Jen Araya

Do It Yourself – Mother’s Day Arrangement

Molly McGill and I have collaborated on this blog post.  Over the winter I had the privilege of meeting Molly at Sam and James’ Wedding – Red Lion Inn, Cohasset MA.  I couldn’t believe the way she transformed the venue into a work of art.  Molly owns Fleur Events, and recently renovated her studio in Milton, MA.  She is a wonderful talent and has a passion to match for flowers and design.

Below, Molly has given us all a great idea for Mother’s Day: a Do It Yourself floral arrangement.  Thanks to Molly for this, and please check out her website and also give her a Like on Facebook at Fleur Events fan page!

Thanks for the tips Molly!

The flowers you choose for any arrangement should be selected with care. Like putting together a menu for a dinner party, each dish must both stand out, but also work in harmony with its fellows, in order to build something cohesive, but also more than the sum of its parts. When arranging flowers, I focus first on color, and then on texture–both must work together.

Color combinations can be as simple or as complex as you choose. When deciding, its helpful to have a palette of flowers in front of you for comparison. When fitting an arrangement for someone, I like to consider the colors and styles of the person’s clothes and character to help guide me.

Colors that are close to each other on the color wheel will always be the easiest to mix and match. Dark Purple and lavender will never offend one another. In a composed arrangement, its important to vary colors slightly, so that each flower is highlighted, and each shape becomes more distinct. In a monotone bouquet, you run the risk of losing the blossoms in a nondescript blob.

With this arrangement, I chose bold, complimenting colors, and made sure to include purple tones, as that’s my mother’s favorite color. While there isn’t a lot of true purple in this arrangement, I played with the concept by incorporating blues, burgundies, corals, and peach. Set beside each other, the collection sings a purple song.

When you chose a limited color palette, texture becomes especially important. In this case, the tulips feature a smooth texture, in juxtaposition to the ranunculus and wax flowers, which have a busier, ruffled texture.

When building a bouquet, don’t limit yourself to just one bunch of flowers. You will often find more interesting and varied textures among the plants at the store. I also love to use foraged elements whenever possible. Spring was still very much in hiding when I created this arrangement, so I gathered a few fallen branches both to build a base, and then to add unexpected texture.

1. Place branches in an arch shape into the vase to create a structure to weave your stems through. At first you will have to lay the flowers across each other, but as you build they will become more secure and you will have more freedom and support.

2. Clean any access petals off the tulips, and then lay them to one side of the arrangement.

3. Pull off the roses’ leaves, save one or two per stem.  Lay the roses on the opposite side as the tulips, to create a balance. (Pro tip: use a long cut on the stems of the roses, this will optimize their longevity)

4. Cut the hydrangea at the base of their stems; like the roses, a longer cut will help the flowers last.  The more the white inner part of the stem shows the better.  Place hydrangea in the center of the arrangement between the roses and tulips.

5. Cut the phalaenopsis orchid, and place it on top of the hydrangea, slightly right of center.  This placement will create a cascading focal point.

6. Start at the far left with a small collection of wax flowers in the same magenta tone as the orchid.  Again this  placement creates balance.

7. Float the delicate ranunculus over the display, keeping the stems long in order to show off their graceful lines.  When placing fragile stems into an established structure, make sure to hold the stems toward the bottom for support.

Here is the link to purchase this vase!

All flowers and plants were purchased from Whole Foods.  The branches were collected from my backyard.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s!