tips on cutting down the amount of greens in an arrangement

[lori042499]

OK, here's my problem....

I was trained the old ftd leather leaf greening way....

Due to habit I tend to green in my arrangements and have alot of greens....I have relied on these greens to make my arrangements sturdy and delivery proof....it has worked for many years...

Now with the wide spread use of cubes and wide mouthed vases, I have found that leather leaf yucks the water and gets pushed down too easy and makes the arrangement look messy...

I have also found that the newer modern style arrangements use more greens for texture and design flow than for mechanics...

That being said I would like to hear some of the design tips to make an arragement with the greens as a part of the design instead of to hold the arrangement in place or cover foam...

I have already been practicing by arranging flowers first then putting in greens and have been able to do away with a case of leatherevery 2-3 weeks to 2 bunches a week with a couple of lemon, pitt and grass. I even got some rainbow fern this week to try it out....

 

[cs1]

We too used lots of greens in our mechanics. A couple of the designers went to a show and they used clear tape to grid all of the vases. It cuts down on the greens you use and you can do more modern looking arrangements.

 

[SpringCity]

2nd clear tape, a recent shop I worked at was big on that.

 

[twiggy]

I use submerged curly willow in vases with a wider opening, or sometimes the colored alum wire, I also tape a grid(not my favorite). I'm also buying vases with narrower openings than before, and this helps quite a bit!

 

[master J]

I say NO to taping vases, it just looks crappy, especially when customer takes out dead flowers and is left with a taped vase! JMO

 

[shannonlovesflowers]

I love greens--- LOVE THEM!! we get almost as many different types of greens as we do flowers.

But we have cut out using so much foam and do more things in vases. I also use clear tape, and willow in vases. we will do maybe 2 basket arrangements a month now. No one wants them any more, good for us!

Also, no matter what we do, we always change the water.

 

[shannonlovesflowers]

I say NO to taping vases, it just looks crappy, especially when customer takes out dead flowers and is left with a taped vase! JMO

They can take the tape off too, it's not too hard to do.

Green tape, most definatly grr-ooossss.

 

[SpringCity]

the tape doesn't show

 

[cs1]

The tape shouldn't show and it takes about 5 seconds to pull it off. We still use lots of greenery but the tape, curly willow in the vase, river rocks etc give you options.

 

[Kristine]

I don't like the willow in the water - it goes bad after a few days in the home. and most people don't change the water

We use lots of different foliages - hosta, spath, palm, artemesia, aspidistra, sedum. If I can cut it I use it

fav stock vase c999 has a narrow neck which helps in design. We place flowers first then greens. I have a design vase of plain water and then lift and move finished arr to clean vase with presv water.
No tape here.

Try using a armature on the top of the vase to help hold stems in place, you can use less foliage.

 

[shannonlovesflowers]

oh yeah,
I just thought of something else I like to do...
I like to make armatures to sit on top of the vase and lace through it with my fresh product. My new favorite is sweet huck. LOVE IT!!!!!

HA!!! me and Inka must have been thinking the same thing at the same time with armatures!!

 

[Rhonda]

never tape anymore. It causes big hassles for the customers who do take care of their flowers.
We lace our greens and then insert flowers. The lacing holds the flowers in place. If needed we use curly willow or aluminum wire but even those prevent some needed water changing.
With the lacing, we instruct the recepient to gather in hands just above the neck of the vase, take flowers out, rinse/clean vase, add water, cut the flowers and stick back into vase. And most of them do it and then tell us how much longer they lasted when they did this proceedure.
When we use willow or wire, we instruct them to hold bouquet in hand, dump out water holding on to the arrangement and to add fresh water. Recut isn't as easy and should be done one stem at a time, something most recepients don't/won't do.
C999 is our choice for vase arrangements also.
Armatures too, aid in easier keeping of the design and helps recepient to take flowers out, cut, and rewater. We make ours from birch twigs.

 

[RWK]

If you are using foam - this tip works great......Take two/ three long strands of sprengerii or plumosa, insert the cut stem end into foam, and the wind the stem round the container and foam and pin the other end into the foam.....quick and easy,

 

[Mocha Rose]

The only place I use greens on a regular basis is as an accent in corsages, bouts and altar arrangements and I try to get creative by using more modern looking greens like bear grass, tropicals, eucy, willow, etc.

For centerpieces like cubes I use all of the methods below:

Taping a grid
Wraping the oasis with large leaves, bear grass or slices of citrus
Using a big fluffy hydrangea bloom as the base (love this!)
wire
lacing flowers

For taller arrangements, I use willow, branches, or negative space.

 

[SpringCity]

Using a big fluffy hydrangea bloom as the base (love this!)

I like this too!

 

[ivygreen]

I have taped(clear, cheap scotch tape) and still do if I struggle with everything rocking around in the vase. C999 is my go-to everday vase, and has been for years. Doing a lot of quick hand tied arrangements for the cubes and shallow containers, and love to finish them off with some aluminum wire, so the mechanics look like part of the design. I'm not big on using anything that breaks down below the water line, cause it looks bad after a few days. Hospital and office arrangements just don't get fresh water, and the most people see them. Lori, this is a great thread and your right about changing this. Sometimes greening a certain way makes arr. look dated.

Someone, Tracypieface? posted a while back(Valentines?) about doing arrangements in the same vase, in a hand tied finish, and then popping them into clean water. Try doing a search on using premade greens.

 

[terri]

Lori-try green or var, pitt. it works great in cubes & lg. vases. It's amazing at how little can be used to get full coverage.

 

[BOSS]

Hmmm...tape...greens...grids...sheesh... I must be "old school"....

Anything under $100.00 vase'd, we simply make a hand tie design, chop and drop....no debris...very few greens....

Another thing some of my designers utilize is a "design vase/delivery vase" method, design in one, remove, clean up the bottom of the stems and drop into a clean vase...

 

[logan]

Hand-tied for absolutely everything, bouquets to vases, small and large $200+ vases, you use less greenery than basing in taped vases unless it is a feature of your creation, like gorgeous tropical or more expensive greens. Quick and easy.
IMO the taped thing is yuk and dated but hey, whatever works for you, hand-tied looks so much better, all your stems form a spiral in the vase which looks a million times better, tidier and professional and are great mechanics, sturdy etc. than random crossed stems. Any diy can create the 'just stick in a vase thing', but your general diy can't create a good hand-tied, one more professional reason for people to come to you.

I love armatures of all kinds and they can be a great upsell if you have them ready made, but you don't always need one, even for more limited high-style linear hand-tied bouquets, just do them in your hand, finish the binding point with ribbon, raffia, wire like Ivygreen's great suggestion and plop it into a vase.

As for arrangements in oasis, do you have stuff in your garden for a variety of greens? So nice to get away from Leather.
RWK's winding idea works great, we do that with ivy all the time, just pick it from the backyard. Also nice for looping around bouquets. We have a landscaper who brings in random greenery he cuts, fab stuff.
Moss is a great cover for oasis, the other thing is to perhaps experiment with some different design styles in oasis, like more compacted, tufty arrangements, pave style etc.

 

[Tracy D'Amico]

I was trained the old ftd leather leaf greening way....

Me too.

Due to habit I tend to green in my arrangements and have alot of greens....I have relied on these greens to make my arrangements sturdy and delivery proof....it has worked for many years...

For daily vases, I still green first, but add accent greens with the flowers, so I'm not over-using - bear grass, pitt, lemon, euc ...

Now with the wide spread use of cubes and wide mouthed vases, I have found that leather leaf yucks the water and gets pushed down too easy and makes the arrangement look messy...

For cubes, I usually use clear tape - especially helpful for mono-botanical style, with limited or no greenery. The cubes in the gallery HERE were made this way, and with hydrangea as an armature of sorts. I find with these all hydrangea, or all gerbera cubes/cylinders, the flowers swing 'round or pop right out of the container. The tape helps minimize that, and try as I do, the brides don't seem to like the look of the willow base too much. So I caved on the clear tape. Same with that "uniquely chic" from Teleflora - tape.

I have already been practicing by arranging flowers first then putting in greens

I think that's your key, or to just add a few pieces prior to flowers. The only thing I really pre-green (other than holiday work) are christmas centerpieces, and I always teach to leave some holes - you can always add more if needed.

Anything under $100.00 vase'd, we simply make a hand tie design, chop and drop....no debris...very few greens....

I've tried this, but find when I place my hand tied into a vase, it changes the "spread" of the design, usually tightens it up too much .... maybe I'll practice some more.

Another thing some of my designers utilize is a "design vase/delivery vase" method, design in one, remove, clean up the bottom of the stems and drop into a clean vase...

We do this too - seems no matter how much you wash leather, or pitt, all those bitsy bits and "baker scum" yuck up the water.