February – the season of love and romance.

February – the season of love and romance. This year, Ford House celebrated Valentine’s Day with a delicious dinner, crooners, and a colorful cabaret theme. Each guest went home with their very own bouquet made with love by yours truly. It was an exciting challenge for me because, with an order of 40 arrangements, this was the single largest floral order I’ve had to complete.

I’m not classically trained, and I tend to allow flowers to guide and inspire me when I make my arrangements. However, I always refer back to the five basic floristry principles whenever I make a bouquet.

Those principles are: Color, line, form, space, and texture.

In his book ‘Principles of Design’ author James L. Johnson writes: “Flowers placed in a container without any thought of design are satisfying simply because they are in themselves, pleasing to the eye. However, these same flowers arranged according to certain guidelines can become works of art.”

In addition to the basic principles, this time I made my floral selection based on the romantic theme, my skill and speed, and the number of arrangements I had to complete. I chose a relatively simple design of roses in white, pink and red; green dappled willow and statice in white, pink and purple.

The dappled willow’s variegated green leaves are spotted with white and pink, matching the roses. The combination reminded me of a traditional French Beauty and Beast fairy tale and the garden of roses the Beast guards so protectively – very poetic. I also felt the dappled willow was a beautiful asymmetrical backdrop which would perfectly frame the roses. I left them long, so their leaves stretched into the open space above the tallest rose. This checks the box for line, space, color and form.

The roses and their velvety petals offered an opposite texture to the willow’s waxy leaves. Its harsh contrast with its bold colors immediately stood out against the soft green. In my arrangements, whether indoor or outdoor, I always feel it’s important to have a space where the “eyes can rest.” So I chose statice as my third flower to provide breathing room amid the opposing hues with a soft white, a hinted pink or powdery purple. I paired the purple statice with white roses, the pink roses with white or pink statice,and the red roses with white statice.

When preparing flowers for an arrangement, it’s key to minimize the amount of shock and damage being done to the flower. I feel like the flower is already cut and on its way out, the least we can do is make it easier for them. To prepare the flowers, I sharpened my pruners and cut them on an angle, roughly 45°. It’s important to make a clean cut. I used lukewarm water rather than cold or hot – no plants like extreme temperatures when it comes to their drinking water.

Although a store-bought bouquet comes with floral food, I make my own. It’s easy and very affordable. For every gallon of water, I mix 4 tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of bleach.  If you don’t have sugar, soda water works too. The bleach serves as a preventative for bacterial growth, while the sugar provides food for the flowers. I try to change the water every three days so the flowers last longer, but nobody is perfect.

The final arrangement was beautiful and I even had a few extra flowers to scatter around the front desk at the Visitor Center and Administration buildings.

Making these floral arrangements is not a big part of my job, but it’s one more happy opportunity to be creative and artistic. Although the bouquets are short-lived, sometimes it’s the very temporary nature of floristry that makes it all the more beautiful and precious.