Flowering Dragonwood Branches

Flowering branches are beautiful and popular, but they have a short season and last no longer than any other fresh flower. If you want flowering branches during the off season, or for an application where you need them to last a while, the real thing is not an option.

Here's a window display of flowering branches created using Dragonwood Branches, specifically poles and forks, and faux flower stems.

The displays are very graceful, fitting the space beautifully. Upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that the beautiful form was created using individual pieces of Dragonwood trees combined with numerous faux flower stems.

It seems the designers of these window displays, like Impressionist painters, were very explicitly trying to create something from distinct and discrete pieces. The effect is beautiful. 

Manzanita Centerpieces with Hydrangeas

Sigh Robes-Castillo used our Project Grade 24-36" Natural Manzanita Branches and ideas from the blog to create these gorgeous manzanita centerpieces for her wedding, adorned with hanging votives, crystal strands and fuchsia hydrangeas.

Sigh first contacted us back in May 2009 requesting that we do a post on creating stand alone plaster bases. A few weeks later, we put up the post Securing Manzanita Branches with Plaster... continued, describing the technique.

Using the techniques described in the post DIY Hanging Votive Holders, Sigh created her own hanging votive holders.

Instead of using naturally fuchsia hydrangeas (which were running $7 a stem at the time), Sigh used white hydrangeas ($2 a stem) and colored them with floral spray paint.

In addition to these gorgeous displays, Sigh wanted to have some larger flowering trees on either side of the altar. At that time of year, flowering trees were running $2000 to $3000 each, so she decided to make her own from Mountain Laurel branches (available in the NYC floral district) and white hydrangeas.

You can read more about the wedding here and here.

Flowering White Sparkle Birch Centerpieces

Although White Sparkle Birch Branches are most popular during the winter months, they can be used to make great displays for any season. We got this email from a customer who used them for centerpieces for her summer wedding last year:

"Hello,

I purchased the sparkly white birches for my wedding last year. They
made beautiful, inexpensive centerpieces. Photos attached.

We made two tone blossoms with tissue paper and wire. These were
twisted on, counting about 15-20 flowers for each set of branches
after they were fanned out. For the base, we filled the vase with pool
salt (super cheap) and wrapped a pink envelope & green ribbon around
each.

Thanks for making such great products available!

Kindest Regards,

Susie J."

The blossoms and the choice of colors take the centerpieces from cool and wintry, to warm and summery.  I love the clever tips Susie mentioned, such as wrapping the inexpensive glass vases with envelopes tied with a contrasting ribbon, and using pool salt as vase filler. 

In a follow-up email, Susie went into detail about why she ended up making the centerpieces she did: 

"The reception hall had high vaulted ceilings so tall centerpieces were a must; but tall centerpieces also means more $$$. Though I love flowers, I wanted something that lasted more than a week (as they would be given as gifts after) and low maintenance. Originally, crystal trees were wanted, but overall, the theme didn't fit my summer wedding or budget."

The flowers are very impressive, and she was nice enough to describe how she created them herself:

"After several trials, we ended up with tissue paper, streamers, and flowering wire.
flat tissue paper - one shade of light pink
party streamers - colors as follows: 

-dark pink

-medium pink
-medium green
-lime green

These three shades of pink combined, added texture as well as saved time in cutting. I cut small squares from the tissue paper & squares from the streamers. Stack these, lightest colors on top-with every other layer touching corners; at the bottom of each stack, add a square of each green; Fan fold the little bunch & twist the flowering wire on (about 5 inch piece down the middle); after securing the center of the tissue bunch, (should be 2.5inchs/more of wire down each side), fan out the paper & try to pull each corner in a different direction. For more green and less work, we also worked in just buds of leaves (green squares with wiring) on assorted branches for a fuller look."

Over a year later she still has one of the centerpieces in her home looking great. Thanks so much Susie for sharing!

Centerpiece of Fountain Grass and Birch Branches on WeddingBee

Over on WeddingBee is a great post - Centerpieces: Revisited and Redefined - about creating the centerpieces we demonstrated in the post  Silk Flowers + Natural Birch Branches = "Faux-Real" Flowering Branches. The results look great!

Check out the post on WeddingBee for more. 

Silk Flowers + Natural Birch Branches = "Faux-Real" Flowering Branches

Flowering Branches such as Quince or Cherry look spectacular but are perishable and are only available for a short period during the spring. Artificial branches tend to either look, well, artificial, or are very expensive.

How about combining real branches such as Natural Birch Branches, with some inexpensive silk flowers? I picked up some really cheap generic silk flowers over in the Floral District, which cost $4.50 a bundle, after checking out some more expensive options such as Cymbidium Orchids, which cost $36/stem. As you can see, these silk flowers weren't anything spectacular:

Then I got out the glue gun and scissors, grabbed some Natural Birch Branches and went to work.

And after a few minutes of gluing...  

... a pretty spectacular "faux-real" flowering branch. What makes this work so well despite using relatively cheap flowers is the fact that only a small portion of the branch is faux, while the vast majority of it is real. Now the math: One Natural Birch Branch at $.56/stem ($14.50 per bundle / 25 stems per bundle) + a few silk flowers adding up to $.25 or so + miscellaneous expenses = about $1.00. Not too bad! 

   

Here we combined some of the branches with Fountain Grass for a nice, airy display evocative of spring or summer: