I have many custom arrangements on my website, each created for a specific customer as a one-of-a-kind work of floral art. Each can be almost but not quite reproduced, depending on the season and the specific blossoms and plants available from growers. The important concept here is “not quite.” Why is that important?
Plants and their flowers are unique in the same way that individual people are unique – similar to each other but not identically the same. At first glance, all red roses might look the same, but upon closer examination, and a little relaxed contemplation, the small details that make each blossom unique gradually reveal themselves.
A challenge and joy of designing art with freshly cut flowers is the variability of Nature – within each species and variety of flowers. Natural botanical variability includes subtle differences of shade or hue within each color variety; a range of textures of blossoms and leaves within a single species; and differences in size, position, and shape of individual flowers of the same type. By carefully selecting and blending from the range of individually available floral components, a good designer creates an arrangement that conveys harmony and balance, but that is unique rather than identical to a similar bouquet made from the same – but different – individual components.
When someone looks at a beautiful photograph and purchases a flower arrangement – essentially a sculpture created from natural parts of living plants – it is not the photograph being purchased. Rather, the purchase is a unique composition portrayed at a single moment in its life by the photographer. Unlike photographs, freshly cut flowers are not frozen in time. The blossoms can open and close, respond to light and temperature, drink water, and visually change over periods of minutes or days. For example, an iris blossom can be completely closed in a floral cooler, and nearly fully open by the time a bouquet is fully assembled an hour after the blossom is removed from the cooler. Some flowers open more slowly and are chosen by the florist to fill design space as they mature and reveal themselves in their fully open glory.
Floral design clearly takes into consideration color themes and flower blends, shapes, and the flow of the overall visual effect. It also takes into account two additional important elements of good design – the natural variability of Nature, and the passage of time as flowers mature and change with age. So, trust the designer; the design is intentional; and the variability is an essential aspect of floral beauty.
Enjoy my creations and keep on blooming!
