This simply elegant arrangement can be transformed to your heart’s content.
The inspiration for this color scheme came from a fashion spread I saw in a magazine. The magenta, burgundy, and mauve pink work well with the silvers, grays, and whites of winter and can be a nice twist on traditional Christmas color palettes. The small square zinc pots fill the void of charcoal gray here since there are no flowers in that hue and I thought zinc was a fitting material for this composition.
One of my favorite things to do is arrange little vases, in fact, I think of these pots as big bud vases. They are great massed together for a big effect but can also be broken up to make a runner down the center of a table mixed with votive candles at night. They can stand alone on a small piece of furniture, like an end table, or be grouped together for a bigger piece, like a coffee table. Use them all together at a dinner party and then separate them and spread them around your house or give them to guests as favors.
Make it your own by following the same steps but substituting other flowers, plant material (succulents would be great!), color schemes, and pots to achieve a similar look.
- Fill the pots with water.
- Start with the “greenery”–lambs ear and dusty miller–one is fuzzy and smooth while the other is more lacy and delicate. I tried not to let all the lambs ear point in the same direction.
- Cut off the green castor bean balls and pull off the brown star thingy on the end. I like having the same color as the lambs ear but in a different texture. The stems were too overpowering and heavy to use so I chose to cut the balls off and incorporate the material in a different way.
- Next, place the roses—the biggest flower in this composition—to fill up space so the other smaller things can fit in around them. Pull the grower petals off first and cut the stems short so they are not top heavy
- I dropped pieces of silver-tipped brunia in here and there. I love the silvery white color, and, again, its size was a nice contrast to the larger castor bean balls.
- I slid mini callas and “chocolate” cymbidium orchid blooms in next. Cut individual blooms off the orchid stem; here I used maybe half a stem of orchids. The smooth face of calla lilies is a nice break from the other textures. I cut everything short because I didn’t want any one flower stealing the show.
- The fernshoot and snowberry came last. I tucked pieces of each into the pots and especially liked the fernshoot next to the lambs ear, which provided a nice backdrop.
Additional Notes:
Make the pots according to how you plan to use them. If you want to have them all clustered together as one arrangement, then group the containers together before you start arranging. When you finish, you can break them apart, adjust the flowers, and move to a different location in your house, if needed. You can save yourself the trouble of transporting the finished arrangement, if you construct it on the table or sideboard where you plan to display it. If, however, you plan to separate them from the start, then just make them one at a time; there’s no need to push them all together and then have to break them apart and adjust.
If you don’t have zinc pots like these (which sell for $3.50 each, call (205) 322-1311 to order) try bud vases or glass cubes. Smith and Hawken sells something similar in copper, which would be really fun for fall.
Flower List:
- Vendela roses
- Cool Water roses
- Black Bacarra roses
- green castor bean
- dusty miller
- snowberry
- “chocolate” cymbidium orchids
- lambs ear
- fernshoot (some call it fernfrond)
- silver brunia
- mini callas
