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Back to Nature
Back to Nature |
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Written by Karen Hall
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Florists are Being Inspired by the Simplicity of Spring
Spring is just around the corner and many Canadian
florists agree that customers are looking for a simple, natural look
this season. According to Joyce Purcell, a designer at Cameron’s
Flower Shop in Kitchener, Ont., although some customers still ask for
mixed spring flowers, the trend today is towards one type of flower in
one colour.
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| According to Joyce Purcell of Cameron's Flower Shop in Kitchener, Ont., bouquets of one type of flower in one colour are becoming a popular spring trend. |
“People will occasionally mix a couple of colours, but I think the monochromatic look really appeals to a lot of people,” she says. “It catches your eye and it’s not as busy. It’s simple. And most people ask for all gerberas or all tulips. Gerberas are very trendy and they are so versatile. You have so many colours to choose from and there are so many things you can do with them. For example, just having one sitting in a dish with a little bit of beargrass is just as attractive as having two dozen of them in a vase.”
And more popular than ever is the tulip. According to Purcell, next to the rose it’s probably one of the most requested flowers.
Patti Custaloe, co-owner of Creations By Mom & Me in Kelowna, B.C., agrees with Purcell and says the reason tulips are so popular is because the trend seems to be going to more of a natural look.
“They are a very natural flower,” she says. “You don’t want to put a lot with them anymore.” The design styles today are low, very natural, and more compact, Custaloe adds.
“They are not so rigid and designed, so to speak,” she says. “We’re using a lot of different things like rocks, twigs, and grasses, and we have a lot of customers requesting square containers, low containers, low flowers, very natural, and not so much the one-sided taller show arrangements. They want to spend their money and do something in more of a modern contemporary style.”
Sandra Miller, manager/designer at Paul’s Flower Shop in St. John, N.B., has also found that low dishes and simple arrangements are what customers want this spring.
“We have a bunch of glass vases that are long and rectangular and customers want to lay single stems of flowers in them, like a stem of oncidium orchids for instance,” she says. “There are rocks or marbles on the bottom of the vase and it’s very dramatic. A lot of people are decorating with vases of single flowers instead of a whole bunch of mixed flowers, but people are even doing vases of just curly willow, for example.”
Purcell has found there’s a trend towards having just greenery in a vase. “You could have a great big leaf in a vase or a few twigs in a vase and there’s not a flower in sight,” she says. “It’s those simple lines and going back to nature (that people like).”
What are also popular this spring, Purcell says, are glass vases. “People like glass,” she says. “It gives a whole different look to a dozen tulips, a single gerbera, or a dozen gerberas. The glass with the water and a few pebbles on the bottom with a little bit of wispy beargrass coming out the top, for example, is sort of like we’re going back to the earth. It gives an interesting look.”
According to Custaloe, many of her customers today are more interested in the creativity of the overall look as opposed to just the flowers that are used.
“One of my designers recently did an arrangement where she used a single stem of orchids, put in bamboo and braided beargrass, and wrapped it around the vase with it sort of spiralling down. It was very interesting,” she says. “And customers want you to be creative with larger leaves, like folding, tying or braiding them. A lot of people really appreciate that kind of art more than they appreciate the flowers themselves. It’s more of the presentation, the time, and the creativity that's involved in making it.”
So when it comes to colours, what’s going to be hot this spring? Custaloe says different tones of green are very popular, including lime green, fresh green, hydrangea green, and mint green. Purcell has found the oranges, yellows and reds to be the trend.
“People really seem to love those warm colours,” she says. “Somebody said to me the other day that our eyes are the window to our souls. And at this time of year, maybe our souls need warming.”
Miller agrees with both, and says it’s the greens, hot pinks, and oranges that are popular today.
“Magazines show home décor is still the neutral colours and a lot of the same tones, and then there’s the punch of colour in your flowers,” she says.
Purcell adds that people's home décor has a big bearing on what flowers customers will buy.
“That is very powerful in the design business today,” she says. “The décor of people’s homes really does cast the shadow on what we can sell to a customer.”
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