For our July/August 2024 issue, Sybil Sylvester, FLOWER contributing editor and owner of Wildflower Designs, created five, lush, English garden-inspired arrangements including a classical bust. In this video, she shares tips for making a bust arrangement that appears to be growing from the container’s head.
Sybil says, “I call this my ‘wild man.’ He’s like a piece of statuary overgrown with vines and wildflowers that you might come across in an abandoned garden.”
1. Consider wheat grass. When working with an tricky vessel with an unusual shape—or as in this case with a metal pipe in the center—wheat grass makes a great floral mechanic. You can purchase it at many grocers or order from a floral wholesaler. Cut it to shape using a serated knife and place it in your container. Sybil notes that it only stays green and pretty for a couple of days.
2. Use water tubes. Fill each tube with fresh water and apply its rubber cap. Sybil uses scissors to snip a hole in the cap so it can hold larger stems or even more than one stem. Once your stems are in the water tube, you can easily poke them into the wheat grass base. For this arrangement she placed pansies, clematis vines, tweedia, and muscari in water tubes.
3. Mix and match. Even though this bust arrangement has a singular color story with its shades of blue and violet, the flowers came from multiple sources. String of dolphins plants (Senecio peregrinus) were purchased at a local nursery. Sybil took the plants out of their pots and poked them into the grass base, creating tendrils around the face. The pansies were foraged from pots behind her house, while the clematis, tweedia, and muscari were purchased from a wholesale florist.
Don’t miss Sybil’s floral design principles and four more gorgeous arrangements!
Photo by David Hillegas
“I call this my ‘wild man,’ ” laughs Sybil. “He’s like a piece of statuary overgrown with vines and wildflowers that you might come across in an abandoned garden.”
Video by Nicole Haas
Special thanks to Hiltz-Lauber. Find more info on their website and follow along on Instagram.
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