Friday, November 20, 2009

Making Greenery Centerpieces

This past Sunday I had a chance to attend a free seminar put on by Pear Tree Cottage in Vienna, VA. Amy Strunk, a landscape designer with Merrifield Garden Center, led a very informative, step-by-step class on the principles of arranging greenery. Check out the gorgeous urn the woman next to me in the white shirt/green sweater used as her container. I'm fairly sure it is one she purchased at Pear Tree.
I brought a vintage, aluminum ice bucket to the seminar. Here are some helpful tips from Amy:(1) There are 2 types of floral foam: wet and dry. (we used wet foam for this project)
(2) Wet foam has small holes on one side and those should be placed face down.
(3) Start with your base greenery first, arranging it so it will establish a good background. Keep in mind that odd numbers of branches, etc, work best.
(4) After you establish the base, begin to add the next layer throughout the whole arrangment. I think in the past I focused too much on sections and not enough on the whole arrangement.(5) Ask yourself, "Where will the texture and interest come from in the arrangement?" As you can see in the pic above, I have two layers in and now need to move on to add some layers of color and interest.
Here are pics of three completed arrangements - I think they look great!
One participant brought a second container, this fab turquoise vase from Crate & Barrel. Amy volunteered to create an arrangement for it.
Here it is; simple and stunning. Keeping in mind the mod aesthetic of the vase, Amy used only 3 types of greenery - dark green evergreen, a chartreuse colored green and the third one, with little pinecones, for interest. My ice bucket is off to the right with red berries and a few other things added to it. A huge thanks to Amy for all the great tips and to Frances Brayshaw, the owner of Pear Tree Cottage, for continuing to offer these great design events! Washingtonian magazine ranked Pear Tree Cottage as one of the best shops in Northern Virginina. Agree!
Also, if you live in the DC area, Tudor Place in Georgetown is holding it's annual Holiday Wreath Making workshop Friday Dec. 4th and Dec. 11th, 10 am or 2pm and Saturday Dec. 5th at 10 am or 1 pm. (the Sat. 10 am class may already be booked.) I'm going to the Dec 4th 10 am session this year - pictured above is the boxwood wreath I made last year. All the greenery is freshly cut and the historic setting is wonderful!

17 comments:

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Oh, this makes me excited!! I can't wait to hang wreaths and fill urns!!! Next week!

HAMPTON HOSTESS said...

Great post--put's me in the holiday mood!

Red Door Home said...

Looks like everyone was having so much fun! Very timely as I plan a trip to the woods this weekend to start collection greens for the holidays.

JMW said...

They all look so fabulous! Thanks for capturing the event on film - great ideas for arrangements at home.

ArchitectDesign™ said...

Believe it or not, I have yet to go to Tudor Place! It's on my list -hopefully this christmas season.
How did your arrangement turn out?

Pear Tree Cottage said...

Thank you for your kind words, Michele! I am thrilled you were able to come to our seminar. See you soon! -- Frances, Pear Tree Cottage

Windlost said...

Oh, I am so jealous. Love it all. Despite it being Canada, grennery here is so expensive at Christmas unless you can go cut it yourself. I could do that back east where there is nothing but forest. But everything here is yuppie-priced. I love your boxwood wreath from last year. Boxwood is my favorite, but does not grow here. I usually pay $40 for a boxwood wreath from my (amazing) florist. Last year he gave me one for free when I was too cheap to buy and he was marking them down like 2 days before Christmas! haha.

Great projects!! xo Terri

Linda@ Lime in the Coconut said...

How fun...I thought the best part was seeing all the different and gorgeous choice of vases!

Abby said...

Looks like fun! What a great way to spend the afternoon.

red ticking said...

lovely... i love the look, the fragrance... so exciting...x pam

Unknown said...

Thanks for the tips they are perfect as we gather holiday ideas for decorations, hostess gifts and thank you'd for clients. Perfect!

Bette

Summer is a Verb said...

Fabulous boxwood wreath. Oh how I miss Garden Club...XXOO

Pigtown*Design said...

Yours looks great. I love the greenery that's chartreuse on one side and darker green on the other. I got a ton of it on the Eastern Shore last winter.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family!

Lisa Porter said...

I can hardly wait for the greenery to arrive! It's my favorite to work with & I'm all over the boxwood wreath!!! My thanks to all for bringing us such great inspiration. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
lisa

Janet said...

You have me inspired...I think I need to go "prune" those holly trees in front of my apartment again. It's about that time of year....

Thomas said...

thats a neat seminar. i love those types of things. DC has a ton of them! :)

Thisishollywood said...

Good. he Hollywood set of napkins and plates will make for some great additions to your Hollywood party themed evening.

hollywood center pieces

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