What to Do With Just a Few Blooms: Ode to the Calla Lily

It never ceases to amaze…the great lift fresh flowers give to both spirit and surrounding. Better news still is that you don’t need to blow your pedicure budget to get the effect.

Take a look at the power of just a few blooms (here the calla) to brighten your desk, your night stand, your kitchen sink or a chest in your center hallway or living room. Though I’m using the calla lily, you can just as easily work with lilies, dendrobium orchids or just about any flower you love, using one or all of tips below.

The tricks to working with too few blooms:

• Go Asymmetrical or Go Home.  Borrow from Asian floral design theory. Asymmetry done well has enough weight to hold and entertain the eye.

•  Add Clear Stones or Pebbles.  This great trick will  fill out your vase, give your blooms some lift, and provide more eye candy to your arrangement in total. The look will be high end (not high cost.)

•  Reduce the Size of Your Vase or Container!  I’m amazed when I see people trying to fill a “too-large-vase” with “too few” flowers. The look is anemic. Here, with only three blooms and some filler, a petite 4” vase provides the perfect vessel for this eye-catching little arrangement. It has been sitting on my desk here in the design studio and every staff member who has seen it has been drawn to it.

Fresh flowers are a gift and a treat. Particularly after a long, gray east coast winter…they provide welcome relief! Let yourself indulge.