By Heather Shoning
HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS are a fun and festive way to decorate your home
Photo By Nick Sparks Photography | Juniper & Honey Designs
Fresh flowers are a lovely addition to the home any time of the year—they bring joy, color and fragrance. And they are a gorgeous way to decorate—or supplement your decorations—for the holidays. You can make the arrangements yourself if you’re feeling creative and have the time or visit your favorite florist to order the perfect combination of bouquets, centerpieces, garlands and wreaths.
“When creating a holiday arrangement, it is important your flower selection represents your desired color scheme,” says Anastasia Ovanessoff, Juniper & Honey Designs owner. “One of my favorite holiday color combinations is deep red, blush and forest greens. You can also incorporate holiday ornaments to add festive flare to your floral display.”
If Christmas is not your holiday, or you’d like to keep your arrangements a bit more neutral, Kim Zimmerman, owner of Rowdy Poppy, suggests muted color palettes. “This looks like deep chestnut, warm bronze, straw, ivory and white, and silvery grays and greens,” she says. “This is also a great opportunity to utilize all the flowers we’ve been drying from our growing season: strawflower, dahlias, roses, celosia, grasses, poppy pods, various thistles and more.” In addition to being a floral designer, Zimmerman and her wife, Michelle, operate a fully sustainable farm. During the growing season, the arrangements they make are primarily from the flowers grown onsite.
Both pros agree that more traditional floral designs include primary and secondary blooms plus fillers and foliage. “Primary flowers are blooms with bigger faces, such as roses, and secondary flowers are smaller-faced blooms, such as ranunculus,” Ovanessoff says. “Filler flowers can be blooms such as baby’s breath or astilbe, and foliage can be a mix of seasonal greenery such as pine and eucalyptus.”
Photo By Nick Sparks Photography | Juniper & Honey Designs
Perhaps you want your floral displays to have a modern twist. “Maybe you adore amaryllis in the winter; you could arrange a vase with 20 stems of deep red amaryllis to really catch the eye,” Zimmerman says. “Want more impact? Design three vases, each with only one type or color of bloom, and cluster them as a centerpiece.”
If you’re planning multiple arrangements throughout your entertaining areas, you want to create some continuity. Ovanessoff recommends using the same foliage and fillers in each arrangement, then using an assortment of other flowers to mix and match. Another way to ensure a cohesive look is with color. “Having a plethora of petite arrangements or budvases is a beautiful way to uplift a space. I would focus on one color and use as many different blooms and textures as I could to reinforce it,” Zimmerman says.
Photos courtesy of ROUDY POPPY
If you’re ready to try your hand at making holiday arrangements, Rowdy Poppy offers classes, including seasonal centerpieces in November and wreath-making workshops in November and early December. “We partner with our friends at The Infinite Monkey Theorem each year to use their large event space and fill it to the brim with fresh evergreens,” Zimmerman says. “Classes run approximately two hours and include all instruction, tools, wreath base, greens and accents needed.” She also notes there’s music, libations, snacks and tons of holiday spirit!
Photo By Nick Sparks Photography | Juniper & Honey Designs
Juniper & Honey Designs
1460 S. Broadway, Denver
303.722.7926
juniperandhoneydesigns.com
Rowdy Poppy
303.346.2256
rowdypoppy.com