Elevated Statement Centerpiece

Large flower arrangements and installations are made easier with the sturdy new OASIS^® Event Saddle

Floral design, photos, video and text by Nita Robertson, AIFD, CFD

Presented by Smithers-Oasis North America

The new OASIS^® Event Saddle provides a stable foundation for abundant flower arrangements for everyday and event work—and even sympathy and memorial designs. The sturdy saddles can accommodate one or two bricks of OASIS^® Floral Foam Maxlife, one OASIS^® Grande Brick (equal to two bricks of floral foam) and even an OASIS^® Designer Block, and they can support designs up to 50 pounds and 50 inches in length. In addition, holes in bases of the saddles make it easy to attach the saddles to any structure, enabling the creation of flower installations of all types. For this feature, I chose the Event Saddle as the bedrock for this large, elevated centerpiece.

STEP BY STEP

Step 1

Soak an OASIS^® Midnight Floral Foam Maxlife Grande Brick (equal to two bricks of foam) in properly proportioned FloraLife^® Express Universal 300 vase nutrient solution until it is fully saturated. Then, place the floral foam brick into an OASIS® Event Saddle and secure it with OASIS^® Midnight Waterproof Tape.

Step 2

Place the event saddle atop a riser or stand. For security, wire the saddle to the metal stand with OASIS^™ Bind Wire, using the holes on the four corners of the base of the saddle. You can do this easily on site.

Step 3

Arrange branches of weeping Podocarpus to establish the shape and size of the arrangement.

Step 4

Arrange Monstera leaves at the edges of the design, to contrast with the weeping Podocarpus, and then arrange sunflowers, to create the focal area of the arrangement. Follow those placements with stems of free-form butterfly Ranunculus and tulips, to create additional dimension and depth.

Step 5

Finish the main arrangement by placing stems of Watsonia, Viburnum, Boronia, Astilbe and bleached preserved fern, as well as additional butterfly Ranunculus and tulips.

Step 6

To adorn the lower portion of the stand and add interest at tabletop level, first fill two OASIS^®Water Picks or OASIS^®Water Tubes with FloraLife^® Express Universal 300 nutrient solution. Next, attach the water tubes to the lower portions of one front leg and one back leg of the metal stand with OASIS^® UGLU^™ Adhesive Dashes. For additional security, bind the water tubes to the legs of the stand with OASIS^™ Bind Wire. Place OASIS^® UGLU^™ Adhesive Dashes onto the water tubes, and then cover the water tubes with moss. Further secure the moss to the water tubes with wrappings of OASIS^™ Bullion Wire. Place a few stems of flowers into each water tube (I used peony-flowered tulips and kangaroo paws).

Step 7

To create accent arrangements for the tabletop, first place a small metal pin frog into each of two cylinder wine glasses, and then arrange a few stems of flowers into each wine glass (I used tulips and, to cover the pin frogs, Viburnum blooms). Further adorn the tabletop with votive candles—and additional wine-glass arrangements, if desired.