A BEAUTIFUL FALL FLOWER ARRANGEMENT

Donna Talley

October 14, 2021

6 min read

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STYLING WITH DAHLIAS, PART II

One of my favorite summer/fall flowers are dahlias, which I wrote about in this post a few weeks ago. I took three bunches of dahlias in different colors and styled them using my “Power of One Flower” principle (one kind of flower, en masse, in a vase).

But sometimes, I like to mix things up and create an arrangement with what I call “Dahlias and Friends”. In today’s post, I’m going to show you how to create a lush, beautiful fall flower arrangement featuring dahlias. Using those same dahlias from the previous post, I’ve created an arrangement with a decidedly fall feel, in a muted fall palette (burgundy, pale pink and pale purple, rusty-pink and green). And don’t worry if you can’t find dahlias at your supermarket – I’m also sharing dahlia flower substitutions later in the post.

STILL LIFE INSPIRATION

My inspiration for this arrangement came from the French painter, Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), who was considered the leader of the French Romantic School of painting. His expressive romantic style is best found in his noted still life paintings of beautiful flower arrangements. Below are two Delacroix paintings that inspired my fall flower arrangement.

*Eugène Delacroix Paintings*
*LEFT: “Still Life with Flowers”, 1834; RIGHT: “A Vase of Flowers”, 1833*

“DAHLIAS + FRIENDS”

I call this kind of arrangement “The Showstopper”. This is the one you put on a sideboard or entry table (or piano, in my living room below) – especially if you’re entertaining guests. This also makes a lovely gift!

I’m going to deconstruct this arrangement, which was created using supermarket dahlias, accented by foraged greens and filler plants from around my garden.

Shown below are all the players in the final arrangement, and you can substitute similar textures and plants from around your garden. Remember that texture is important to creating an interesting flower arrangement, and texture is found in greens, buds, leaves and pods (not just flowers). Use your imagination, grab your clippers and see what you can forage in your own back yard.

Here are the flowers and “fillers” I used below.

There’s no official “structure” to this arrangement – I simply used a flower frog at the bottom of the wide-mouth vase and started by alternating taller stems in the center, and filled with different greens and other flowers. This is an unstructured arrangement that is meant to look like you just foraged from your garden. The goal here isn’t to make this “florist-perfect”. It’s meant to have a rambling, English garden look to it.

A BONUS ARRANGEMENT

As you’re putting together the “showstopper” arrangement, remove the lower leaves from the stems. Also, there will be lower stems with buds and leaves. Simply break off the lower stems with closed flower buds and set them aside. You can use them to create a smaller arrangement, shown below right. Those buds will eventually open and ta-da! – there’s your bonus arrangement.

FLOWER INSIDER TIP

Dahlias require one special trick when you get them home. You need to condition the stems using the hot water treatment. When you get the flowers home, make a fresh angled cut at the bottom of the stem and place them in about 3 inches of very hot (not boiling) water for at least 1 hour. Doing this allows the cut flowers to last for four to six days.

FLOWER SUBSTITUTIONS

If you can’t find dahlias at the supermarket or farmer’s market, you can substitute football mums, protea, hydrangea, lilies or sunflowers. The key is the color palette (burgundy, pale pink and pale purple, rusty-pink and green). Also, choose ONE type of large-headed flower and accent with other textures so the flowers don’t compete with each other.

Also, keep an eye out at the market for textural flowers and greens, which are often inexpensive. Some other options as fillers are interesting pod stems and seeded eucalyptus.