Rachel Johnson of Dreamscape Florals loves the unexpected when creating organic farm-to-table looks. Emphasis on farm. She counts The Flower Farm in Arlington as a favorite micro-farm in the city for flowers. These arrangements also include a harvest from the Cordova International Farmer’s Market and a trip through a friend’s home garden.
“If all flowers are on the same, flat visual plane, there isn’t as much visual interest. I use vegetables in all forms to add shadows and color play,” says Rachel. The result is a beautiful still life with tomato vine, gourds, sweet corn, heirloom okra and snap beans. She wired turnips to connect a visual line between the magenta celosia and purple cabbage.
Micro-farms in Memphis are growing flowers you can’t get wholesale. “More delicate flowers like cosmos and zinnias don’t travel well. I find the colors are more vibrant and varied, and it’s a lower carbon footprint,” Rachel explains.
“The flowers that you can buy locally and straight from our farmers tend to have more variety in unique characteristics—from stem shape to color—from flower to flower. I find that this natural edge gives more personality to my flower arrangements—making them more like living sculptures,” she adds.
Variegated snap beans and wild grass add to the rhythm in the arrangement. “I like the florals to appear floating up to kiss the sun like a flower naturally would,” Rachel muses.
Mimsie Crump, who dabbles in flowers for fun (and sometimes for hire), is an ally of the grocery store floral stalwart - the Carnation. “You can easily manipulate them by opening them up to look like a totally different flower. And they also last for about 100 years,” she highlights. She makes it look deceptively easy to make stunning, traditional arrangements with a short trip the grocery.
“My motto is make the flowers do the work for you, so that you don’t have to,” says Mimsie. When working with grocery store flowers, it’s best to stick with three to five types of flowers since you are buying in larger quantities, she advises.
“The simplest way is to start with a large background flower, like the hydrangea or the rose, in each of these arrangements. You would then follow up with smaller accent flowers,” adds Mimsie. “Figs and artichokes act as a smaller accent component with the hydrangeas and mums. Adding greenery creates softness. But it could also be a flower, such as Lisianthus, a branch of Japanese maple from your backyard or even basil with the lemon and rose mound. Look for something that has a lot of movement.”
And when the grocery store flowers are looking a little tired? “A quick run through the produce section adds some color, texture and playfulness - perfect for a dinner party,” notes Mimsie.