An easy DIY floral centerpiece with kumquats, lilacs, and garden roses. 

Maybe you remember my trip to San Jose to host the floral arranging workshop at Petite Petal Co.? Today I am sharing a recap of one of the arrangements we made during my stay in Campbell, CA. 

Indu Huynh, the Petite Petal Girls, and I met at Oh So Inspired last year, and immediately clicked. We couldn’t wait to throw an idea together that allowed all of us to work together. When the opportunity presented itself for me to head to the PPC shop, I jumped! 

The workshop ended up being so much fun, and I learned so, so much about flower arranging. I thought I already had my patch for that skill, but it turns out, there’s always more to learn :) 

This is an easy tutorial for creating your own fabulous centerpiece of kumquats & garden roses, with tips and tricks from the expert floral designers at Petite Petal Co.  

• DIY Floral Arrangement •

Start by cutting a small square of chicken wire. Then ball it up, and place it inside of the vase. This trick was really eye opening for me! I’ve heard of using frogs, and I’ve heard of using foam or tape, but never chicken wire! Chicken wire is abundant up here, and it’s very easy to manipulate, and refill the vase with water. It’s my new favorite base! 

Next, tape up the top, to secure the wire into the vase. A 4×4 grid will work perfectly for this. 

Fill your vase with water, then you’re ready to begin building your centerpiece!

As you begin building your base, start with greenery. Try using a few types, but keep them in the same aesthetic family. Before taking this class with Petite Petal Co., I followed this technique, but I didn’t ever really put any greenery in the center of the arrangement, I would simply line the edge of the vase with the greenery. 

Jeeryn taught me that you don’t necessarily need to completely edge the vase with greenery, instead add some tall & interesting elements in the center. 

Now it’s time to start adding some of your beige cardigans into the mix. The basic flowers, the fillers. Not to bash on them, but if the wire & greenery are the foundation, the ‘basics’ are your plywood to this creation. Add them in to give some shape to your arrangement. Jeeryn taught me that your arrangement shouldn’t be a rectangular shape, allow a triangular design, or in layman’s terms, allow some tall guys, and allow some dangly guys. 

Finally, add in your wow flowers! For this arrangement, these were the beautiful garden roses & and the kumquats. Use these flowers to fill in any holes, think of them as the décor accessories to really seal the design! Remember that negative space is okay, and different heights are okay too! A relaxed arrangement gives off a casual feel that looks like you simply picked a bouquet from the garden. 

You can see above, the left hand side is taller than the right hand side, and the right hand side has some dangly guys. This was all done on purpose! 

Think if you turned this symbol on its side -> ƒ, that’s the exact shape of the arrangement. Taller on the left, shorter on the right, with some goodies in the center.

The Petite Petal Co. workshop was such a blast, I was absolutely honored to host the workshop with Karen & Jeeryn, then to have Indu photograph the event was even more special! If you’re in the San Jose area, be sure to pop into Petite Petal Co. the next time you find yourself in Campbell!

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