Rangiora Florist Laura King - 3 minute arrangement

Hi Team,

Laura King here, Florist for Rangiora & North Canterbury. I recently released this 3min cut down of me making a soft apricot themed flower arrangement. Have a look and see below for what I was aiming for and why.

Self Contained

It's a self contained arrangement made in a white cardboard box using cellophane to hold water. This makes it more usable as a gift where you just top up the water every few days. Self containment can be a real advantage for gifts, especially sympathy flowers where it's one less thing for the receiver to think about.

1:3:5 Principle

Not just for floristry of course. For the main feature flowers I've used three prominent gerberas and one focal rose.

360° Round Viewing

This design is made to be viewed 360° however it's best viewed from the top as opposed to upright style arrangements and bouquets. This makes it more suitable for dining tables, hall tables, buffets, coffee tables; places you'd look down towards. Depending on the size of your office desk this arrangement might be a bit large as it stands about 30cm high and is wider again.

Texture and Colour

There's a lot of soft petal look with gerberas, asters, freesias and of course the rose. To make these pop I've framed the arrangement with fern which gives both a bolder colour and shape for the border. The addition of the three wired succulents contrasts soft petals but also tones down the over all colour. Stems of alstroemeria lightens shaded areas and helps keep the larger features from overwhelming. Lilies are an added interest piece, another bold texture for now, but they will open in time to feature more prominently. lengths of blue gum leaves in the greenery softens the overall colour and gives a feel of motion.

Last Thoughts

• There's a few trade offs I make when designing flower arrangements. Largely it's: what can i make that I'll love, that other people will love, that they will reasonably pay for, with the seasonal flowers available at the time.

• I'd usually wire and tape the succulents which I didn't for the video only due to time. They would need to be taped before they went. It's tidier, it's more secure and it holds the moisture better.

• Conditioning the flowers isn't shown in the video but is an important step, its just not entertaining to watch.

  
  

• While I'm making it i usually turn the arrangement constantly to get better views from more angles looking for potential empty spots (some voids are good though). There's a lot of edited out video of me walking around, looking, and re-placing bits that I couldn't see from the one angle.

  
  

• The actual time taken was about 26 minutes but that was after I'd already conditioned the flowers and pre-prepared a lot.

Bye for Now

Laura King

Laura King Flowers

Florist for Rangiora & North Canterbury