IN DRAB WINTER, A THING OF BEAUTY

Step outside and gather what you need for this arrangement

As you peer out the window on a February day and see the brown and barren landscape, you may feel a bit uninspired. But if you look around the backyard or neighborhood, you might be surprised at the many opportunities there for an eye-catching floral arrangement.

Winter is a great time to use materials that wouldn’t normally come to mind — materials that can, unexpectedly, be inspiring. With evergreens, seed pods, branches and buds, and a few pops of color from flowers, you can create a beautiful arrangement.

Here’s a quick how-to. First, find a vase that works for you. If you use a large or square vase, floral foam or a taped grid will help keep the pieces secured.

For the greenery, our example uses a mix of evergreens including Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), Mexican white pine (Pinus ayacahuite “Forest Sky”), arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), Cheng cypress (Cupressus chengiana), Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) and variegated osmanthus (Osmanthus heterophyllus “Variegatus”).

Create the base of the arrangement by adding pieces of the mixed evergreen branches. Anything evergreen will work. You want a nice hefty base of greenery to help break the line of the container. Adding the variegated osmanthus for a pop of white along the base draws the viewer’s eye toward the center.

To add height and a focal emphasis, this would be the time to incorporate branches. For color I have used red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea “Baileyi”). For textural difference, a great choice is saucer magnolia (Magnolia

x soulangeana) branches with buds. They are placed toward the back to carry the viewer’s eye through the whole arrangement.

To continue to add texture and contrast, you can add seed pods, either fresh or dried. This arrangement has Japanese aralia (Fatsia japonica) pods.

Then it’s time to add color. It may be hard to find blooming flowers at this time of year, but any pop of color would work. Ornamental cabbages and kale (Brassica species) would also be great. Here we are using hybrid hellebores (Helleborus x ballardiae “Cinnamon Snow” HGC), snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) and hybrid leatherleaf viburnum (Viburnum x rhytidophylloides “Allegheny”). When hellebore is used as a cut flower, it has a longer vase life if it has started to develop seed pods.

Finally, go back and fill in any holes with more evergreen branches.

You now have a beautiful and unique floral arrangement, maybe to give to someone special on Valentine’s Day.

Interested in learning more about floral design? At Norfolk Botanical Garden, we offer a floral design workshop once a month. For more depth, we offer a floral design certificate program. This nine-week fall course covers everything from the basics of design to funeral and wedding displays to event design.

Wild Green Yonder is a monthly feature from the staff of the Norfolk Botanical Garden, where Mary Toth is a horticulturist, ISA certified arborist and certified floral designer.

MARY TOTH PHOTOS Above: The final arrangement created by Mary Toth shows the subtle beauty of things growing in wintertime. Left: Flowers for a winter arrangement. These are hellebore, snapdragon and viburnum.