On my online workbook this week: All A-flutter

Dear

This week's inspiration is all those fluttering blossom petals… so pretty!

My tip for you this week… this is the design for the awkward stems to absolutely shine. All those stems that are really weird and wonderful and difficult to design with, will usually be perfect when you want them to curl and curve in a small forest floor or woodland design. In fact this is the one case where “perfect” stems actually make the job harder. Simply match the natural curve of the plant material to the curve you want to create in the design.

Plants will always grow upwards. So by placing your bulb flowers on it's side while the flowers develop will encourage them to grow away from the force of gravity (negative geotropism) resulting in the most perfectly imperfect stems for you to design with.

If you are curious about experimenting with negative geotropism in a design the easiest is a gladiolus spike. Design with the stem horizontally and see how it curves up at the tip.

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine

oh... and just for interest sake the opposite of this, let's say you want to design with the stem without it curving up remember to cut out the very tip of the flower spike. This prevents it from curving up because of the same reason you give a tulip stem a pin prick when you want it to remain straight! You can find more information about designing with nature in this way in my book The Effortless Floral Craftsman