Sunflowers in a Rattan Urn

Video Transcription

The abundance of the autumn season. So much, I have to step aside to show you everything. Big, full, fabulous sunflowers. Let me show you how it's done.

The vessel, an amazing urn rattan from Accent Decor. I filled it with a glass vessel. It does come lined, but to keep it being foam free, a glass vessel inside is perfect. Then for the mechanics, using a curly willow armature, cutting it down, give me a little cut, placing it in again and in, and yet one more. To help build the armature, taking the smaller bits and actually just winding them around and placing them down inside the vessel. It'll give you the control that you need for all the flowers, keeping it totally organic, sustainable, and fabulous.

With the armature in place, fill your vessel with flower food already mixed in the water. Just add that in, and then you can begin with your flowers. The combination, maybe a bit of viburnum, the bright orange berries, giving it a break, and then cutting that, and then siding it in. A little bit of hydrangea. That deep purple. Oh, so grand. Breaking it apart, giving it a cut, and using sections at a time, feeding it in. Hydrangea in the late autumn holds so well. A little bit of amaranthus, letting it hang down the front. Now, I've already prepared this, but let me show you. Best when you're dealing with amaranthus is to remove all the leaves. Take that off because they don't hold as well. So you remove those and go ahead and place it in to let it trail down the front.

Now, the sunflowers, the stars of the show. They're so grand at this time of the year, so long-lasting, beautiful faces, just feeding them down in, finding the perfect hole and letting them come up above everything else. Repeating that, creating a line, pulling your eye through the arrangement, and then even coming forward, letting them be a little bit longer out to the front. Finding a hole that'll tie them in place. That armature holds everything so well. And then pulling your eye to the back, pulling it to add depth, drawing your eye through the design and repeating. Maybe one more that finishes pulling the eye from the front to the back.

To finish, a little bit of foliage. Nandina is so wonderful. It's delicate. The colors change. Just giving it a cut, sliding it in, making sure you get it down into the water and repeating. Maybe a few more stems. Then for a delicate touch, sanguisorba, some people call it great burnet, a very small, lightweight flower. Pulling it apart. It tangles a lot as you can see, and just letting it dance over the top of everything else. Tucking it in, finding the perfect spot, letting it come out across and above, maybe even a little bit forward, and then continue radiating up from that central binding point to add a touch and softness throughout.

The recipe, I started with the mechanics of Curly Willow. Remember how I wound that in to the inside? Then the rest of the flowers, four stems of the Hanging Amaranthus, five stems of the local Hydrangea, giving that autumn hue, the Viburnum, four stems broken apart, and then the Sunflowers, seven stems. You can see there's some to the front, some to the back. Then to finish the Nandina Foliage and Sanguisorba, I used one large stem of Nandina and three stems broken apart of the Sanguisorba.

The abundance of the autumn season, so wonderful in the rattan urn. You'll find more creative inspiration on the website, flowerschool.com. If have questions, you can reach us through there, but now it's your turn. Gather your favorite Autumn blooms. Yes, I love sunflowers. Create an arrangement, take a picture and post it on social media. Be sure to #FloralDesignInstitute so we all can see what you do as you do something you love.