Plant Materials for Flower Arranging

by Louise Larabie
(Gardening and Flower Arranging Expert at Dot Com Women)

• Keep your arrangement's theme in mind when selecting the flowers, filler and foliage for your arrangement.
• Some of the best plant material can be grown right in your own garden: calendula, candytuft, cosmos, dahlias, zinnias, asters, baby's breath, chrysanthemums and roses.
• Fillers are plant materials and foliage used to hide plant stems, the container's edge and most importantly, the oasis.
• You can use seed pods, grass heads, berries, interesting-looking branches from shrubs like spirea, juniper, honeysuckle or anything else that will look good in your arrangement.
• Remember to ask permission first before you take plant material from your parent's garden. Ask them to show you how to 'prune' the branch that you wish to take from a shrub.
• Even carrot greens and asparagus fern leaves will make excellent filler.
• Cedar and pine twigs look interesting but they can cause some flowers to wilt. If you intend to use them put them in a jar with a couple of spare conditioned flowers for a few days to see if they react to each other.
• You can also find great flowers and plant material in fields and along the side of the road: Queen Anne's lace, goldenrod, white yarrow, sweet clover, daisies and buttercups.

4 RULES WHEN SEARCHING FOR PLANT MATERIAL:

1. Ask an adult to accompany you along roadsides searches.
2. Watch out for Poison Ivy and other toxic plants.
3. Always wash your hands thoroughly after handling wild plant material.
4. NEVER PUT ANY WILD PLANT IN YOUR MOUTH.

Related Articles: Flower Arrangement Themes Shaping Your Arrangement Supporting Flower Arrangements Dried Flower Arrangements Preserving Flowers