Mocha Bloom Arrangement

Video Transcription

So many fabulous flowers in that mocha mousse color palette, perfect for late summer. In this design, foam-free and fabulous, it's going to be long-lasting. Let me show you how it's done.

The Pantone color of the year, mocha mousse, is wonderful for late summer flowers, bromeliads, the toffee roses leucadendron, even an artichoke, all pick up that hue. The container, just a beautiful compote. It's not watertight, so a liner filled with floral netting taped into place and you can just set it and add water pre-mixed with flower food.

I like to start with a nest of foliage to support my flowers. Plumosa, long and windy, just feed it right into that floral netting, making sure it's down in the water, and then you can wrap it around. You can actually loop it into the netting itself at the other end. That can help it stay. If it flips out, that's okay, because later, we'll be putting more things in. Maybe another bit of plumosa, feeding it. And there, it flipped out, pulling it back over and wrapping it around, feeding it in. You can see it gives a very loose, casual coverage. You can come back with a broader leaf, some ruscus, giving it a cut. You can see how that helps to start holding things in place. To brighten just a bit, some of the miniature hydrangeas, and I leave most of their leaves on. If they're damaged, take them off, give it a cut, and then a magic trick ... And you know this from the Tulip Tuesdays ... use that alum. Just dip it and then insert it, and your flowers will last so much longer.

With the nest established, you can see I left a hole in the center. That's for the artichoke. That way, it gives me a wonderful emphasis area. It's giving it a fresh cut and then feeding it in, leaning it slightly towards the front and it gives you a anchoring for the visual. Then you can start filling in when everything else, maybe leucadendron, break it, cut it, strip down the leaves and insert. And everything's going to go through that central binding point, radiating from front to back, side to side. You can group some and you can dot to dot, really up to you. Coming back, hit the roses, taking some low, and then I'll bring more up high.

With the finished design, it could stop, but texture is so important. And we'll add just a bit of contrast. Some eryngium, that soft blue picks up the purple-y of the artichoke. Just giving it a cut, letting it come in a little bit taller. Repeat that. You can divide the stems. Make sure it gets down in the water so it's deep enough so that it will live. And then for fun, just a little bit of bromeliad. The color goes perfectly with the leucadendron. Dividing it, making sure I have the sides removed, and then I can just tuck it in and repeat with the second piece. And then turning it, looking at it from all sides to make sure that it's perfect no matter where you look.

The recipe, I started with the green nest. I used four stems of Plumosa, two wrapped around, two a little bit shorter. Then seven stems of Ruscus to add that contrast. Then to brighten, seven stems of the mini Hydrangea. Then I went on to the star of the show, the Artichoke, just one, filled in with Leucadendron and toffee Roses, nine of each. Then going on to the texture for contrast. Two stems cut apart of the Bromeliad and three stems of the Eryngium.

The late summer garden is often overgrown, filled with so much variety and so much texture. And here you have it with the mocha bloom. You'll find more creative inspiration on the website, flowerschool.com. If you have questions, you can reach us there. But now it's your turn. Gather up Mocha mousse flowers from the late summer garden. Create an arrangement. 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.