'Quarantine 30' Florals
As you know, I’m a big fan of celebrating landmark birthdays. Given the current landscape of social distancing and quarantine, it’s put a damper on special days when friends and family are not able to gather, hug, and spend time together. A dear, childhood friend of mine recently celebrated her thirtieth birthday and fortunately, I was home that weekend. As we are all having to find new ways to give meaning and purpose to our days, being in quarantine doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate with fervor and tenacity. I knew this arrangement had to be nothing less than spectacular and would bring joy to staying at home. As I started to bring together the blend of florals, it grew and grew. The final arrangement is a behemoth of tropical blooms and delicate flowers that draw your eyes in to scan every inch. Featured blooms of silver tree, protea, peonies, and allium create a stunning display of beauty. Using a plinth-like cylinder vessel ensures plenty of water to hydrate the blooms and doesn’t take away from the symphony of flowers at work above.
‘Quarantine 30’ FLORALS
FLORALS + SUPPLIES
Cylinder vessel, 8-10” opening
1 bunch of white branching viburnum
1 bunch of purple lilac branches
2 bunches of queen anne’s lace
2 bunches of ‘Mediterranean Sea’ lavender limonium
2 bunches of variegated pink spray roses
25 stems of ‘Quick Sand’ cream roses
25 stems of ‘Hot Princess’ pink roses
25 stems of ‘Cherry Folies’ pink roses
25 stems of ‘Ocean Song’ lavender roses
3 branches of silver tree leucadendron
2 ‘Schubertii’ firework allium
7 stems of ‘Coral Charm’ peonies
3 stems of king protea
1 stem ‘Amanda Green’ anthurium
STEPS
Using the chicken wire, create a mesh cage that sits below the water line and above the vessel. The wire cage structure will give you support as you arrange the florals depending on the shape and scale.
Fill the vessel with water to ensure all stems are submerged. If you have a few stems that are shorter and cannot reach the water, you can use water tubes to hydrate them.
Begin with the branching viburnum and lilac branches. This will create the greenery base and the overall shape of the arrangement. Be conservative with the spread of the branches as it may require more flowers to fill in the gaps. For this arrangement, it uses quite a few flowers, so I established a much larger spread to accommodate.
Layer in the spray roses and the standard roses. I lean towards reflexing the petals of the roses to create a showy display and to help fill in the arrangement. Arrange them at different depths to create dimension and intrigue.
Layer in the queen anne’s lace. I like this delicate flowers because they add a subtle white texture to the arrangement and have hearty stems. I do like to incorporate them early on to ensure they have access to water. They tend to wilt quickly if they are not hydrated the entire time.
Add the lavender limonium throughout the arrangement as filler and to add texture.
Moving onto the feature blooms, arrange the peonies, silver tree, protea, peonies, allium, and anthurium. Leaving these for the end will ensure they have full view. Spritz the arrangement to hydrate petals and fill the vessel to the top with water.
