Pretty Post-Holiday Flowers for the Home

First, I want to thank you all for your kind words on yesterday’s post.  2015 was a bit of an odd year for us, but we’re amped and ready for a fabulous (and love-filled) 2016. After the holiday season finishes and I put away my decor, I always get this weird feeling like my house is missing something.  We talked a lot about it last week – and I loved hearing from you guys – during the transition from Christmas to New Years.  I feel like I need some revelry or seasonal festivity and all of the shelves, lest all the mantles and side tables seem a little blah.  Usually when I’m feeling this way, I default to flowers. They’re cheery, fresh, and can help evoke whatever feeling you’re trying to achieve.  For me, I’m going for fresh, new year, but still wintry (you’re allowed to call me captain obvious!).  In my book, wintry means white, silver, and green, but the typical glitzy silver and evergreen remind me too much of the holidays.  For that reason, I’m going with a few wonderful winter alternatives for my post-holiday floral fun. Oh, and the whole thing came together in our gorgeous Norah Vase which you can get your hands on too!

Silver brunia can be somewhat hard to find, but is one of my favorites – and it’s an evergreen, so it’s very wintry and lasts forever after it’s cut! It’s a little creepy looking on it’s own (I think the ‘leaves’ look like worms) but the silver balls add so much texture and a really beautiful color to this arrangement.  I also used them back in the fall for this Insta photo.

White spray roses are one of my staples (alongside white tulips which I didn’t use today merely because I couldn’t find them).  They’re clean, small and typically a great ‘side dish’ type flower.  Meaning that they’re not the center of attention, and they don’t distract from what IS the center of attention.  Today, however, they’re my only true flower and are being used for their traditional romantic balance to the modern silver brunia.

Dusty miller is such a wonderful green/gray color which goes well in most of my less saturated arrangements.  You might typically see this in your grandmas flower beds, next to the marigolds, but I love it.

Small leaf eucalyptus (Eucalyptus Parvula) is a new find and I LOVE it!  All the wonderful smells of euc, but in a smaller, less focal size. The green/gray/bluish tint of the leaves works well with the slightly purply hue of the silver brunia while adding a lot of coverage in the arrangement.

When working with a wide, low vessel, I ALWAYS tape it off into a grid first.  I just cut a piece of scotch tape in half length-wise, or you can use this floral tape.  This helps everything to stay spread apart and not flop to the outside of the container, which will always happen in a container of this size because, you know, gravity.

Next, be sure to de-leaf any of your steps before they go in.  Any leaves that fall below the water line will mold and will severely decrease the life of your arrangement… and this baby will live forever (minus the roses).

First, arrange greenery (cut to DOUBLE the width of the container) in the taped off grid.  You almost want to green the entire thing.  I personally like greenery arrangement (which is what I did for my wedding) so you really could leave it like this and it would be beautiful, but we’re going to push it a tad further… because I like to live on the edge.

Again, remove any low lying leaves and cut your spray roses to about 1.5x the width of your container, so they snuggle a little bit into the greenery.

Then, add the silver brunia balls cut to just about 1x the width of the container.  This way they snuggle a little below the surface.  And that is all!  Just 4 varieties in this entire arrangement, so it’s super easy for beginners.

The silvery green is perfect for a January arrangement.  It breathes life into my house without being out of place in the winter wonderland of Ohio in January.  I don’t know why, something about brightly colored blooms seems a bit jarring to me in the winter months.

Do you love this winter flower arrangement as much as I do?  I  just got the vases in, so I’m a little obsessed with it too!!

Below in the comments, tell me your favorite way to add a little fun back into your house after the holidays are over!