Floral Design Lesson 3: Contemporary Design

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David Pippin

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In the first two articles of this floral-design series, we’ve covered gathering the right tools and materials, and plant selection and conditioning. Now it’s time for the fun part – creating your design. If you’re drawn to the contemporary look, give this one a try:

Contemporary Design - Step 1

Secure a 1/3-block of wet floral foam in a watertight container with waterproof floral tape. (I wrap the tape around the container to make sure it’s secure.)

Photo Credit: David Pippin

Contemporary Design - Step 2

Establish your arrangement’s height with some type of line material. In this particular design, I’ve used a pineapple leaf, but you can choose whatever you’d like. Other possible choices for your line are yucca leaves, birch branches or Sansevieria.

Photo Credit: David Pippin

Contemporary Design - Step 3

Establish your arrangement’s width with other types of foliage. I like large, glossy Fatsia leaves, which I’ve used here. Then I filled in the rest of the foam with Pittosporum. But this can also be done with a variety of other foliage types, like salal (lemon leaves), croton and ferns.

Photo Credit: David Pippin

Contemporary Design - Step 4

Choose an interesting flower for you focal point. Lilies work well as focal flowers. Other good focal blooms are gerbera daisies, sunflowers, spider mums, Protea, and Cattleya and Cymbidium orchids.

Photo Credit: David Pippin

Contemporary Design - Step

Add second filler foliage to the arrangement, like arborvitae. I like using a variety of foliage for added interest and a combination of textures. For other interesting foliage that holds up well in cut arrangements, try boxwood, euonymus and Nandina.

Photo Credit: David Pippin

Contemporary Design - Step

Accentuate the foliage lines by adding some line flowers like larkspur. I’ve also filled in the arrangement with some larkspur buds. Other good line flowers include Liatris, snapdragons, Delphinium and gladiolus.

Photo Credit: David Pippin

And there you have it. Check your arrangement daily and add water as needed – then enjoy!

Tips

You don’t need the exact plants I’ve used to make this contemporary arrangement. Give other plants a try and see what you like best.
Keeping your beautiful creation in a cool location will increase the longevity of the arrangement.

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Next Steps

Articles

Floral Design Lesson 1: Materials and Tools
If you’ve ever looked at a beautiful centerpiece and told yourself you could never make anything like that, then wake up and smell the floral arrangement! Professional designer David Pippin is just a click away from getting you started in the world of floral design.
Floral Design Lesson 2: Growing, Buying and Conditioning
You’ve got your clippers, wires and scissors in your toolbox – now you need the major design “tool” – the plants. Professional designer David Pippin takes his floral-design series to the next step: growing and conditioning the stems you’re about to arrange.
Floral Design Lesson 4: “Look Mom – No Flowers” Design
You don’t always need flowers to create a beautiful arrangement. In his fourth lesson in arranging, professional designer David Pippin shows how to create a beautiful centerpiece without a bloom in sight.

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