BENEFITS OF DESIGNING WITH THE SEASONS

Introduction

Designing flower arrangements with the seasons offers many benefits. Each season offers an opportunity to be playful as you experiment with blooms and evergreens.
​
In this blog, we share what we have learned over our four seasons designing with the whole landscape, from a two inch clipping to a ten foot vine or root.

Winter: Dreaming, Planning, and Collaborating

The winter months of January, February, and March are ideal for dreaming, planning, and collaboration. It is a time to plot new gardens, select seeds and plants for experimentation, and research floral trends.

The enduring floral trends of fairy lights, woven branches and forced mini daffodils adds a sparkle to the winter months. Photo by Foraged Florals.

This year, we are excited about a floral design retreat in Portugal scheduled for 2024. Winter also offers an opportunity to reach out to others, fostering learning and exploring collaborative opportunities. It is the ideal time to grow your business while supporting the local seasonal flower industry.

​Spring: Forcing Blooms and Abundance

 (Each spring, we are so excited to see colour. I start forcing blooms in February as an opportunity to test vase life. I plant pots of miniature bulbs in a  garden box covered with straw dedicated to forcing bulbs. I remove them in February when we get a natural thaw. I have the containers marked for the intended design and colorway (arrangement or combination of colours). 

I have flowering bulbs much earlier in the season than usual but that is still working with the season. You can convince the plants that it is a month ahead of their usual bloom time. Moss is the perfect host for forced bulbs. 

Fresh forced forsythia gives an additional lift to any spring arrangement as seen here in this moss garden. Photo by Foraged Florals.

In late spring, there seems to be such tremendous abundance. All of your shrubs start to burst out in colour. I love to work with currants with their low clusters of bell shaped blooms, very fragrant leaves and long vase life. 

​The variety of greens are so appealing you barely need a bloom. The flowers in this garden tend to be smaller in early spring. Many designs are more delicate, like a hand-tied snowdrop wedding bouquet, anemones and tulip bulbs. 

The pink hues of woven wild blueberries branches enhance the colour of the forced tulip and creates spiral movement. Photo by Foraged Florals.

When pliable branches start to leaf out, like the American bittersweet, wisteria, even kiwi, you can pick small shoots to weave and create great movement in an arrangement. Often I’ll shape them with decorative wire and create little tendrils that haven’t yet formed on the plants. 

The chartreuse green enhances the greens and pinks of the hellebore, snowdrop and lily of the valley and in this photo, columbine. Photo by Foraged Florals.

​Summer: Abundance and Experimental Exploration

With an abundance of blooms, the summer is a perfect time to experiment.
Seize this time to turn routine garden maintenance activities like watering, weeding, and pinching back into design opportunities. Here are a few examples:

• The early morning hours, between the lifting of dew and the rise of heat, offer the best window for cutting blooms.
• While pinching back young blooms, be aware of the opportunity to use these blooms to discover new  colour combinations.

An early morning walkabout reveals the vibrant blooms of the alpine sedum. In the afternoon, while pinching back the celosia, I was immediately struck by the need to put them together in an arrangement. Photo by Foraged Florals.

• You can push the design boundaries by trying an upright bloom in a lateral arrangement. 
• Clip and save a dispensed seed head to test in a new design.
• An abundance of flowers lets you be creative with the natural crooks and undulations of the flowers and stems. 
• Walk the property daily to see what is getting ready to bloom. I often carry a bloom or two to hold up to new flowers to assess the color match for new floral opportunities.
• In the early summer, when the American bittersweet wants to take off, I pull the new root growth or suckers, then peel and weave them while supple. 

In this arrangement, the gentle shifts in colour from the soft mauve of the English bluebells followed by the false indigo, columbine and the rich purples of the anemones compliment the rich tones of the vase. The woven American bittersweet vine helps connect flowers to vase. Photo by Foraged Florals.

​The Season of Weddings: Designing with the Best Blooms 

Wedding season marks an exciting time for floral designers. It is a thrill to work with brides and event planners who understand the value of using the best blooms of the season. Fresh flowers are the time tested way to transform any space.
​
As the pandemic highlighted the need for local solutions, including flowers, there is a growing trend in wedding florals towards seasonal choices. 

Three peonies make the perfect bridal bouquet. Photo by Foraged Florals.

You can add meaning to a design by including blooms that have a special meaning to a bride or family member. On one glorious occasion, we had the privilege, and permission, to enter a master gardener’s property to design the wedding florals of her beloved niece. 

Designing onsite. Photo by Foraged Florals.

We started a flower registry in our community so we can draw on the best of blooms, reviving a time honoured tradition for weddings in rural communities.
Foraging for wild flowers like lupins, daisies, and Queen Anne's lace adds a touch of rustic charm to wedding arrangements.

​Fall: Designing in Harvest Time

In the early fall, our focus shifts to the abundance of our food harvest and gathering winter evergreens for holiday arrangements.

Nova Scotia produces beautiful fruits and vegetables in the fall. It is a wonderful opportunity to incorporate fruits and vegetables, especially pumpkins and gourds, into October arrangements. Photo by Foraged Florals.

From abundant apple varieties, russets, August apple, Spartan or a Cox's Orange Pippin, you can build an entire colorway with an apple as your jumping off point.
​
November and December offer opportunities for designing evergreen garlands and swags for winter weddings, festive home decor and corporate gift giving during the holiday season. 

Photo by Foraged Florals.

Our native species include Jack pine, white pine, birch, cedar, juniper, balsam fir, and we grow boxwood. Being in Nova Scotia, the Balsam Fir Christmas Tree Capital of Canada, offers opportunities to use evergreens in new ways in holiday arrangements. 

​Conclusion 

You can create visually stunning arrangements that reflect the natural beauty of each season by experimenting with your blooms and evergreens at their peak. 
​