Kissed by Frost

“When available foliages aren’t quite right for a wintry aesthetic, shifting the color can provide just the right look”

Winter weddings offer floral designers an opportunity to create a special romantic aesthetic unlike that of any other season. And green foliage, in its natural state, can be inconsistent with that feeling, but a light kiss of “frost” can give those everyday foliages an ethereal wintry look. To achieve that, floral designer Susan McLeary dusted rabbit’s-foot fern, Clematis foliage and plume grass with DESIGN MASTER color tool’s “Crema” übermatte® Spray Finish, which, she says “ is perfect for winter weddings.”

When natural gray-hued foliages, like dusty miller (Senecio), mugwort (Artemisia), sage (Salvia) and lamb’s ears (Stachys), aren’t available, and evergreens like silver fir aren’t quite right for the look you’re creating, McLeary recommends selecting just the right foliage for the design and employing this color shifting technique.

“I love the look of frosty green foliages, especially when paired with white, lavender and silvery flowers such as the ‘Early Grey’ roses and Clematis blooms in this bouquet, so I appreciate being able to create my own magical, dreamy foliages by dusting them with übermatte “Crema.”

Step 1

Lightly spray the rabbit’s-foot fern, Clematis foliage and plume grass with übermatte “Crema” to create a frost-kissed look. Wire and take the painted grasses, ‘Early Grey’ roses and carnations.

Step 2

Tape the wired-and-taped carnations together to create long multibloom floral “spikes.”

Step 3

Construct the bouquet using the classic spiral hand-tying technique, arranging the roses, carnation spikes, lupine, Clematis foliage and grass first. Finish the bouquet by adding the delicate Clematis blooms and rabbit’s-foot fern, bits of which can be glued into the bouquet with liquid floral adhesive, and manipulate the carnation spikes to cascade downward.