Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Alstroemeria
Rocking around three candle trees floral art design with berries, dendrobium orchids, alstroemeria, cymbidium orchids and lisianthus flowers
Common name
Inca lily, Peruvian lily or lily of the Incas
Origin
South America
Varieties
There are 190 cultivars and many hybrids.
Colors
The flowers have spots and streaked markings on the petals and the colours range from green to white, golden yellow, and orange to a light apricot, pink, a dark red, bluish purple, and lavender
Vase life
Up to two weeks as a stem but the flowers last a bit shorter if cut as individual flowers
Scent
Slight floral fragrance
Uses
Long stems are great in line work and the individual flowers are perfect for body flowers. The small flowers look great combined with lilies.
Conditioning
Choose stems that are just opining with all its colour showing but only a few petals turning. Look for undamaged stems and healthy green foliage. If the foliage is yellow it is best not to purchase the flowers as it is a sign of stress caused by flower preservative. Cut the white lower portion of the stem and remove the lower foliage from the stems. Condition in warm water with flower food. Do not remove all the foliage when conditioning because the green leaves help with the uptake of water.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.
Related Designs
Wrap and tie a fishbowl vase with corn foliage to craft a lantern for autumn... almost... Halloween.
Oh my... a corn leaf mummy head for autumn... looking ahead to Halloween styling.
Suspend a heavy butternut over water in an early Autumn design.
Water... lots of water- that is the answer to designing flower arrangements that survive the summer heat.
Craft a bottomless vase out of bark so that the floral stem is supported but can still stand in water to remain hydrated.
Place the floral details strategically on the edge of sturdier parts of the armature to keep the reed grid from collapsing under the weight of the floral details.
Soft minimal Fall armature making it easy to replace the flowers as the season progress.
There's no need for a quick and easy summer design to be boring... look closer!
A simple placement of bud vases... with the tiniest of lemon coloured twist that makes them unusual.
Let me explain myself: it’s got a blue sparkle stinger… or you wouldn’t have noticed the little wasp.
A minimal... but then with a tiny bug detail... design that is perfect for warm summer designing.
Add a bit of shadow and dimension to a flat armature by using the sketch technique of cross hatching.
A clever trick borrowed from art techniques to add dimension to a bright and colourful Autumn floral design.
Hawaiian Hula skirt for a Luau inspired flower arrangement.
A fun design... with a hula skirt (...for the cool summer breeze to arrange and rearrange)
My article and Japanese paper flower armature design featured in the March issue of The Academy Leader- Academy of Floral Design, published by the The Floral Art Society of New...
Effortless is hard work! Effortless is difficult to achieve! Effortless takes years! The reward is exactly that; your work will be without effort. My article in the Canadian...
Wire spirals twisted around candles to make small Christmas trees for the Christmas Eve dinner table