Arranging natural materials creatively requires knowledge of balance and proportion. Some people seem to have natural instincts in this area, but the skills can be learned from floral arranging books.
1. Droopers (Spillers)
While there are many places/ways to start, I usually start with the hanging material to cover the edges of the pot. These have to be set in almost horizontally as the cedar in the above image. You want it to droop gracefully and cover the edges of the pot.
- Spanish broom
- pine
-spruce branches
- cedar
- cedar
2.Uprights (Thrillers)
Sometimes if I have interesting tall materials I arrange them first to establish height and then work out and down. Thrillers are always tall and act as the apex of the triangle design.
- dried goats beard stalks
- corkscrew hazel
- yellow - twig dogwood, red dogwood
- spirea with dried seed heads
- forsythia stalks (which are very light and work well with dogwood branches)
-birch sticks
-birch sticks
3. Fillers
Once these two aspects have been arranged you need to fill our the arrangement (fillers) by applying the branches at roughly 45 degrees. I have lots of possibilities in my garden:
- boxwood
-yellow mound cedar
- holly
- blue spruce
- rhododendron leaves
- dried hydrangea blooms
These are the final touches that hightlight and brighten your arrangements. The sky is the limit here.
- sprayed grapevine spheres
- brightly coloured plastic ornaments
- wooden Santas
- plastic ribbons
- plastic Christmas flowers
- artificial birds
-woven twig stars
-toys
- small colourful lanterns
- large sphere shaped ornaments
- ribbons
- artificial birds
-woven twig stars
-toys
- small colourful lanterns
- large sphere shaped ornaments
- ribbons
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