Designing sustainably in the summer heat
During the summer months, one of key considerations is how to design and work with flowers in the heat. And as summers get hotter and drier (yes, I know… the irony of the current weather is not lost on me either…) how will we need to adjust the ways in which we do things to ensure our designs ‘perform’?
A cut flower’s longevity is determined by how well it has been conditioned, and, then, the conditions of the arrangement into which it is placed. Like washing on a line, the hotter, brighter and breezier the conditions, the faster the cut flower will dry out and go over.
If you place a wedding arch in direct sun on a hot summer’s day, the chances are that it will look fairly sad before the ceremony even starts. If you look around your garden on a hot day, you will notice that even the flowers on the plants look tired and dehydrated. And these are flowers that are still attached to the root, ie the plant’s hydration system.
So what chance do cut flowers have in full sun at 30 degree heat? and what can we do about it?
Know your materials. This might be stating the obvious, and knowing your materials should be a given, but not all flowers are as durable as others. You need to know the different performance of different flowers. And you need to know the performance of flowers at their different stages of development. And you need to design accordingly. Delicate and emergent stems are an absolute no go.
Leave the installation to the very last minute. The shorter the amount of time a well conditioned flower is placed in highly stressful conditions, the better. So if you want your design to look the best when the couple get married, set it up as close to the ceremony time as possible.
The only problem with this is that it is not always possible, and it can be quite stressful to do this kind of thing at the last minute and clear up and get out before the guests arrive. And what if the clients want the flowers to be moved to the reception?
Design into water. Often a lot of installations are created with flowers and foliage out of water or into moss. Moss will slow the transpiration process, but in hot conditions, it will not be able to rehydrate the flower at a rate to keep up with its transpiration. Instead, create designs that allow each an every stem to be in water. And preferably quite a lot of water, so that a lot of its stem is submerged.
Reimagine your designs to incorporate potted and dried flowers alongside cut flowers. By reducing the proportion of cut flowers in an installation, you reduce the proportion that is at risk of looking ‘sad’. Potted flowers are still in root and can stay hydrated, and clearly, dried flowers can withstand the heat.
On day 3 of the Summer Season of the Season Led Florist Programme, we focused on large scale installations. Together we created a large scale, modular installation at the front of Howbury Hall, in direct sun in the full heat of the afternoon. Not ideal flower arranging conditions. But that was the point.
We incorporated:
Urn arrangements that we had created during the morning session in the Hall, filled with foliage and flowers - and, importantly, deep water.
A collection of water filled troughs and buckets placed on the steps and boxes to achieve layered heights.
Bowl arrangements and bud vases that had been created the day before for a tablescape (and which, conveniently, worked perfectly with the flowers and palette of this design).
Smokebush, the flowers of which are not only hugely effective in floral designs, but also very robust in the heat.
Grasses, alliums and seed heads that are already ‘drying’ so can withstand the heat.
Roses, daucus, cornflowers and corncockles in full flower, which are also very robust.
And the added beauty of this design is how modular it is. The whole thing could be broken down, with all the urns, bowls, bud vases and meadows being re-used separately during a reception. Which, in our opinion, makes it even better from a design perspective (and your client will agree from their budget perspective too).