With a fully-stocked greenhouse on site, our Floral team members enjoy a unique opportunity to apply their design talents to an inspiring and ever-changing medium – living plants. This spring, team leader Jess Franks is excited to launch a new program presenting seasonal and holiday collections of stylish arrangements that feature some of your favorite houseplants. Here, Jess and the Floral team share what makes these elegant potted designs so versatile, beautiful, and fun to create.
Potted Plants + a Designer’s Eye
A houseplant in any pot is beautiful, of course. But in the artistic eye of a floral designer, the form, color, and texture in the same houseplant are combined with features of the container to create a beautifully integrated design. In our current collection, you’ll find tiny tropical houseplants, ferns, cacti, orchids, and several different types of bromeliads. Jess loves working with the diverse collection of vases, boxes, and other containers ranging from rustic trays made of wood to polished concrete and elegant glazed pottery. Our designers also use decorative rock, moss, dried pods, and other interesting textures to complete the designs. Finished pieces can be as simple as a single bromeliad in a coordinating glazed pot to more intricate compositions including a mix of various plants, moss, and decorative rock. The designs come in a variety of sizes too, so you’ll find one that’s perfect for any style or bright space in your home – like an entry table, coffee table, kitchen window, or small bookshelf.
Perfect for Décor + Gifts
Jess says the Floral team is excited about working with all the different plants and other inspirations in this early spring collection. She hopes the arrangements will find perfect spots in our homes as décor pieces, but she’s also excited about their potential as unique and long-lasting gifts for all kinds of special occasions. Fresh-cut flowers are always a beautiful and appropriate option, but with living arrangements, the orchid and bromeliad blooms last for months, extending the life of your gift. Foliage plants last even longer. As the seasons change, new plants will appear, depending on the inspirations found in the greenhouse. And if you don’t find something you like in the assortment – or you have something special in mind – just take your idea to one of our Floral team members. They’ll be happy to create a custom design for you too.
Versatile + Practical
A question that pops up with these intricate indoor arrangements involves how to care for the plants they contain. Floral team member JoAnn Bullington is also a part of our Container Design team in the greenhouse, and her practical experience with houseplants is a valuable resource as the Floral team puts together each design. JoAnn points out that although they last a very long time, flowering plants like orchids and bromeliads will eventually complete their flowering period and may need to be replaced. So, whenever possible, the designers leave the plants in their original grow pots, rather than plant them directly into the new container. This makes it easy to replace faded plants while leaving the overall design intact. These pieces are designed to last for several months, but even if the plant eventually fades, the pot can become inspiration for other projects too. And as with any container without drain holes, watering should be done thoughtfully and carefully with attention to the plant’s signals that it needs another drink.
We’re excited about our innovative collection of indoor arrangements that incorporate the best of floral design with the beauty and diversity of living plants. On your next visit, we hope you’ll find one that will make the perfect addition to your home or make a wonderful gift for someone you love.
