Floral Art or Flower Arranging is all a bit of a mystery to me. I don’t get much further than plonking a bunch of flowers in a vase and tweaking them a bit so when I see the displays that people like David Denyer create I am quite awe-struck.
This year David, an Interflora florist, is creating a display at Chelsea Flower Show entitled ‘Sense of Perspective’. Reading his blog posts gives you a sense of the work that goes into such an undertaking. Many of us are aware of the months of preparation that go into the showgardens but the florists, and nurserymen, have similar dilemmas and decisions to make just on a slightly smaller scale.
The display will be built on a base 7×3 metres which to me seems very large for a flower display!! It will be based around a series of nine grey doorways which stand on end creating a slight curve which will flow over the space. The flowers used to decorate the doorways will graduate through the doorways from hot orange through deep reds, purples to paler lemon and lime green. It sounds like it is going to have a very contemporary feel to it with the strong flower colours against the grey doors and white base.
David says he is keen to introduce some less well-known flower to visitors so as well as the usual carnations and roses there will be orange gloriosa, leucospermums and heleconia she-cong!!
What really intrigued me reading David’s blog posts was the amount of work and thought that has had to go into working out how to mount the floral foam and how they will keep it moist. It sounds like a lot of engineering has been employed and I wonder how many visitors, when looking at the display, will even consider how its done.
I will be at the Chelsea show ground on Friday and Saturday helping with the planting of one of the showgardens so I will try to have a peek and see how David’s display, is coming on. I’m sure if all the planning and practising is anything to go by it should be a stunning display certainly better than anything I could do!!
Photos courtesy of Interflora