yellow. David Austin Garden Roses, garden roses, so grand, fragrant. Then, after I looked at GardenRosesDirect.com and picked the colors of the roses, I went to Florabundance.com, and I looked for coordinating colors and found these amazing autumn bronze chrysanthemums, grand, and then beautiful Cymbidium Orchids also in that golden hue. 

Then I wanted accent materials. My favorite, I have two favorites, plumosa that has been lacquered, it's bronze painted, and it came that way, very long-lasting. My favorite, berried myrtle. Angonis, fatsia, and some Aussie Pine. So many great textures. Some autumn oak, mixed with the flowers is going to be fabulous. All the materials have been hydrated and they've been fed with flower food. Then I take flower food water and add it into the vessel. And then I'm ready to begin with my base materials. 

Thinking about the heavier things, the myrtle with its berries, so wonderful. Breaking it down, very woody so I can just break it. Remove the lower leaves. And then setting it down into the floral netting. Nice and secure. Breaking another bit. Letting it break the line of the container. And even down to the last little bit. Placing it in. Fatsia leaves, terracing them to create depth. And the agonis for some contrast. Again, it's very woody, so just breaking it down. Using the heavier things first, and then filling in with the delicate items later. Once you have your heavier foliages in place, you've established the form. You want to enhance the line of the design. And that's where you're going to use your more delicate pieces. And the Aussie Pine, look at the great shapes. Letting it come out a little longer so that it will show well, accenting that curve. 

Coming out the opposite side. And then repeating those lines to reinforce the horizontal movement, and then coming out through the center a little bit. And then bringing in the oak. Using it close to the center. It's so woody you can use a pruner. You can break it. Then popping it in. And remembering a center piece is two-sided. So I don't want to forget the back, because it's a front as well. Bringing it around. And then the softness of the plumosa. Cutting it down. Using it in pieces. Some to help break the line of the container in the front, and then spreading it out to get that movement throughout. The base design is long-lasting. And it's amazing in its own right. This is going to be something that people can enjoy for so long. The roses, they're also long-lasting. When you buy them from Garden Roses Direct, they come straight from the farm so they're super fresh. There's no wait time whatsoever. And so you get roses that are going to last a week or more, which is perfect when you're trying to impress your customers. 

Just sliding it in, leaving some a little longer. And then some a little bit shorter, creating depth in the design. Lower, and then of course bringing it around to the opposite side, carrying your eye all the way through the design. Adding the chrysanthemums. The color contrast and texture. And chrysanthemums just truly shout autumn. You can see the colors work well, bringing in the Beatrice Roses for the butter hue. And then continuing until you get that lovely oval form. As you're working, you want to turn it and look at it from all sides. Make sure that it looks good no matter which direction you're looking. You don't there to be a front or a back. You want it to be perfect everywhere. And then coming in through the center, filling in another. And I'm going a little bit lower to give it a more contemporary look. Bring it down and draw the eye into the arrangement. Finding a perfect little hole. Then coming out to the sides, maybe a little bit longer. And then once again turning it to make sure you've got all the sides evenly spaced and full and lush. 

To add the beautiful Cymbidium Orchid, that's the crowning touch. I'm going to use a water tube and a wood pick and just secure the wood pick to the tube. And then tape over it to give it a more polished finish using corsage tape. Then just cut the tube so that hole's a little bigger. Take your Cymbidium, slide it right down into the tube. That way it has its own water source. And then set that right down into the arrangement, adding a little special touch. I've pre-tubed the others, just sliding them in. And bringing them around to the front, and the back. 

With almost every video I do, I get an email, or a Messenger, or a text, or a phone call, "Leanne, where did you get your flowers?" Now you know. The garden roses, GardenRosesDirect.com. Everything else, Florabundance.com. They're two of my favorite companies. Now if you'd like more creative inspiration, check out our website at FlowerSchool.com. 

If you have questions, if you want to know more about the products, you can reach us through there, or pick up the telephone at 503-223-8089. And of course, I'd love to see what you create. What autumn inspiration are you going to bring to your life? Take a picture, post it on social media, tag Floral Design Institute, and that way we all can see. Because now it's your turn. Have fun, and do something you love.