Four Floral Designs From Flower Shows

Variegated geranium leaves, yellow pompons, wool swizzles and twigs make up one of my favourite designs I’ve seen at a flower show. Yes, it’s tiny and the florist hasn’t spent a fortune on flowers, but it wows me with its colours, poise and confidence.

The judges’ card noted some fault or other – from memory, it lacked flowers or content. I could quote a poem that is equally brief and perfect, but I’ll forbear. The brief might have been ‘Pack ‘Em In’, for all I know, in which case, this would have been highly commended:

Ivory, pink and hints of green lift a white floral centrepiece that would be perfect for a traditional summer wedding. Orchids, rosebuds, peony buds, chrysanthemums and lisianthus feature, with tiny sprigs of gypsophila and hebe, at a guess. I think the clusters of flowers and tiny green buds are Kalanchoe ‘Calandiva White’. Silver-grey mohair yarn trails delicately over. I enjoy the expertise shown here: the ability to create such an even height and the tapestry effect that prevents open ‘black holes’ that can appear when floral designs are photographed. 

At least two dozen buds have been packed into a silver milk jug, which gives an idea of their size. This pure and simple posy of buds was part of a bigger display at one of the flower shows, which explains why it seems to float on a sea of flowers and succulents. I’m giving a shout out to Oddment as I share this. She likes rosebuds as much as she likes words. If you ever check out the comments threads, you’ll surely have spotted her insightful observations (no pressure, Oddment!).

Some of these roses were showing signs of age, but it’s amazing that a design like this can be kept fresh at all. Roses, carnations, hydrangeas, lavender, lisianthus and orchids created a shawl and bonnet for the mannequin. Beautifully judged shades of pink, green and lavender were given extra lift by a florescent lilac-pink uplighter.

I’d not like this design half as much were it not for the touches of green: the eucalyptus leaves, ferns, amaranthus and chrysanthemum that underline the garden theme. It would have been fun to see a live model dressed like this – well, fun for me, but less so for the model as flowers can be surprisingly heavy.

I had intended this to be a Wordless Wednesday post. That didn’t work out, did it? I’m linking to Cee’s Flower Of The Day, a cheery sunflower.