‘Spring Emerges’ as the Most Inspirational Spring Floral Design

“Not everyone loves flowers in a vase in a traditionally styled bouquet,” says Lori Himes AIFD, the owner of ABLOOM, Ltd in Walkersville, Maryland. “My customers prefer a unique look,” she added. “I like to be creative with their special requests and use other botanical product besides traditional flowers.”

‘Spring Emerges’

As Lori watched the snow melt away last year, she saw the first tendrils of green peeking through and knew spring was on its way. These first subtle signs of seasonal change inspired her to design ‘Spring Emerges.’ She submitted a photo to the OASIS Floral Products Inspire Floral Design Showcase 2015. Her design was chosen as the Most Inspirational Spring Floral Design. Click the link and you can see her original entry and the resulting advertisement. Lori wanted to celebrate the in-coming season, but opted for a subtle woodland design, knowing it was too early for the riotous color of spring’s full arrival. “Seeing pine cones and bare vines gave me the idea to create my design.”

Woodland Designs

When it comes to creating woodland designs, Lori is a natural. “I love to go walking in early spring as the land comes alive again,” she said. “Enjoying nature in the woodlands around our family farm and on the Catoctin Mountains' trails inspires me.” To begin her design, Lori placed a grapevine orb in the center of an OASIS Design Ring as the focal area. She created a woodland effect around the orb. She started with textural materials: moss, cones, bark and a few succulents. She added form and color with fresh stems of feverfew, craspedia and scabiosa, then wound mini cucumber vine with pods and strands of ivy through the design to create a woodsy, overgrown effect. “The movement created by draping the callas over the vine orb represents the melting snow and ice in early spring as the forest floor awakens,” Lori explained. To keep the callas fresh, Lori placed their stems in OASIS™ Water Tubes. She used OASIS Decorative Wire and Corsage Pins to hold the botanicals in place.

Other creative ideas

Smithers-Oasis Design Director Kevin Ylvisaker AIFD, PFCI recreated Lori’s design for the Inspire ad, shown at the top of this article and here. Kevin offered some creative ideas for using the same natural elements in alternate ways:

• Simplify the design by removing the grapevine orb for a less busy look. Keep the movement of the callas by letting them flow through the elegant wreath-shaped design.
• Create a vase arrangement: use the grapevine orb as an armature atop a glass vase or place it in a foam-filled container as the focal area. Incorporate the natural materials into the non-traditional design.

Eco-chic is a fast-growing trend

Click through Pinterest or Google woodland decorating ideas and you’ll notice the eco-chic vibe is a fast-growing trend. It seems to be a favorite of environmentally conscious consumers. Trend-savvy florists like Lori are always looking for new ways to offer innovative designs to their customers. Looking to the nature and its ever-changing seasons is one source of inspiration that is available to all. Why do you think this organic style, featuring natural materials, is becoming so popular? How can you incorporate the look into your product line? What design style brings out the naturalist in you?