Northwestern Woodland Arrangement

Welcome to the Flower School .com video library. I'm Leanne Kesler, director of the Floral Design Institute. And today, I want to share with you a vegetative design done in a woodland style. It's so much fun, totally opposite from my city life, but it takes me back to my childhood. 

When you work with a custom container like this, lining it can be a challenge. I used a heavy duty garbage bag, tucked down in, heavy mill, that started it, but then for the foam, I went ahead and put it in to a plastic liner, taped in place, and then there are two of them side by side, sliding it down in. The reason I do the garbage bag and the liner is if someone does happen to go back and add water and they missed the liner, the garbage bag gives you a double protection. 

When you work with a fabulous vessel, you don't need a lot of flowers but you do need flowers that coordinate well, so I try to pick things that are again were natural, Pacific Northwest, best of all viburnum. The colors go great. It's relatively long lasting. It has the bloom as well as leaves that work out so well. Pulling them out here. You can see it's beautiful and woody. Giving the stem a break and then even whittling it a bit to make sure that it will drink well and then placing it down into the foam deeply and back. I find when you deal with woody stems, if you whittle, it just holds so much better weaving it down in, letting it come out. Letting it be leggy and wild, follow through with what you've done as far as the container being rustic and wild, but the flowers come out, too. 

Coming more forward with some of the leaves showing. Taking my larger bits, coming in from the back and then filling until you've got a base level. And you could stop there, but of course I'll have a few more flowers. 

The variegated ranunculus give a wonderful antique look to the design, following through with that rustic style. Pulling them apart. Giving it a cut and then sneaking it down in, deciding whether to go from the front or the back and then pulling it down. Keeping it centered. It doesn't have to be perfectly centered, but you want to have it be in the emphasis area. Repeating that. It'll be coming from the back this time. And again. Coming in from the front, sliding it down into the foam, making sure it goes in deeply. If it's not in there deeply enough, it's not going to last well. And this whole design, you want it to last a good five to seven days before it starts to fade. 

You can see that I kept all the ranunculus parallel, straight up and down, just as they would grow in the garden. Then this garden influenced design made me think about every garden I've ever had and it has always had weeds. Has yours had weeds? You can't have a garden without weeds. I thought I need to repeat this parallel line, fill it a little more with weeds. Now they aren't truly weeds. They're grasses. But it thought how perfect to finish off this foraged look, giving it a very natural style, just feeding in. Letting the weeds come up in between the blooms. Make sure they go down into the water. Feeding it in. Just adding that little bit extra that makes it fabulous. 

When you study with us for professional design, we focus on the elements and principles. And every single design has all of them if they are correct. Now this design has everything except it does not have the focal emphasis. I need to do one more step. Fill in and have these antique hydrangea. Giving it a cut and tucking it very low down in, making sure it goes into the foam. There we go. And a second one. Again, keeping it low. This time between the flowers and that foliage making sure it goes into the foam. And now, I have focal emphasis. 

Creating in the vegetative style makes me so happy. Living in the city, where it's so pristine or dirty, so sterile, so industrial. Sometimes going back to my childhood, thinking about the weeds, flowers growing in the garden gives me such happiness. Now as you create in this style, don't forget, you still need all your elements and principles, but with a little bit of a vegetative, wild appearance. For more creative inspiration, check out the website: Flower School .com. The website contains hundreds of floral design how-to videos, floral design classes, online floral classes and DIY Flowers. If you have questions, you can reach us through the website or pick up the telephone and call us at 503-223-8089. And I'd love to see what you create. Design in the vegetative style, post it on social media, tag Floral Design Institute, and let us all see. Because now, it's your turn. Have fun and do something you love.