Young-at-heart Roses

A modern and youthful approach to arranging a dozen red roses for Valentine’s Day

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

Wow your customers this Valentine’s Day with a creative approach to an arrangement of a dozen roses. Many consumers don’t know there are alternative ways to arrange roses beyond the traditional vase arrangements, so this design provides an opportunity for you to offer a more artistic, contemporary and youth-appealing option.

This concept is also extremely versatile: The design can be presented as a wrapped bouquet or placed into a vase, and it can easily expanded upon (and upsold!) with the addition of a stem or two of orchids, a plush bear with arms wrapped around the vase, or even a valentine adornment (or an engagement ring!) in the center. Did you know that Valentine’s Day is the most popular single day for couples to get engaged? (The Christmas season, specifically Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, however, see more engagements, collectively).

The heart-shaped armatures can be prepared in advance, providing a beneficial jump-start to the design process, and hand-tied bouquets are among the fastest types of designs to construct. As you can see, this design idea offers many positive attributes and assets, so make a sample design, along with an upgraded version or two; photograph them beautifully and promote them on your website and social media platforms; and get ready for overwhelming customer response.

STEP BY STEP

Step 1

Randomly and tightly wrap silver aluminum wire around and across the opening of a grapevine heart wreath to create a haphazard crisscross “grid.”

Step 2

Using the spiral hand-tied bouquet construction technique, arrange three stems of Hydrangea through the wire grid, in the center of the heart wreath, to cover most of the interior of the heart shape.

Step 3

Arrange stems of Cocculus and/or Italian Ruscus behind the Hydrangea, keeping portions of the heart wreath visible.

Step 4

Arrange 12 roses diagonally through the center of the design at varying levels, to create depth.

Step 5

Arrange stems of Limonium and Eryngium throughout the design, adding contrasting colors and textures.

Step 6

Securely bind the stems on the underside of the bouquet using your preferred binding material—a chenille stem (my choice), stem wrap, floral binding tape, raffia, paper-covered wire, etc. Wrap and tie a length of ribbon around the binding point to camouflage the binding material and add a professional finished look. Recut all flower and foliage stems, and place the bouquet into an appropriate container such as a cylinder vase.