In Bloom: Spring Flower Garland
Happy Monday! Did you guys have a good weekend? We still have snow on the ground and a little expected in this week’s forecast, but all the cheery color popping up during New York and London fashion weeks is making me so ready for spring. Speaking of spring, today I’m thrilled to begin another brand-new series, with the help of one of my oldest, dearest friends Sarah and her close friend Erin.
Erin and Sarah are the brains and brawn behind Rosehip Flora, a floral design company in Austin, Texas, which specializes in weddings and events. In their monthly “In Bloom” posts, they’ll be sharing tips and tricks with us for making gorgeous, in-season creations. I’m super excited about their series since I just love all kinds of flowers and enjoy having fresh blooms in my home. Erin is kicking things off with a feminine, whimsical how-to of a spring flower garland that would be SO lovely draped around a front door or even down the length of a dining table for an early spring brunch or dinner party. Keep reading for the full how-to!
Hello there! Erin of Rosehip Flora here, and we’re excited to begin contributing to Perpetually Chic. Our first post is a happy, springtime garland how-to. I don’t expect that most of you need or even want a floral garland suspended from your rafters, but we’re here to give you a little mechanics class on how this piece can be easily created. It only takes the right tools and materials…and a little bit of patience. Let’s begin!
I was lucky enough to have a spent hops vine kicking around the studio that became the ‘frame’ for the garland. Its dried vines are strong and sturdy, making a perfect piece to attach all our components to. I also like the way the dried vine represents the bare bones of winter.
Gathering all the necessary materials is important to keep the project flowing. In this project I used the aforementioned vine, floral foam garland, floral wire, wire cutters, flowers cleaned and prepped, snips and scissors.
Now let’s talk about floral foam. It’s not pretty and it’s not cool, but sometimes it’s the only way to get things done. I soaked a garland of this in a bucket of water spiked with a floral preservative. Since I didn’t want to use the entire sausage link of wet foam, I cut it down and ran floral wire through each end to then wrap around the hops vine. These pieces were then attached to the vine at randomly chosen points for a natural end result.
First I cut camellia foliage down and began inserting into the wet foam. It’s advisable to cut all stems at an angle. This allows the stems to enter the foam easily. Caution must be taken not to run stems all the way through the foam—or else they won’t be taking on water from the water source (the wet foam). Keep the initial foliage and floral cut short to hide the foam, which is allows for a nice full look.
I used a bright mix of golden yarrow, blush spray roses, pink matsumoto asters, peach carnations, seeded eucalyptus, and my personal favorite—yellow acacia.
Subsequent materials, like flowers and branches, can have longer stems to fill in the space between ‘pods’ of flowers. In this case, I used pink quince and longer pieces of camellia. Purple lisianthus was used more sparingly to pop out of the arranged pods.
The finished product is early spring’s best: Vibrant, fun floral, adding life to the withered vine of winter. Thank you for joining us on this garland-making journey, and hope you enjoy the wonders spring brings—there’s something new around every corner!
Photos by Autumn Spadaro
