Whether you're dining alfresco and need a centerpiece for the table or are simply taking advantage of the flowers blooming in your garden, we're sharing eight beautiful and inspiring summer flower-arranging ideas from floral designers with enviable talents. Here, their tips for putting together creations that look elegant and effortless.
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1
The Bright & Cheerful Arrangement
Christin Geall
This happy arrangement, created by Cultivated's Christin Geall and student Becky Feasby, combines watermelon-pink hollyhocks, snapdragons, Agastache, and dahlias with nicotiana, hops, zinnias, hydrangeas, and clematis vines from Geall's cutting garden. "If there's a time to make use of your garden and local farm product, it's summer," says Geall. "Remember to strip all the leaves from your flowers to slow transpiration and prevent wilting, and give your homegrown blooms a long drink before arranging."
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2
The Layered & Loose Arrangement
India Hobson
"Bud vases of various shapes and sizes are great for summer dinner parties," says Florence Kennedy of Petalon, the London-based studio that delivers by bike (could there be a more charming way to receive flowers?). "They're effective without taking up too much table space, and adding decorative, seasonal berries and citrus to the table gives it a really decadent feel." This lovely tablescape's arrangements use seasonal flowers like marigolds, dahlias, blackberries, garden roses, sweet pea tendrils, achillea, cosmos, and geraniums.
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3
The Wild & Whimsical Arrangement
Mary Ellen LaFreniere
Mary Ellen LaFreniere of Steel Cut Flower Co., the Maryland- and Virginia-based design studio, made her first bouquet at the age of four on the flower farm where she grew up. Her natural creation here boasts de-petaled sunflowers, coneflowers, Queen Anne's lace, clematis vine, and hosta and heuchera leaves. "Less is often more," says LaFreniere. "Be wary of things that compete for the same space or texture—each flower should have its own unique role in the arrangement. Editing is so important as the last step."
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4
The Bold & Graphic Arrangement
Sophia Moreno-Bunge
Emily Thompson of Emily Thompson Flowers let the acid green and sharp blue lead the way for this eye-catching arrangement. Her advice when creating a seasonal moment with blooms? "Observe the landscape around you and invert it into the vase," she says. "In the summer, I love to make meadows." Here, she used heuchera leaves, baby persimmons, wild smilax vine, and forget-me-nots. "Forget-me-nots hold a place of memory for the viewer," notes Thompson. "They are the tiny treasures that bridge the meadow and the woodland."
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5
The Warm & Inviting Arrangement
India Hobson
Anna Potter, the brains and creativity behind Swallows & Damsons, captures the spirit of summer with this friendly arrangement. "The heat browned some of the spring foliage into beautiful rust tones, and the golden colors were all around in the garden and echoed the season’s warmth," says U.K.-based Potter. "Let go of preconceived ideas of beauty, and be led by the qualities of each flower—the bends, the textures, the irregularities that make designing with flowers so incredibly magical." For more floral inspiration from Swallows & Damsons, Potter's book, The Flower Fix, is available to preorder.
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6
The Shapely & Romantic Arrangement
Emily Avenson
Fleuropean's Emily Avenson's current inspiration? The Dutch masters, specifically Rachel Ruysch. This ombré, asymmetrical centerpiece is an elegant reflection of the season and that style--it features pale nude and pink perennial hollyhocks, Café au Lait dahlias, Double Click rose bi-color cosmos, Zinderella Lilac zinnias, Winchester Cathedral roses, wisteria branches, and heuchera leaves. The subtle hues of the hollyhocks were the starting point of this color palette for Belgium-based Avenson. "The hollyhocks have a very nice vertical habit, perfect for building a three-dimensional arrangement like this one," she says. "Unlike the hollyhocks most people are familiar with (which wilt within minutes of cutting), these hollyhock hybrids last forever in a vase."
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7
The Playful & Sunny Arrangement
Natalie Bowen
Natalie Bowen, founder of the San Francisco-based Natalie Bowen Designs, grew up influenced by other flower-lovers--her mother is a garden designer, and her grandmother ran the flower shop at the Fairmont Hotel, among others, during the 1940's. For this happy arrangement, Bowen wanted blooms that felt approachable. "Keep the flowers layered so that the overall profile and shape is not too heavy," says Bowen. "Also, choose a fun bloom that adds a playful element, such as the cosmos in this arrangement."
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8
The Monochromatic & Lush Arrangement
Lacie Hansen
"I always think texture creates a lot of interest, especially when working with neutrals," says floral designer Jenn Sanchez. "I tell people to choose what calls to them, not what they think is expected. Sometimes that may be clippings from your garden or several bunches of a single flower variety that caught your eye at the market." Southern California-based Sanchez maintains that inspiration is everywhere. If she could create a floral arrangement for anyone? Bob Dylan. "The main ingredients that come to mind for him are native desert flowers such as cacti blooms, cassia, and grasses. Some wonderfully bizarre piece that breaks all the rules yet somehow makes sense, just like Bob."
Rachael Burrow is the Style Director at VERANDA, covering the latest design and market trends, from jewelry to fashion, tabletop to furnishings, and everything in between.