Create a Tropical Flower Arrangement: Easy Design Techniques for Stunning Results

1. Design A Tropical Flower Vase Introduction : So this is a fun tropical arrangement. We'll be putting leaves inside the vase, using colorful assorted flowers, and even fresh cut orchids from a plant. So I designed this for a customer that really loves tropical flowers, and I ended up buying an orchid plant. And cutting a few off of it to use as stems. Now, this is colorful. She's got a lot of bright oranges, yellows in her dining room, and she's entertaining for a brunch today. So I got the orange Gerbers for that pop of orange. Her favorite flower is this pincushion prota and next to the purple, it just pops. So foliage that you can get from your house plants, or you can buy it at a hossaler or even a Trader Joe's. They sell mixed greens in a pack. This here this is the Star of Bethlehem. It's orange, like an orange yellow, it's gorgeous. It lasts forever. But I put it together in a vase that's going to go on our table. I'm going to be dining there, so it's a little taller than if you were sitting at a dining room table. This is just more for a brunch. I have fun. 2. Flowers & Supplies: For this design, I chose some very bold colors purples, orange yellows, really bright orange. I'm going to go over the names of all these flowers. As far as foliage, this is nice to get some tropical greens. We have the monasteri leaves and the antherium leaves. Some ruscus. These were cut off house plants, but you can find variety of greenery at the grocery stores or your local wholesaler. I did grab a plant from Trader Joe's so I could use the orchids. It's actually more affordable to buy the plant and cut them off than it is to buy just the stems. And there's different types of foliages that I was able to cut from the garden. And you will need some cutting shears and a vase that you like. I like a wide mouth vase to hold all the thick stems of the tropical flowers. And then we'll add water about halfway or so as we're designing. You can always add more water once the arrangements finish. The purple flowers are called Latrs, the pincushion protea, orange Gerber daisies, Star of Bethlehem, and Philanopsis orchids. So, my gosh, when these colors come together, they're so vivid and so beautiful. So I'm going to show you how to design this piece. It's a great skill to have, and I think you're gonna have a lot of fun. 3. Time to Design & Conclusion: So grab a vase that you've chosen, fill it up with water. Really, it's only necessary to do it about halfway, and then you can always add more water once you're finished. Have your clippers. I like to have a towel nearby. Just because it gets a little damp as you're designing. The monasteri leaves is what I started with first because they're the largest leaf that there is, and it will kind of frame it in for you. So measure by holding it up to see where you want to cut it and do that each time with each leaf. So you know how high you want it. And then just cut it on a slant and put it in the vase. You have like three sides, so there's three points to this design. If you're using more than three flowers or leaves, you'll go up and down and kind of foul each other. So I'm starting with some of the taller ones first. Again, you know, cut your flowers on a slant. And you're putting it in the same direction pretty much as the leaves falling the tips. So you have three leaves, three flowers. And since I have more eatris, I'll kind of fall right next to the one I just put in. Some can be a little taller or shorter, and it creates a little bit of depth. So as you can see, it's pretty balanced. I like to have one down towards the center. Brings it all together. Gonna be adding some greenery now. This is some greens that I cut from the garden outside. As I said, you can buy them at a store or you can cut them from house plants or you can even cut them from shrubs outside. It helps save some money, and it gives some variety. Always remove the lower leaves. You don't want any leaves in the water of the vase because it creates bacteria. So you always just strip them down. And now I'm just going to foul kind of the same pattern, fill in the holes and remove the leaves each time. Always cut everything on a slant. We're creating kind of a grid inside the vase. Stems are crossing each other, so it helps hold them in place. I had some extra stems on this one, too that I didn't have leaves, so you just remove them. So I'm still going in the third pattern, you know, one, two, three, one, two, three. I have three pincushion protea to put in next. They're a little thicker stem. And we'll pretty much hold in place of that grid that we're creating of the stems being crossed. So that one's a little higher than the one I just put in. And always, you can turn your vase. It's even nice to use a turn table to set your vase on so it's easy to turn it as you design. I just I didn't have one today. This is called Israeli Ruscus. I'm removing the foliage, cutting the stem, and we'll just fill in holes. So they're up a little higher because you want your greenery to be low and high. Always cut on a slant and measure. I do that every time with every stem that I put in the design, get a good idea for what it's gonna look like. This is the antherium foliage, which was cut from a house plant. And I'm just gonna fall in below the other foliages and find any holes. And it just adds a little texture and variety for the design. Now, if you don't have these exact foliages, you don't have to. It's just nice to have some large and some medium and some small greenery, maybe some linear ones, round ones just to give it more interest. So I'm just going to keep continue adding the foliage in in different locations. Some will be higher and some will be lower. You don't have to use all your foliage that you've cut, but you can. The Gerber daisies, I love these. They're very vibrant, and they're really gonna make the arrangement pop. Sometimes their heads are a little heavy for their stems, so you can either wire them or you can just insert them so they face out in the design. Sometimes you can even cut them shorter to be supported by the leaves or flowers next to them. But you really want them to show up, so you'll find the right place. And again, just keep turning your vase and finding the right place to put them. Some will be a little higher, some will be a little lower. Usually, you work in floral design in odd numbers. So either three or five. I never like to use just one of one type of flower because it kind of sticks out like a belly button, but three continues around and gives balance to a design. Now I'm going to add the star of Bethlehem. I just love this flower. It's so vibrant and it looks very tropical, very long lasting, too. We're gonna cut it on a slant. As you've been seeing, we've been doing with all the flowers, but that creates a nice opening to the stem. That way it doesn't sit flat in the vase, so the water can go up the stem more easily. A lot of times the star of Bethlehem, you'll find in white. But I found this color very very unique. As you can see, the arrangement's getting fuller, and there's color everywhere. The orchids, these are the philanopsis orchids I cut from a plant. They, they're kind of like the star of the show. People love orchids, so I only have two stems, so we're gonna find a nice place to put them. I'm just giving you a close up shot of the magenta in the center. It's so pretty. Especially against that lime green. Now, this one has a little curve on the bottom. It might be a little harder to get in on the stem. If I want to keep the stem length, I got to try and insert it. You can always cut it shorter, too. But I only have two stems, so we're gonna put one on one side. This is the white one. We'll put one a little higher and one a little lower. Now it's looking really balanced and colorful all around. So now it's time to turn it and see if there's any other foliage you can add, stems you haven't used. I do love this really bright greenery. So wherever I might need a little papa colour, like, right in here, it would really stand up nice. I do have one other piece that I had for most plants, so I'm gonna insert that, too. This one's a little different foliage. It has the nice green and pink on it. So that'll add some nice texture and color. And we're almost done with this whole arrangement. I just keep turning it and looking for places where I can put on my foliage because once I cut stems, I like to use them. This is a hosta leaf that I thought maybe I could insert inside the vase to help cover the grid of the stems a little bit. And it gives interest down inside the vaste as well. So I do have a couple of those, and I'll put them inside. It creates a nice conversation piece. People notice it inside your vase and say, Oh, look at that leaf. And it's really just trying to insert it afterwards where everything's nice and tight. And I slip it down into the water, and it'll do fine. This is a great way to finish off the arrangement, and we are done. That's basically all there is to this design. I really hope you enjoyed creating it and have a special place to put it. Thank you so much for watching. I'll be creating more tutorials on design soon.