Hello Flower Friends! I'm Ellen. Sign up for my FREE weekly newsletter, FlowerNerd (https://ellenfrostflowers.substack.com/) for more flower fun! I write flower profiles, chronicle my flower adventures and share flower stories.

In this video I share three florist secrets for a great garden style arrangement. I also demonstrate these secrets in a design.

The first secret is choosing the right vase. Select a material and shape that complement the style of the arrangement. Terra cotta, ceramic, wood and galvanized metal are good choices for the container's composition. Pots, milk jugs, pitchers or canisters connote a connection to the land. Choose a vase you would that would place outside on a rustic farm table, not in an elegant restaurant on a white tablecloth. The vase should help create the pastoral vibe.

The second secret is choosing the right flowers. Use flowers that are seasonal and look fresh-picked from the garden. Source locally grown flowers to get foliage, side shoots and buds. We are looking for naturally imperfect stems. Wholesale, manufactured long stem roses won't do for this style. Accentuate the curves. Pick pre-pruned plants. Capture the garden look in your vase by selecting stems that convey your intent.

The third secret is designing with a light touch. The approach should be loose and even a little wild. Let the flowers do what they do. While design techniques and elements are still important, use them to create the impression that the flowers grew right out of the vase.

I chose a brown ceramic pot for my design. I started with bushy marigold foliage as a base to the arrangement. I paired the bloomless marigold with a mess of unwieldy flat leaf polyanthemos eucalyptus. Bendy hot biscuits amaranth reinforced the untamed feel and added a little color. For a background filler I sparsely added purple caryopteris. Dahlias in various stages of bloom were my focal flowers. Lisianthus supported the dahlias. Cosmos, a great garden flower, stood tall and pronounced. Finally, I was generous with my bits and pieces. Poppy pods, green dot and northern sea oats made the arrangement feel branchy, light and real.


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