DesignsandEvents: 4th of July Fireworks Floral Arrangement

Hello there! How is it going? Are you preparing for the 4th of July? We have plans to go to our cottage on Cape Cod, but the weather is being difficult, and the fireworks displays have been postponed until Labor Day. What gives with that? We will find a way to have fun no matter what. Hope you do to!!!

In the spirit of the 4th of July, this week I created a red, white and blue arrangement with "fireworks" and all!

I have been wanting to make this kind of arrangement for a while. I am not sure what they are called but the arrangement includes high flying flowers set above a somewhat conventional one, at least that it my interpretation. Next, I hope to try an arrangement like this but with a base of more free-flowing flowers.

For this arrangement I set out to Trader Joe's for flowers because I have found at times when one wants to make a single floral arrangement it can be more cost effective to go to the grocery store rather than the flower market to buy flowers. That is, of course, if you can find the flowers you are looking for. Luckily, I was able to do so here. I still am getting my sea legs at my new home location and need to get more comfortable about driving into the markets. With bigger projects I certainly will do that in the future. I miss my buddies at the markets.

I am confined to a small place in my new home when it comes to floral designing but, I am making it work. You will see I am squished into a corner of my kitchen countertop. We are still working on a solution for this :).

I began with a simple container because I didn't expect it to show or be the star of the show.

Next, I started covering the oasis with greenery.

And then started incorporating the flowers. I started with the large white mums to get a baseline for the arrangement. After this point I forgot to take photos, which often happens while I am creating. I will try to be better next time.

The flowers I used were:

White cushion mums

White Freesia

Red mini carnations

Blue sea holly

Variegated Pittosporum

Israeli Ruscus

Giving the illusion of fireworks was what I set out to do.

I thought the blue sea holly was perfect for that starburst kind of fireworks.

The white freesia replicated (to me) those fireworks that trail off and go down to Earth.

I added the red carnations into the fireworks mainly for the red color to be added into the upper design, but they also could remind you of the small bursting fireworks, right?

In the end, this is how the arrangement turned out. I was happy with the result :).

This was the view from the opposite side. On this side I have the blue sea holly protruding from the arrangement at a lower level because sometimes fireworks do not make it all the way up to the sky.

As you can see, the base of the arrangement is just that, a base. It has its own personality and could stand on its own if you wanted it to. I like the explosion of flowers above, however. Some of you might not agree and go for the more traditional centerpiece. That is what floral design is all about, creating what you love. The red, white and blue screams 4th of July no matter the shape of the arrangement.