Everyone loves roses and it’s easy to see why they’re so popular. With sweet-smelling aromas, beautiful, stately petal designs, and classic meanings behind their colors, roses have been adored for centuries. These garden beauties have been praised in literature, art, and poetry for thousands of years, playing major roles in medicine, perfume, home decor, music, and fashion.
Before being introduced in the Western world, roses were cultivated in ancient Asia and throughout the Orient. Hardy enough to survive in a variety of conditions, species of these enduring blossoms have been mixed and matched to create new, modern varieties we have today. Of those modern varieties, Cascade Floral Wholesale is realizing two are making waves lately: the amnesia rose and the garden rose. Discover why these are becoming so popular and fall in love with your new favorite rose.
As we usher in a new year and new decade, we look ahead at what sort of trends our industry can expect this year. The changes we’ll see in style, color and purpose will bring a fresh new approach to how we include flowers in our celebrations and day-to-day life. The floral experts at Cascade Floral Wholesale are anticipating some exciting changes that we hope you’ll love as much as we do! Get ready to exercise your creative muscles because this year is going to be full of dramatic updates to traditional arrangements.
As the holidays approach, you’ll want to design bouquets, centerpieces, and wreaths that reflect the joy and magic of the season. A gorgeous holiday display can be designed easily when you include special seasonal accents in your bouquets. Not only will berries, pinecones or branches of wintergreens give your piece a holiday update, they also add rich texture that’s visually pleasing. Use accent pieces to complete the shape of your design or to create visual intrigue in three dimensions. The floral experts at Cascade Wholesale Florist are eager to share some of our favorite holiday accents that will make your designs unique and intriguing to every customer.
Floral arrangement consists of selecting flowers and foliage to create beautiful and delightful designs. It’s an artistic activity that offers a way to express oneself creatively. It is also an art form in which there are fundamental design elements that are used to create a pleasing outcome. To help you create gorgeous and gratifying flower arrangements, our experts at Cascade Floral Wholesale have put together a list of ten fundamental design principles that are essential to creating professional-looking floral arrangements.
10 Essential Floral Design Principles
1. Lines
Flower Arrangement with Pink Roses and Ferns
Whether you’ve consciously noticed them or not, professional floral arrangements feature linear-based designs, which encompass four different types of lines:
Actual Lines – These lines are actually present in your design. Everything you use has lines. For example, stems, bamboo shoots, or a row of red roses are all actual straight lines. The curve of a leaf or twist of a willow branch represents actual curved lines.
Implied Lines – Your arrangement will create implied lines, where the mind’s eye connects two similar elements or continues a repeated pattern.
Static Lines – Static lines give the impression of a lack of movement. Vertical and horizontal lines that do not lean or incline are considered static. Horizontal lines tend to represent rest, peacefulness, and quiet, while vertical lines, like the columns of a great temple, represent power.
Dynamic Lines – Dynamic lines are neither perfectly vertical or perfectly horizontal, but rather slanted, curved, spiraled, or zigzagged. These lines create the impression of movement within your design.
If a design appears too rigid or cold, add in a dynamic line or two. Conversely, if your design looks too chaotic, give it more structure with static lines. Usually, a combination of different types of lines creates a visually dynamic and well-balanced floral design.
2. Shape/Form
Pink and Yellow Roses in a Vase
Once you’ve considered the types of lines you will use in your design, you’ll need to thinkabout theshape or formyour lines will come together to create.
Think of shape in terms of two dimensions and form in terms of three. If you’re creating a design that will only be viewed from one side, then you can focus mostly on shape. If you’re creating a centerpiece or arrangement that will be viewed from all sides, then you’ll need to focus on three-dimensional form.
Floral arrangements can be created in a variety of shapes and forms, but some are more popular. For example, you can make an endless variety of designs using crescents, circles, triangles, ovals, spheres, rectangles, spirals, and other shapes. Working toward creating an overall shape will create a cohesive look, preventing your design from appearing messy or thrown together.
3. Balance
Pink Roses and Lilies Bouquet
Balance does not mean that your arrangement needs to be completely symmetrical. It’s better to think about balance in terms of visual weight and negative space. If you have a particularly large bloom on one side of your arrangement, it’ll likely look odd, if you don’t balance it with another large bloom or a similarly sized cluster of smaller flowers on the opposite side. View your arrangement from all angles to make sure you don’t have any unsettling empty spaces or overly full spots.
4. Color
Beautiful Pastel Flowers
All flowers are beautiful, but when paired within a well-planned color palette, they can truly stun the viewer. When it comes to color combinations in floral design, you can do just about anything you like. Feel free to play with monochromatic designs, contrasting colors, pastels, and saturated hues. When working with multiple colors a good rule of thumb is to choose three basic hues, two complementary colors that will dominate your design, and an accent hue.
In floral arrangements, color is more than just visually important. Different colors and flowers have symbolic meanings. Before you settle on a color pallet for your design, you might want to look into the symbolism of the colors you plan to incorporate.
5. Texture
Beautiful Arrangement of Flowers in Vase
When you think about texture, you’ll be closely inspecting the surface quality of each element in your design. Due to the way light reflects, rough surfaces will naturally retreat into your design, while smooth, shiny surfaces will pop out with greater intensity. Thinking about texture in your design will help you create more visually interesting creations. Try to incorporate different textures within your arrangement to create a floral design that interests a viewer the first or fiftieth time they see it.
6. Contrast
Gorgeous Arrangement in Pink and Purple
Contrast adds drama and visual interest to a design. You create contrast when you place opposite elements side by side. For example, light colors and dark colors, soft textures and coarse textures, or big blooms and small flowers. Contrast is an important design element, but it’s tricky to get exactly right. Be careful to avoid incorporating equal amounts of contrasting elements — choose one to be more dominant. With too many contrasting elements, your design can become overly busy and erratic, resulting in the loss of your design’s rhythm and balance.
7. Space
Wildflower Bouquet
It’s important to think about the spacing of flowers within an arrangement to prevent it from looking crowded or to create an intentionally crowded look that seems to burst from thecontainer. Whether you’re going for aline or mass arrangementmake sure your flowers are adequately spaced so that viewers can get a good look at each special flower in your design.
8. Size/Proportion
Gorgeous Floral Arrangement in Living Room
When creating an arrangement, it’s important to think about the location where it will be placed. Create a design that will be the right size for its intended placement, neither overpowering the room nor getting lost within it. For example, you wouldn’t want a tiny arrangement to act as the focal point of a large room or a large arrangement that doesn’t fit into the corner it’s intended to fill.
9. Rhythm
Exotic Floral Arrangement
Just like repeated beats move us through music, visual rhythm in floral arrangements helps move an observer’s eye through the entire design. You can create rhythm by repeating colors, textures, or even lines throughout the arrangement. For example, long stems that radiate in a fan-like pattern or bright bursts of yellow throughout will give your design plenty of rhythm.
10. Focal Point
Beautiful Flower Arrangement with Succulent
While your viewers’ eyes move through the rhythm of your floral design, it’s also important to provide them with a focal point on which they can pleasantly rest their gaze. You can easily create a focal point within an arrangement by using an unusual, large, or unexpected bloom within your arrangement. Consider using a flower cluster like a hydrangea, a peony, or even a large rose.
Luscious Lavender Standard Mix
Using high-quality materials and applying these basic design principles to your floral arrangements will make all the difference, transforming your designs from home-made efforts to professionally designed works of art. For more floral design inspiration, we welcome you to contact our floral design experts atCascade Floral Wholesale.
Designing floral arrangements to convey particular sentiments is essential to the process. Floral designs can be happy, somber, festive, or sophisticated, depending on what combinations you choose. But one element that will always bring a unique effect to your floral designs is texture. Adding soft or bold accents, smooth lines or rough edges, or even non-organic textural pieces will change the look of your design drastically. The floral experts at Cascade Floral Wholesale created a list of the 10 best elements to include in your floral arrangement to add texture your unique design.
While it may be true that many plants and flowers take their leave of us once the cooler temperatures of autumn arrive, there are still plenty of varieties that will not only survive, but thrive throughout winter and into early spring. The floral experts at Cascade Floral Wholesale have broken down some of these beauties by region of the country. It’s also important to match the zone in which you live to those recommended for each type of flower.
Creating beautiful, lasting sympathy arrangements is a big part of our jobs. When a family is grieving, it’s important they receive beautiful, tasteful flowers that comfort and provide peace. At Cascade Floral Wholesale, we’ve developed some strategic categories to keep in mind when preparing your sympathy designs. You’ll want to be ready at a moment’s notice to design something appropriate and beautiful. Here are a few to consider when preparing sympathy flowers for a funeral or memorial service.
As the holidays approach, it will be important to have materials on hand for creating stunning holiday centerpieces. Your customers will be excited to showcase inventive and eclectic looks on their fall table, so be prepared by having a wide range of items at the ready when the orders come in. While it’s important to keep materials like candles and ribbon on hand for classic, traditional centerpieces, consider thinking outside the box to design fresh, modern pieces as well. Your customers will love the new look and you’ll feel invigorated with the creation of something new! At Cascade Floral Wholesale, we have everything you need to make holiday tables merry and bright, and even a little artistic. Take a look at some of the materials available and let your imagination run wild!
Sending and receiving flowers can make anyone feel good. It’s a simple gesture that’s been woven into the fabric of society for centuries. Recently, studies have been conducted regarding the psychological effects of sending, receiving or being surrounded by flowers and the results are just what we’ve always known: Flowers make your day! The floral professionals at Cascade Floral Wholesale looked a little more deeply into this to help you know what you’ll be providing for your customers when they choose to send your flowers to a friend or loved one. Here’s what we found:
Fall is such a fun time for color, texture, and decorations. For your more crafty floral customers, this is also a great season for creating something new. Homemade decorations that reflect the holiday spirit are more special because they’re imbued with a unique sense of nostalgia. The expert designers atCascade Floral Wholesalehave a few crafty ideas up their sleeves to help DIY-ers create fabulous fall decorations this year, along with all the flowers, berries, foliage, and plants you need to get started.
Filler plays an important role in any gorgeous floral bouquet. Much like the backstage crew of a stage performance, if filler is obvious, it’s not doing its job. But without it, the stars of the show simply couldn’t shine. Filler plants and foliage have a big job and it’s important to get it right. These lush, leafy green plants create a backdrop for bright, colorful flowers to pop, enhancing their appearance and bringing their vibrant color into focus. Certain types of filler can make or break your arrangements, though. So Cascade Wholesale Florist is here to walk you through choosing the best filler for different types of arrangements.
The beauty of chrysanthemums in the fall is amazing to behold. We’re stunned and awed by the multitude of colors and textures we find every year. This season, we’re excited for your to feature chrysanthemums as one of your favorite fall flowers throughout the season. Not only are they easy to grow, even in cooler months, but mums symbolize some beautiful sentiments, making them great gifts or additions to your fall designs. You may even want to keep a few for yourself as you decorate for fall. So, the floral experts at Cascade Floral Wholesale are happy to include a few fun facts and tips about planting, giving, and decorating with fall mums.
Fall is upon us and ready to bloom into full color. Fans of these deep, rich colors and textures will be looking for gorgeous sunflowers, dahlias, and of course, mums. Whether your customers are looking for rustic fall texture or bright fall jewel-tones, be sure to delight their senses with the wide variety of colors and blooms fall has to offer. Cascade Floral Wholesale is proud to offer a wide range of fall varieties, perfect for endless combinations of autumn design.
The arrival of August tends to signify the close of summer. Campers return home, vacations are over, and kids begin to prepare for the coming school year. However, even though It may be August, in many areas around the nation there is still plenty of summertime to go around (or at least we’d like to hope there is!). And even for those areas that are beginning to feel a fall nip in the air, we think that’s all the more reason to brighten someone’s day with bright, bold summer colors while they’re still available! That’s why Cascade Floral Wholesale is excited about our summer flowers.
Summertime is the perfect season for stocking extra tropical flowers. From destination beach weddings and family photos to fun vacations, there are plenty of reasons to include tropical blooms in your summer collection. That’s why the floral experts at Cascade Floral Wholesale suggest offering and promoting a Tropical Flowers collection during this season. You’ll find customers in need of these bright blooms and exotic details at every turn.
Now that summer is in full swing, parents everywhere are looking for ways to keep kids of all ages busy throughout the long summer days. For a few fun craft ideas that everyone will love, Cascade Floral Wholesale offers some great tips and tricks. With a little bit of planning and a few supplies, you can fill your summer days and create beautiful floral designs to show for it!
Create A Vase Collection
Gather a few old mason jars, glass milk bottles, and other vintage apothecary jars. Fill with a mix of wildflowers or your favorite blooms (we especially love our Vintage Blush combination for this project) and enough water and flower food to keep blooms fresh. Place bottles with varying heights, shapes and sizes freely across a long table or windowsill. Or, for wider tabletops, gather similar-sized containers together in a square formation and wrap with gardener’s twine to hold in place.
Create Mini Bouquets
Choose a few sheets of themed paper, like wrapping paper for birthdays and holidays, or scrapbooking paper with cool designs. Trim stems of flowers, then lay diagonally on a square of the paper. Wrap corners together, glue so they’ll stay together, then wrap with gardener’s twine for a fresh, hand-held design that can be kept or given away. (Hint: these make great back-to-school gifts for teachers!)
Create Napkin Rings
Design a gorgeous formal table setting for a summer garden party when you attach flowers and accents to shower curtain rings to create breath-taking napkin rings. Use similar flowers for each ring to create continuity across your table. Then create simple and elegant centerpieces with the remaining accent pieces (baby’s breath in mason jars is always a welcomed sight!).
Create Pressed Flowers
Pressing flowers is an age-old tradition that mothers and grandmothers have been handing down to their children for centuries. Create a modern update to this look when you design an iPhone case or stained glass window with pressed flowers. First, press flowers in a heavy book, like an encyclopedia or phone book. Then glue carefully to a clear or white iPhone case. Once glue is dried, paint the entire case with resin or another clear varnish. Allow plenty of time to dry, then enjoy your own unique iPhone case!
Using fresh flowers for Do-It-Yourself crafts and projects makes for beautiful, unique designs. Work together with someone special as a means of spending quality time together. Plus, you’ll create beautiful gifts for others or add lovely touches to your own home. For more great DIY project ideas, talk to the floral artisans at Cascade Floral Wholesale. We’ll be proud to show you our collection of wholesale combos and help you choose the perfect set for your next project!
Maybe it’s their favorite color, or maybe there’s a significant meaning between the couple. Or possibly, this bride isn’t going to skip the traditions that have served women before her for centuries. Regardless of the reason, a touch of blue in a wedding ceremony brings a delightfully classic look that can be achieved in multiple ways. So what is the difference between varieties of blue flowers? The designers at Cascade Floral Wholesale can show you all the possibilities.
Wedding foliage is traditionally full of blooming, cut flowers, usually in season at the time of the nuptials. However, a new trend is emerging that will entice many brides to rethink wedding flowers. Including varieties of plants and succulents in the wedding ceremony and reception is becoming a trend that may not end anytime soon. There are plenty of reasons to feature plants in your wedding ceremony, and Cascade Floral Wholesale is ready to help you find the perfect combination.
Summertime is a perfect opportunity to begin or grow a garden! Warmer weather and longer days lend themselves to being outdoors. So, planting new varieties in the garden or starting a garden from scratch are great excuses to get outside. Some seasoned gardeners may be looking for new and interesting additions to their gardens. On the other hand, those just starting a garden may need something that’s easy to care for and grows quickly. Cascade Floral Wholesale wants to make you ready for the endless possibilities gardens bring with gorgeous blooming plants. Since they’re easy to grow and quick to show beautiful flowers, these designs are often long lasting, easy to care for, and make lush, beautiful additions to a gardenscape.
Cascade Floral Wholesale is excited to welcome summer, with its rich variety of colorful blooms, fresh greens, and festive displays. We know that summer brings a whole host of occasions that call for a floral bounty, from weddings to patriotic events to family reunions and more. In that spirit, we’re showcasing our best and brightest blooms from our summer combo, which gives you access to a world of warm-weather flowers perfect for any occasion.
