Spring Dreams

Fragrant, fabulous, and full of texture - with not a hint of Christmas red in sight! In this Flower School How-To Video Leanne creates a gorgeous fresh, foam-free arrangement of silvery foliages and trios of Spring flowers - some with bulbs still on them! — in a whimsical container. Enjoy some flower therapy!

Video Transcription 


Fresh, fragrant, fabulous and foam free. Here at the Floral Design Institute, we chase away the winter blues by doing videos for the Flower School Library. Today, a how-to on this fabulous spring dream design. 


For a fresh start to the new year, I look to materials that are anything but red. You want that fresh perspective. And I look for fragrance. So I've got paperwhites. They're going to be fabulous. Then going to the blue/gray with dusty miller, Eryngium, some acacia foliage and then more flowers in that purply blue palette. The container, dreaming of spring, a head vase filled with floral netting, watered with flower food, taped into place. Now to incorporate the paperwhites, I remove them from the pot so that I have just the bulb. Doesn't that look like hair? It's going to be perfect to add into the container. To secure it, using wood picks. Just anchor that in and repeat that. You want two. Then secure it in place using cold glue, let it dry and you're ready to design. 


First step is to place your base materials. This will give you support for your other blooms. Maybe the dusty miller. Letting it come down, helping to hide the tape from the very beginning. I always like to do that first to make sure that I don't forget later. That piece doesn't hide it well so I kind of reposition until I can get that to start concealing. There could be more foliage later, but just to get it going. Then some of the acacia foliage to give a little more height. Determining where to break it down, stripping the edge and placing it in through the center, letting it drape and repeating. Then a little more dusty miller, pulling your eye from front to back. And then the Eryngium to pick up that blue hue. Giving it a cut and placing it in and just adding repeatedly the same materials until it's full and lush. 


Once you have the nest established that supports everything else, then adding the bulbs. Now I think they sort of look like they could be hair. So tucking it in so it trails down the side a tiny bit. And moving foliage around till you find a way to set it. One on one side and then coming back over on the opposite side. Finding a hole and nestling it in, letting it hang over almost like bangs. Then maybe one coming up more towards the center. This one didn't have as many roots showing so I chose it to just tuck down in through the center. 


Now, just add your favorite spring blooms, be it iris. Letting it be nice and stately up with the paperwhites. I wish you could smell this. It's so fragrant in the studio right now. The paperwhites are just grand. Maybe tulips. Tulips continue to grow, so having it be a little bit shorter so that they can grow with the arrangement. Then for even more fragrance, the hyacinth. Absolutely fabulous. Giving it a cut and then tucking it down low, blending it in with the other blooms. 


When I design with bulb flowers, I always try to include other things that are longer lasting because we know bulbs have a short life. They have great fragrance, great beauty, but they just don't hold as well. So enhancing by adding some miniature Phalaenopsis orchids. They're very long lasting so it will keep the design alive longer. Now granted the others will fade, but the base materials that we started with and the orchids, they'll continue to be beautiful for quite some time. Then I can also add in some chloris magenta. It's in the Limonium family so it's actually going to dry and be fabulous. But letting that come in, extend outward and add a bit more brightness to the design. 


The recipe. The very beginning in my planning stages, I started with the three pots of the paperwhites. Then my base I used dusty miller, acacia foliage, Eryngium and the chloris magenta, the Limonium. Then the blooms, three each. Iris, tulips, hyacinths and the miniature Phalaenopsis orchids. You can see, working in threes makes it easy to make beautiful. 


Fresh and fragrant. It's the perfect antidote for the wintertime blues. You'll find more creative inspiration, more antidotes, some flower therapy at our website, Flower School .com. If you have any questions you can read us through there or pick up the telephone and give us a call at 503-223-8089. Now it's your turn. What are you going to create to brighten your winter days? Be sure to take a picture, post it on social media and hashtag Floral Design Institute. That way we all can see what you do as you do something you love.

  • Crowning Glory Individual Pack 32 ounce spray bottle
    Crowning Glory Individual Pack 32 ounce spray bottle
  • Fresh Flower Food Individual Pack 10 ounce tub
    Fresh Flower Food Individual Pack 10 ounce tub
  • Quick Dip Individual Pack One Pint
    Quick Dip Individual Pack One Pint