It’s All Green!

This week is known as green week. The Irish communities all across America celebrate March 17th as St. Patrick’s Day. For this day everyone considers themselves to have a little bit of Irish blood in them, so many celebrate the day with fun, food, and a bit of libation.
Green flowers can help celebrate the day as well. With green being such a dominate color in home décor as well as fashion color; growers have done an excellent job in creating a wide market from which to choose. While some flowers grow naturally that color, others have been bred to be green.
Bells of Ireland are a staple flower this time of year not only to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but also to use in everyday design work. It has a fresh vibrant green color that adds interest to design work because of its unique bell cups that are on the stem. Spike of line flowers are often difficult to use in any other way in floral compositions, however, Bells of Ireland can be dissected and used as basing interest in floral foam based arrangements.
Another really interesting flower is the Green Trick Carnation. This member of the Dianthus family looks like no other flower. It actually appears to look like green moss growing on a stem. While the color may be attractive, it is the texture that adds so much visual and tactile interest to the composition. Because of its uniqueness, it garners a lot of attention when used in designs.
Other options for green flowers are Super Green roses, Fugi chrysanthemums, Hypericum, Kermit chrysanthemums and Hypericum. While these flowers are more familiar to most customers, they can still be designed to have an upscale appearance.
For a higher end presentation, consider using Green Goddess Callas or green Cymbidium orchid sprays. While these tend to be a bit more in price, the fact that you would use fewer flowers makes them sellable at a reasonable price. Dropping a few swirls of Lily Grass or Bear Grass in a vase so it hugs the inside of the vase and then adding a few stems of Callas so they do the same makes for a clean sophisticate presentation. Just one stem of Cymbidium Orchids in a vase with a minimal amount of linear foliage creates a dramatic presentation that is very long lasting.
Foliages also play a big part in accenting the floral composition. Some foliage’s are used as more of a line material such as Honey Bracelet, Steel Grass, Myrtle and Scotch Broom. The family of Ruscus, grasses such as Bear and Lily, Flax, Ivy, and Baby Eucalyptus can also be used as line materials. Some foliage’s have more mass such as Ming Pine, Salal and Seeded Eucalyptus. Others are used as leaves and inserted one at a time. Leather Leaf and Galax leaves fall into this application. Foliage’s can also have color contributions to the floral styling. Variegated foliages such as Ivy, Pittosporum and Rhamnus gives added dimension to the design. Gray greens like Acacia, Eucalyptus and Dusty Miller have melding or blending effect that helps colors unite together.