Best in Blooms May 2021
As finalists, the four designers featured on these pages recieved cut flowers from premier plant breeder Ball SB, BallSB.com and containers of their choice from a collection by burton + BURTON, BurtonAndBurton.com to create these designs.
We thank our judges Jill Brooke, FlowerPowerDaily.com and Beth O’Reilly, AIFD, CFD, TMF, BethOReilly.net for helping us choose a winner and Cristina Lopez, @LaFioreriabogota for curating the flowers for BallSB. It was a difficult choice because all finalaists” did an execellent job, with each design having its own unique brand of magic.
Each finalist shared his or her inspiration for his/her design in addition to creating a video. Video links below.
Sponsored by
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwtc6HWKJUs[/embedyt]
Meet the winner and semi-finalists in the inaugural edition of Florists’ Reviews bi-monthly floral design contest Best in Blooms
Jean-Pascal Lemire
Jean-Pascal Florist Studio
Los Angeles, Calif.
@jeanpascalflorist | jeanpascallemire.com
Lemire receives a $500 credit with Ball SB
and a feature in Florists’ Review in an upcoming issue.
The challenge was to use the flowers provided to represent the four elements—earth, water, fire and air. I chose the clear vase with crystalline cut shapes to represent the earth’s deepest energy emanating from its core. The clear vase allows the spiral technique used on the stems to show, representing water as it flows around the world. Then from my own supply, I chose wheat, being the most consumed product in the world, to represent the surface of the earth and its bounty. I used the wheat as a natural anchor and placed lily grass and Bupleurum to give the entire shape movement, like wind blowing across a field.
Rising up to create the sky is blue Delphinium, with fluffy white clouds represented by white larkspurs and light-yellow spray stocks, which also bring light to the arrangement and act as a balance between all the colors. Finally, to create a pop of drama and fire, I placed yellow billy buttons to stick out like the sun, the origin of fire and life, to bring the arrangement to its finale.
Ana Isabel Vivas
Aniska Creations
Miami, Fla.
@aniskascreations
aniskacreations.com
BOTANICALS
- Delphinium elatum ‘Triton Series Dark Blue’ (larkspur)
- Helianthus annuus ‘ProCut Series White Lite’ (sunflower)
- Brassica oleracea ‘White Lady’ (flowering kale)
- Pycnosorus globosus [formerly Craspedia globosa] (billy button, drumstick)
- Bupleurum rotundifolium ‘Graffiti’ (thoroughwax, hare’s ear)
OTHER BOTANICALS
- Allium nigrum (black garlic, broad- leaved onion/garlic)
- Genista /Cytisus spp. (flowering broom)
- Astilbe japonica (false goat’s beard, false spirea/Spiraea, florist’s spirea/ Spiraea)
- Jasminum officinale vine (poet’s jasmine, poet’s jessamine)
CONTAINER FROM: burton + BURTON
- 8” Brown Glass Vase (9738874)
Leatal Cohen
Pic and Petal,
Brooklyn, NY
@picandpetal
picandpetal.com
For this project, I knew I wanted to create an installation rather than a flower arrangement in a vase. When I saw the flowers from Ball SB, I immediately noticed a color story—tons of yellow and complementary hues of the blue and purple. I wasn’t sure what story I was going to tell until the day before I got the flowers, when one of my brides shared with me her vision for her wedding. She had to cancel her original wedding in 2020 because of the pandemic, and she told me that she wanted to evoke the theme of “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” So, I decided to create a flower installation to represent her lemons/lemonade idea. I created a floating “lemonade pitcher” pouring out the “lemonade” of bright, vibrant yellow flowers onto the table and overflowing off of it, to represent us coming together as a society, and I used the cool hues of the purple stocks, Delphinium, eggplant and purple potatoes to represent the darker days of the pandemic.
I created the “flow” of flowers from the pitcher to the table using chicken wire. I arranged some stems to mimic how the “lemonade” might hit the table and create a “splash.” I also worked with color transition, placing the lighter, less-saturated yellows in the top of the design and the deeper, more-saturated yellows toward the base, to create visual movement and flow.
- Matthiola incana (stock, gillyflower)
- Helianthus annuus (sunflower)
- Antirrhinum majus (snapdragon)
- Pycnosorus globosus [formerly Craspedia globosa] (billy button, drumstick)
- Hybrid Delphinium x grandiflorum ‘Trick’
- Hybrid Delphinium x grandiflorum ‘Sunshine’ (spray Delphinium)
- Brassica oleracea ‘Dream Series Dream Red’ (flowering kale)
- Bupleurum rotundifolium ‘Graffiti’ (thoroughwax, hare’s ear)
OTHER BOTANICALS
- Lathyrus odoratus (sweet pea)
- Amaranthus caudatus (love-lies-bleeding, tassel flower, foxtail amaranth)
- Citrus limon (lemon)
- Solanum tuberosum (purple potato)
- Solanum melongena (eggplant)
CONTAINER FROM burton + BURTON
- Galvanized Metal Embossed Pitcher (9727465)
Annelise Rothe
Simply Petals by Annelise,
Highlands Ranch, Colo
@simplypetalsflowers
simplypetals.flowers
Next, I wanted to represent the lushness of the Earth, which I did with the stock, Bupleurum and flow- ering kale. Then, to complete the fire and air elements, I used snapdragons, sunflowers and billy buttons to represent flames flickering up opposite of the water. I used the shapes of the snapdragons to represent the wind/air moving the fire upward.
BOTANICALS FROM BALL SB
- Delphinium elatum ‘Triton Series Dark Blue’ (larkspur)
- Helianthus annuus ‘ProCut Series White Lite’ (sunflower)
- Brassica oleracea ‘White Lady’ (flowering kale)
- Pycnosorus globosus [formerly Craspedia globosa] (billy button, drumstick)
- Bupleurum rotundifolium ‘Graffiti’ (thoroughwax, hare’s ear)
OTHER BOTANICALS
- Allium nigrum (black garlic, broad-leaved onion/garlic)
- Genista spp./Cytisus spp. (flowering broom)
- Astilbe japonica (false goat’s beard, false spirea/Spiraea, florist’s spirea/Spiraea)
- Jasminum officinale vine (poet’s jasmine, poet’s jessamine)
CONTAINER FROM burton + BURTON
- 8” Brown Glass Vase (9738874)
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