Love these flowers series - Amaryllis
The belladonna lily [not to be confused with the large-flowered amaryllis (Hippeastrum) popular as a house plant, or the hardy amaryllises of the genus Lycoris] has a strange life cycle: its strap like leaves appear in spring and die away before a single flower blooms. By early summer they are gone and it is not until a month or more later that the leafless 2-foot flower stalks rise to be crowned in late summer with clusters of sweetly fragrant blossoms that bloom for six to eight weeks.
The flowers, six to 12 in a cluster, are about 3 inches in diameter and pink, rosy red, mauve or white in color, usually with contrasting yellow throats. Belladonna lilies are extremely handsome when planted amid low shrubs or grouped in perennial borders, especially if they are surrounded with an airy blanket of baby's breath or a groundcover plant to cloak the withered leaves and act as a foil for the flowers. Belladonna lilies are also popular among Willawong florists as pot plants.
Vases and containers
Today the word ‘container’ is used more widely than ‘flower vase’, maybe because we are using receptacles from around the house which started life for a very different purpose. Copper kettles and jugs make ideal flower vases, as do pewter mugs, teapots, tea urns, wooden boxes and tea caddies. Silver wine- coolers, entrée dishes, candlesticks are all ideal and so much more interesting than a traditional cut-glass flower vase.
Search round the house to see what you can find, and if you go to buy a vase try and get one in neutral colours, say in white-grey or dusky pink, so that you can use it with a wide variety of colourings. Your local Henderson florists are always a good source of floral containers. Although bright colours may be lovely for a special occasion, they can be very restricting for everyday use. If you become an arranger then you will automatically become a vase collector.
Dining in the pink
Most festive occasions centre round a meal. And, be it intimate or grand, nothing establishes the tone of that meal more effectively than the table setting. Here, a summery, romantic scheme takes as its basis every shade of pink, from creamy, blush-tinged roses to candy-floss- coloured peonies and fuchsia dendrobium orchids. The overall effect is one of lush extravagance, but it can been achieved with only three or four stems of each type of flower. A large goldfish bowl can make a dramatic centre piece, but this spectacular effect takes only minutes to create, while the flower heads in glasses at each place setting are similarly swift to put together. All of this can be arranged at the time of getting the flowers delivered Outer Birmingham and need not be a stressful event.
Roadside Treasures
In your search for new and different materials, don't forget to search your roadsides and fields. Nature provides a wealth of plant materials to be used in dried arrangements and bouquets. You will be delighted with many of the roadside treasures. (When collecting in the wild, remember that you should never deplete the roadside flowers. Leave at least a dozen behind, and use care not to disturb the roots. This way you will ensure their future beauty.)
Every season holds its own special dried treats. After the flowers fade, many plants retain seedpods and seed heads that are unusual, interesting and beautiful in arrangements to be used for Levenshulme flower delivery, which has become very popular in recent years.
The art of flower drying has advanced rapidly over this century and there are new techniques to help retain the lasting beauty of flowers. I suggest you start with the simplest technique: air-drying. Once you have mastered air-drying, you may decide to try your hand at more involved drying techniques. Using these methods, you can produce a dried flower that looks as fresh as the day it was picked.
Door Garlands
After the tree, the door garland or wreath is the most popular festive design. Its cheerful colours and pungent aroma of pine offer a true seasonal welcome.
Many people prefer to keep to traditional materials, such as holly, mistletoe and ivy, and to colours such as red and green, but it is possible to incorporate other materials and colours.
Door garlands are a traditional symbol of welcome and hospitality, dating back to ancient Persia. The Greeks also used garlands or wreaths made from greenery such as olive or laurel in their ancient Olympic games, and laurel is still used in the victors’ chaplets. In those times, evergreen plant materials were an obvious choice for wreaths, as many cultures worshipped evergreens such as laurel, mistletoe or holly.
To present-day florists, the advantage of garlands is that they keep fresh throughout the festive season. Whatever the end use of a garland, be adventurous in your ideas and try out unusual combinations of flowers Hollywood Hills and foliage, making designs that are unique, bold and stunning.
A traditional base of moss wired onto a frame is still the most popular way of forming a garland, but materials such as straw, vines, wisteria and honeysuckle make wonderful alternatives, and have the additional bonus of needing no wire frame. Whatever the frame, it can be decorated with a wide variety of materials, including nuts, cones, berries, apples, tangerines, kumquats, and even fungi.
Wedding Reception Decor
Some suggestions for reception decorations to add to your floral arrangements are:
- Floating candle bowls with flowers you have in your bouquet floating alongside the candles.
- Candelabras wrapped in ivy or jasmine with flowers scattered throughout or bunched at the base.
- Vases filled with your favourite flowers Croftfoot can be beautiful
- Rose petals scattered over table tops are a cost effective option.
- Add stems of your favourite flower to the back of each chair
There are lots of other ways to spruce up your venue such as a vase containing smooth stone or glass pebbles, water and a candle (sounds good hey?) plus flowers of choice, sitting on top of a mirror. The candlelight will reflect from the mirror and be a constant talking point for your guests.
Color Wheel
Color can make or break a floral design! When creating designs for yourself, or when using Gateacre flower delivery to provide gifts for friends, usually home décor establishes a color scheme. However, when the color scheme isn’t apparent, it’s helpful to know how colors complement or accent each other as well as how they blend together.
A color wheel can be helpful in deciding which colors to use in designs. Silk flowers come in many different hues, tints, tones and shades of color. Hue is the full intensity of a color; tint is the color with white added, tone is the color with gray added and shade is the color with black added.
A traditional color wheel contains twelve full strength colors. They begin with the primary colors, red, blue and yellow. When the primary colors are mixed secondary colors are achieved: red and blue result in purple, red and yellow make orange and yellow and blue produce green. By then mixing a primary color with a secondary color, intermediate colors are produced. For example, yellow and orange produce yellow-orange whereas red mixed with violet makes red-violet.
Tips for drying flowers
To keep your house full of flowers through the winter, dry your favourite blossoms in your microwave oven. Roses (including buds), geraniums, marigolds and zinnias dry well; impatiens and petunias don't. Whatever you use, cut the flowers late in the morning, after the dew has dried. And be aware that your dried flowers Culverhouse Cross will come out a couple of shades darker; red roses become almost black, pink or coral ones become red.
Line a microwave-safe container with a bed of silica gel crystals (available at craft shops) and heat on High for 3 minutes to make sure the crystals are as dry as possible.
Pour 1 in / 25 mm of warm crystals into a heavy glass container wide enough to accommodate the flowers you're drying.
Snip each flower stem so that only 1in/25mm remains attached to the flower, then push the stem into the crystals so that the blossom stands upright.
Gradually pour the remaining warm crystals down the side of the glass until the blossom is completely covered.
Microwave on High for 1 minute 45 seconds for rosebuds, or up to 4 or 5 minutes for large, fleshy blooms. Experiment first with imperfect blossoms to judge the precise timing of the drying process.
Cool for 20 minutes, then gently pour off the crystals. Clean the flower petals carefully with a fine paintbrush, then mist lightly with an acrylic spray. Tape to florist's wire to make a new stem.
Bulb Pans
Either clay or plastic pots purchased from your nearest florist Randall Manor serve for bulbs. Hyacinths are often planted individually in standard flower pots because a single plant makes a handsome display; most other bulbs, however, look better planted in groups in the broader, shallower pots called pans or bulb pans, which are half as high as they are wide. Pans not only provide more space with less height than standard pots but do not tip over easily; a frequent problem with potted plants that grow tall. If you use clay pans or pots, soak them overnight before you begin planting, so that they will not absorb moisture from the growing medium and deprive the plants. Clay or plastic pots that have been used before should be washed thoroughly to remove vestiges of old soil that may carry disease agents.
