Rittners School Of Floral Design
In Boston Presents....

How To Make A Mound Vase Arrangement

The mound arrangement is one of the most popular floral designs made in flower shops today. It is popular because it is big, showy and colorful!! Floral designers like it because it is quick and easy to do and because it is well accepted . This is a traditional style of floral designing using alot of flowers and giving great value.

What You Will Need

We start this design by placing one half block of foam into a container. The base that we are using is a utility dish, meaning an inexpensive container. However, you can use any container that you'd like. Cover the base with your foliage. In this case we are using baker fern, which is a very popular green. Notice that the baker fern is extended out around the base in a circular pattern. It is then placed up higher on the sides and top of the foam, creating a "moundy" shape even before flowers are placed.

Next we place some of our flowers into the foam. In this design we are using carnations. Carnations are a very good keeping flower. They are easy to work with and are available in a wide range of colors. They fill space well and are easy on your budget. Perhaps this is why they are one of the most widely traded flowers in the world! Starting at the top of the design we place a single flower. Then a circle of flowers in the center, and a circle of flowers around the base. Keep in mind that although you are looking at this design from one side, it is a piece meant to be viewed from all sides.

After placing the red carnations, let's get a little variety! Randomly place your orange and pink carnations throughout the design. You can really place them just about anywhere!! Just keep in mind that you are making a round, moundy shape!

When you finish with your carnations, take your poms and start to distribute them throughout the design. Poms are a great flower for they also last well. Because they have many flowers to the stem, you can get great coverage with them. Cut off individual flowers from the stems and place them, starting at the top of the design, working down towards the base.

In this photograph you get a pretty good idea of how the poms look as we bring them down towards the container. We are placing them on all sides of the design.

Next let's add some of our miniature carnations. In this particular design we are using both white and purple minis. Miniature carnations come in a variety of colors. They are a good lasting flower, and have multiple flowers on a stem.

The white miniature carnations are placed throughout the design. What appeared rather empty in the past few photos now really seems to be gaining form and substance. Can you see the mound really taking shape? Good......We're making great progress on this design. Not much more to go!

In this photograph you can see the addition of the purple miniature carnations. Several are peeking directly out at us from center front of the design (as we look at it). We could stop the design at this point. On the other hand if you would like to create a little variety in texture and shape, consider the use of a filler material. "Filler" flowers include small flowers such as the Statice used in this design. Statice comes in purple, bluish, white and red violet. A few pieces tucked in here and there complete this floral creation.

The mound vase arrangement can be used for any occasion.
It is a nice gift idea.
We can change the contents depending upon the occasion and the budget. For example making this design for St. Patrick's Day we might use white and green carnations and miniature carnations. For Valentine's Day we would use red and pink flowers, including some roses. For a Christmas design we could use evergreen foliages, and add cones and Christmas ornaments. Of course if we wanted to make this a very expensive design we could incorporate such flowers as roses, lilies, and spray orchids. The colors that we chose to use today were deliberately bright. However this design can be stylized with colors that will blend in with just about any taste or decor.

We hope that you really enjoyed this brief floral design lesson. At Rittners Floral School in Boston we provide floral design instruction that includes a wide range of different styles and techniques. Please come and take one of our hands-on workshop programs!!