I am in full on flower meditation mode right now. Join me as I create a blowsy summer arrangement with a few blossoms from my balcony garden. When I started out as a floral designer with a proper shop, I was really concerned about having all the right ingredients and loads of blossoms to fill arrangements. Now, I see things a bit differently, particularly when I am arranging at home and particularly in the midst of a pandemic where, because I have chosen to be extra safe, I cannot get to my normal sources. How can I use what I have available to me?
What is the lowest hanging fruit? How can I do more with what I already have? I use this line of questioning for my business, my life, and my flower arrangements! It is not how I always approached things but I am proud and happy to lean on resourcefulness as one of my main values in business and in life. It’s more kind for the earth and it makes us feel abundant to focus on what we have, instead of how it could be better. If I never slowed down and started asking questions like that, I may have never realized the beauty of a radish blossom, the joy of working on my own, or the thrill of working remotely with students around the world.
Ingredients:
coriander flowers
radish blossom
cosmos
sweet peas
pennyroyal
lupine
Sourced: balcony garden and farm box delivery (tip: order extra herbs to add to arrangements!). I use this gorgeous farm.
This morning was a tough one. Out of coping mechanisms, after 16 months of lockdown by personal choice, I reached for the floral scissors and my homegrown balcony blossoms. Climbing sweet peas, crown daisy grown from foraged seeds, radish blossom, cosmo greens, and pennyroyal feel like miracles in this urban environment with no vegetation in sight outside my intimate garden balcony. The violas grown from seed have been almost stagnant for 6 months. Just this week, the first blossom appeared. Proof that patience and time often bring joy, or even small bits of hope.
I don’t have many blossoms in the garden but the ones there feel like small miracles after all the trial and error, coddling, failures, and time spent trying to keep healthy plants. The overwhelming fragrance from one sweet pea blossom leaves me purely in awe.
I am always telling my newbie floral students when I do workshops for offices and corporate teams, about the healing power of flowers. However, sometimes I need to remind myself. This morning’s floral mediation left me feeling comforted, and slightly healed. Sending love to all of you out there working hard to keep yourself and others safe despite the many forces working against us. I hope you can find some beautiful blossoms. Even just one, to brighten your day.
I love simple, blowsy floral installations that sort of just blend into their surroundings. I wanted to create a minimal floral installation for a photo shoot where I was photographing some ceramics, so I created this foraged wildflower meadow patch for the set. I love how it turned out! The mechanics are all foam free. In the video I walk you through the entire process.
You can also download the entire toolkit checklist for flower installations (including sources) right here!
I hope you find this flower installation tutorial helpful! I cannot wait to see your own creation.
