Tropical Formal Linear Design

Tropical and temperate blooms paired in a fabulous linear design. The big surprise? There is no added foliage! The focus on line, space, emphasis, and texture creates dramatic formal linear beauty.

Video Transcription 


Tropical blooms in demand, fabulous, long lasting, perfect for a linear design. Let's see how it's done. 


The vessel, a ceramic tray from my private collection. A bit of floral foam soaked in flower food and anchored in place using an anchor pin and floral clay. You'll find that demonstration on our Tulip Tuesday playlist. Materials then, I picked some favorites; ginger, Banksia, Dendrobium, and then hypericum, and roses, Kangaroo paw to enhance.


To make it easier to hide my mechanics when I'm done, score your corners just like we did in basic floral design. Then, looking at your stems and how they face, make a judgment call. Give it a cut and just like with a gladiola or a bird of paradise, do a double wedge and place it in, angling to a central binding point. Second one, thinking about the angle, giving it a cut. Again, angled, placing it. Then come back going the opposite direction. Thinking about your facing. Again, framing that inner area, the focal emphasis, and then make a judgment call. Do you want one more or stop there? 


You can see when I turned it to face myself, I added the third bloom, adjusted a bit to line up. Then another Tulip Tuesday tip for you, you may remember this, to lock the stems to the foam, cold glue will actually bond to the stem and wet foam to make sure that they don't shift on you later. It's a good way to make sure it's deliverable and you won't have to worry in transportation. Then going ahead with additional blooms. First off, the focal emphasis, Banksia are absolutely amazing. Giving them a cut. They're so woody I'm cutting away from myself so that I don't concern myself with cutting. That's a little bit long, so I'm going to go ahead and get a pruner and cut it down a little further. Then again, knifing it and placing it in. Then one more, making it a little bit shorter so it draws your eye down to the base of the arrangement. And last, tucking in Dendrobium orchids to get a little more width and visual beauty coming out to the side.


Now, adding texture, enhancing the emphasis and covering my mechanics. For additional texture, Kangaroo paws coming up tall. And in the center to draw it together. To enhance the emphasis, roses cut very short and just tucking and basing right at the bottom. The hypericum give a little contrast that also adds to that color.


The recipe, unique for me, I use not one piece of foliage. I know odd, but five ginger, two Banksia, two Kangaroo. Then I added in six of the Dendrobium, six of the hypericum, and six of the red roses. 


Linear design takes practice and a bit more skill. Refer back to your studies, the elements and principles of design. Think about line space and emphasis especially. Those are crucial to making it beautiful. You can find more inspiration, more education on our website, Flower School .com. Now it's your turn. Create a beautiful linear design and be sure to take a picture. Post it on social media, 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
  • Standard Floral Foam Pack of Four Bricks
    Standard Floral Foam Pack of Four Bricks