16 February 2015

Take 3 Flowers! - # 7 - White Chrysanthemum, Eucalyptus and bear grass


White Chrysanthemums

I've put together another blog post in the series 'Take 3 Flowers!'

In this blog series I will show you how to make easy but beautiful and stylish flower arrangements - just using three different flowers. Often one or more of the three will be some kind of foliage.

Using just three flowers will sometimes be a challenge - but it will also keep the cost down. Cut flowers can be expensive but foliage on the other hand tends to be cheep. You can use lots of it to help fill out the arrangement and to provide support and structure for the other flowers.

After working with a lot of very strong colours lately - I thought it would be nice to use something a bit more neutral. So I have made an arrangement using almost all white Chrysanthemums with two foliage plants. One of them is Eucalyptus that has beautiful silver grey round leaves and the other is a very plain dark green grass called Bear grass.
  

White Chrysanthemums


You'll need: 

-  7 stems of white spray Chrysanthemums
-  3 stems of Eucalyptus 
- a very small hand-full of Xerophyllum - also called Bear grass
- a plain white vase - in this case I have used a white Alvar Alto vase
- 2 small plain vases to make little side arrangements

For conditioning the flowers - you'll also need:

- florists snippers or scissors
- a florist bucket

Condition the flowers by removing any leaves that would end up below the water line in the vase. This is to reduce any growth of bacteria from deteriorating leaves.

Cut the stems at an angle - to increase water absorption.  

Put in a clean container with tepid water and leave in a cool, dark place over night or at least for a few hours, to let the flowers absorb the maximum of water, before making the final arrangement.


You might also have to re-cut the stems while making the final arrangement to suit the size of the vase or container.

White Chrysanthemums

Start off with the Eucalyptus and arrange the branches along the edges of the container. Follow on with the Chrysanthemum also along the edges. Measure the flower stems against the side of the vase and estimate the height and where to make the final cut. Fill in with the final flowers in the middle. Last - pop in some of the grass throughout the arrangement to give it a bit of movement. 

White Chrysanthemums

Make two smaller arrangements with some of the left over flowers. Sometimes you have to cut the odd flower from low down on the stems and they are perfect to make small compact little arrangements to use next to the large arrangement or somewhere else in your home. 

White Chrysanthemums

As white is considered a neutral colour it will go with almost anything. So you can easily mix it with any green foliage - like here with silver-grey leaves; to mid green and dark green - as well as variegated leaves. If you have a garden - go out and see what you can find to use as foliage. Well, some of you might have to wait a little while if your garden is still covered with snow. Hopefully spring will soon arrive.....!

White Chrysanthemums


Have a Lovely Floral Monday!

See you later in the week!

~ xoxo ~

Ingrid


[Styling and photography © Ingrid Henningsson for Of Spring and Summer.]


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mooi!

Lieve groet,
Gerry

Annika Christensen said...

Hej!
Jag är inte den som gillar krysantemum så mycket men tillsammans med de grå bladen och gräset så blev det ju så himla fint. Det är det som är grejen att hitta kompisar som trivs ihop.
Och det är du ju bra på.
Allt gott
Annika

Connie said...

There is something so calming and elegant about a white bouquet. I like the added eucalyptus, too. It fills the room with such a clean scent.
Have a lovely day among your flowers.
Connie :)

HWIT BLOGG said...

Fina färger och en fin kombination Ingrid!
Alltid lika kul att kika in till dig...
Vi hörs sen!
Kram,
Titti

Rosemary-Thyme said...

So pretty Ingrid. And what a great combination of flowers and foliage. Simply elegant.

Thank you for sharing and for visiting me. I enjoyed reading your sweet comment.

Janet

Lisa Gordon said...

What a beautiful arrangement, Ingrid.
It looks so clean and fresh!

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