Welcome to Floral Design.
I'm Diana Ryan and today I'm going to demonstrate how to make a tropical design.
Tropical flowers are very unique and very different, so they do require different techniques
than you would do with traditional type arrangements.
I've got a nice re-creations bowl.
This is actually recycled paper that you can buy from your local florist, which is kind
of handy, which I appreciate.
And I've got a little bit over two-thirds of a brick of oasis in here and I've got it
glued to the bottom.
Then, I've got a little reservoir of water in here.
So, my next step, I'm going to cover this with wet moss.
I've got it in this little tray here because it is wet.
And once you wet it, you can literally ring it out like a sponge.
So, let's cover this.
So why am I covering this oasis with moss?
You know, the moss adds kind of a really natural feel to it.
And actually, if you want to look at it from a lazy point of view, you don't have to cover
up all of the oasis.
So, it's kind of a dual purpose there.
All right, that's good - let me clean up this mess real quick.
All right, so I've got my moss covered.
So if a little bit of moss shows, we're fine with that, because it kind of, like I say,
adds that natural feel to it.
I'm going to start with my largest stem, my Heliconia.
This is just the coolest thing ever.
Look at the... this is the blossom on it.
I love the shading in that.
But you can see, this is really a thick, heavy stem.
So when you have a thick, heavy stem like this, you want to insert it once and don't
move it.
If you start wobbling it around, you know how that goes - the oasis is going to break
up and the arrangement is going to fall apart.
If I wanted the Heliconia to have a thinner stem, I could do that.
This is kind of done in layers.
I'm going to strip off part of this so you can see.
But, there's a seam right here, and I could take this apart and then I'd have these two
separate and I would just have the single flower.
But I like this vertical line going with the Heliconium.
I think that's part of the flower.
So I'm going to leave this whole stalk.
But it's going to be tall, it's going to be big.
I'm going to give it a sharp, slanting cut.
Cutting at an angle increases the surface area so it draws more water.
It also gives me a nice point to hang onto it.
So I'm going to do ... this is going to be a centerpiece.
I'm going to start about a third of the way there, put it right through my oasis, and
I am NOT going to touch it after that.
But it's so bold and so wonderful, we don't have to move it at that point.
This is called ginger, again a tropical flower.
It's got a little heavier stem, not quite like the Heliconia, but you'll get these interesting
curves with the ginger.
So, let's complement my Heliconia right over there.
Again, a nice sharp, slanting cut.
Now when I insert this, I move the moss around so I can get a nice firm insertion there with
the ginger.
My next ginger, I could go over here if I wanted, I could shadow it over here ... you
know what, let's come down a little bit over here with this one.
Again, a sharp, slanting cut.
And I like this curve of the ginger.
So, here's what we have going so far.
It will be a centerpiece, so I don't have to keep doing this twirl thing with you here,
but I want you to see front and back as I'm working with it.
Now, let's add a few of our lilies.
These are Asiatic lilies, and to me, lilies can go both ways.
They can go tropical to traditional to contemporary...
they're one of those flowers that can cross over.
Now it has our anthers in there, so we have to take those off because right now they are
immature, but as they mature, they will discolor your flower, discolor your clothes.
Some of the foliage on here is a little bit ratty, so I'm going to take it off.
Now I'm going to place my lilies in kind of a grouping.
There's my first one.
And I use the smallest one up at the top.
Here again, let's take those off.
You can see, it's starting to get a little bit on the mature side with that.
I'm going to place this a little bit over to the side because, like I say, it is a centerpiece
and we want the design to have some depth to it.
We want to have some interest.
We don't want it to be completely flat.
And you notice I placed my lilies on the edge of the table, for a very good reason.
Asiatic lilies bruise so easily... one little tap, and you're going to get a crease in the
flower and it's not going to be that gorgeous, smooth, rich color.
So I'm very, very tender with my Asiatic lilies.
Some of the other lilies, like Stargazers, are much more forgiving.
They don't get those creases in them, but Asiatic lilies really do.
OK, this has got a double blossom on it.
The stem of one is way too short to even use, so I'm going to keep them together.
So, this is going to be good for my focal area.
It's going to be shorter.
Now I also peel off foliage that might possibly go into the oasis.
We do not want foliage in the oasis - that adds more food for potential bacteria, which
decreases the life of the flowers.
So let's place this down toward the bottom.
Again I'm going to move my moss over to the side.
So I'm starting to build some rhythm, some movement, kind of a focal area.
Now I'm going to start adding my foliage.
For a tropical design, foliage is key.
If I were to add leather leaf to this, it would just look a little bit out of place.
It wouldn't have good harmony.
Harmony is everything working together - a pleasing, esthetic quality - so if I have
tropical flowers, I'm going to expect to see tropical foliage.
So I've got a nice little bucket of tropical foliage here.
The first one I'm going to pick out is my Monstera leaves.
Gotta love these leaves.
This just screams the tropics, doesn't it?
So, let's place these, and a few of these go a long ways.
You don't have to get too carried away with these.
These are going to be toward the bottom.
Now, you can see the leaf is bent from the stem.
We're not going to curse that, we are going to put it in our design to accent that little
curve.
So I'm going to place it right over in through here.
And you know what it's going to do, it's going to flatten out nicely for me.
It looks like it's just growing out of there, like it's supposed to.
Now I have a smaller leaf that I'm going to place to the other side of it, just to kind
of complement that.
And again, it's got my nice little bend to it, but that's how the plant grows, so that's
OK.
Here's my other leaf to the side.
See how it's starting to look?
That's enough of the Monstera.
I don't have to get carried away with that.
So now I need something flowing, something wonderful.
Now the next foliage I'm going to work with is our Cordyline terminalis, or tea leaf.
It's naturally this burgundy color.
It's so rich and just so wonderful.
The stem's a little bit stiff, so I'm going to massage this vein.
It doesn't hurt the leaf at all, and see, it's getting a little bit more curve to it.
I don't want a straight one.
I've got my straight lines with my Heliconia, so I've got a slight curve to it.
Again, cut this.
This is going to go...
I just want to get a little bit of movement and broad texture next to my Heliconia here,
got a nice flow to it.
You see these leaves in the tropics all the time.
And so, let's kind of complement it with another one.
Again, I'm going to massage this vein of my leaf and place it kind of right beside it.
Give it a cut - I want it a little bit shorter though - and it's going to go right in through
here.
Oops, got to watch out for those lilies.
Let's bring this down a little bit more - there.
OK, so I've got my Cordyline terminalis leaves going out there.
Let's get a little bit more movement - foxtail.
Gotta love foxtail.
It's actually Asparagus densiflorus, but it looks like a fox's tail, so that's the common
name.
It adds great movement.
So, let's strip some of this bottom part because we don't want that in our oasis.
Let's have it kind of shooting out of the center here.
Wonderful texture, you know, it's just got that fluffiness to it.
So let's take another foxtail, give it a nice cut, maybe it can start coming out this way.
The idea is we want it to look like our own little tropical rainforest with plants growing
lush and wonderful.
Let's add another one to this side.
And you're going to notice my front side is different from my back side.
Actually, I prefer that type of a look.
It just adds more interest to the design.
So when I get done there with this, it's going to look good from either side.
Now, let's add a little bit of Leucadendron.
Leucadendron is a member of the Protea family.
It has the same type of leaves and this is actually what we think of - the blossom.
It's not a true blossom.
The true blossom is actually way down inside, but it's got a great tropical feel to it.
And I like this kind of lime green, even lighter lime green.
And it's got the burgundy tips in it, which is going to pick up several parts of my burgundy
in this design.
So, as you look at this, it's needing something right down here, some interest down here.
So that's what my Leucadendron's going to do.
I'm going to cut it again and I'm going to bring it out and around.
And then it's going to have a little partner, it's going to have another Leucadendron coming
out there.
So this is going to help balance out what I've got going on the other side.
Let's see if we want to put another one in here.
Here's another Leucadendron.
I think I'll put one more right in the base.
So it's going to add some interest down below.
Yeah, that's a good spot for it.
As you walk around the design, you're going to see there's an interesting little grouping.
So again, it looks like the Leucadendron plant is growing from the sides.
Then, other foliage that I have, I've got some Croton leaves.
This is literally off the Croton plant.
Look at these colors - I mean, it's perfect.
The oranges and the burgundies ... it's going to tie in really nice.
It's going to add a nice little accent for me.
So let's put one right here by that lily.
Let's put another one right over there.
Give it a little cut.
It's a short stem, but you know what, they hold up really well - the Leucadendron, sorry,
the Croton do.
So, I'm going to put two right there in front.
It kind of brings out the colors in that.
And then I've got another one, I'm going to hang onto that.
My next foliage I'm going to put is called Xanadu.
It's actually a member of the Philodendron family.
But look at that, I mean that's very tropical.
It's wonderful.
So I'm going to do my back side right now.
You can see there's an empty spot.
It needs some interest.
So, let's add to it back here.
It's going to look like a little Xanadu plant growing out of here.
And when I add three or more stems of a foliage or flowers, that is called grouping.
Plants, flowers grow in groups, so let's design that way.
That makes our design much more interesting.
And I'm really honestly placing these like they would grow.
Kind of from the central point and then the leaves fan out from there.
If you design by nature, your designs are much more interesting.
I always tell my students: nature is your best teacher.
Study nature, look at the way things grow, and copy that.
Now I've got one lone Croton leaf and I've got the perfect spot for it right over here.
It's OK to have a leaf or a foliage or a flower by itself, because what it does, it brings
your eye back, you're kind of peeking - oh, there's something else going on back there,
let's check that out.
Now, I've got one more lily left.
I think I'm going to put it on the back side.
I kind of like it back here.
So it will be coming out of our Xanadu.
Again, let's take out those anthers.
I'm going to leave all these buds, because they will eventually open up and my cut flower
arrangement will keep on growing, so to speak.
So let's nestle this right in between all this wonderful Xanadu - oops, finding some
other stems there.
OK, and bring out my Monstera leaf.
That looks perfect there.
You know what it does - it kind of leaves a trail of the lilies ... from the front to
the back.
So the orange has a nice little rhythm, nice little flow to it.
Because that's what plants and flowers do, they grow and flow like that.
I had some other palm leaves.
Let's see if I want to put this anyplace.
I think I've enough interest up high.
The one thing you want to keep in mind with tropicals is don't junk it up.
Don't add all kinds of stuff at the top, because then you lose the beauty and the individual
appeal of each individual flower.
If I put all this stuff back there, you're not even going to notice these stalks.
So I think I'm just about done.
You know what?
I could add a little bit of palm out that way.
This is a nice tall arrangement, so I can get some width out there.
Let's add my palm branch right out here.
It's not too much.
I have another one.
Yeah, let's add the other one at the bottom.
Don't need it quite that long, just a little touch.
And palm says tropics too.
See, I like that little texture down at the bottom.
Then, if I have any places at all left that I want to cover, I have some Galax leaves
to do that job.
They come in little bundles like this.
And during certain times of the year, they are this beautiful burgundy color, and other
times they're green.
And then sometimes they're green and burgundy.
Look at that.
Isn't that fabulous?
So you get some really interesting leaves out of this bunch.
I'm going to pull out a few, and I'm just going to strategically place them in a couple
of spots.
It's going to look like this little...
they kind of remind me of little lily pad leaves - you know, the way they grow.
I'm going to layer them front to back, stair-step, which in design terms is called terracing
- front-to- back placement.
It's very subtle and minor, but it's attention to detail that makes your designs more unique
and sets you apart from everybody else.
You can see down there, it's very subtle, but it just adds that extra little punch,
I think.
There's another couple of spots right down here I'm going to place them.
And then I'm probably done.
Again, it's a little thing, but those little things I think can make a big difference.
So this is the front side, if you want to call it, and then this is the back side.
But since it has interest all the way around, you could put this on a buffet table, on an
entrance table.
People walk around it and they see an interest all the way around.
And it looks like this tropical jungle just came into your home.
So, that's how you design with tropicals.
Thanks for watching!
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