It’s autumn time!
Being a florist, you may think Spring would be my favorite season. But you’d be wrong.
When asked, I will always choose Autumn over Spring.
I love the coolness in the air, but with the warmth of the sun still shining down. ...Colors everywhere, of course. Here in the Pacific Northwest we also get a lovely morning mist that sits low on the streets. It’s just so fresh and cool and plays with your many senses!
There also happen to be a lot of really awesome autumnal flowers. Quite a few in fact! So if you’re looking to put something together that plays with the seasonality of autumn, here are a few of my top 5 picks to get you started.
1. Antique Hydrangea
Hydrangea starts blooming its heart out in the heat of summer, but it lives a long full life, all the way through autumn. Even better, it changes colors in the fall and creates an array of multi-toned, textural florets. They offer you a great versatility of color to play with when designing. I dare say there is a variety of antique hydrangea for you to fit into any color palette you’re working on. Check out these beauties I was using earlier this week.
2. Dahlias
Mmmm. Dahlias. One of my top 5 favorite of all flowers. Such textural symmetry. Color options for days. And size variety! Need something small? Try a pompom dahlia. Need something enormous. Order yourself a dinnerplate dahlia. These ones are a great medium size. See how many colors they have speckling their petals? Local farms get you the best varieties, with these plays on color. Too commercial and they’ll only ship you the mono-tone beauties that are bred into single-hue perfection. But I personally love when I can mix and match my dahlias to several color palette options.
3. Amaranthus
Alright. You caught me. You can get amaranthus in the summer as well. But the velvet texture and muted color tones tie so well into all things autumn. Brown amaranthus is a personal favorite of mine for autumn. The camel color and fuzzy texture reminds me of a snuggly blanket I could curl up and read in.
4. Mums
Oh chrysanthemums. Truth be told I didn’t always like them. They often get overused in cheap arrangements all year round, and I related them to grocery stores. So my secret is to find a unique color or variety from a local grower, and let their spunky-spikey shapes add some seasonal depth to your arrangements. You don’t need many of them. A few will do the job nicely for you. Like the nutmeg in your pumpkin bread: add a little in and the whole composition will give you all the good fall-feels.
5. Snowberry
I had to add some berries to the list. There are so many fruiting foliages this time of year. But snowberry is one of my favorites. This one has more foliage than fruit, but look how the foliage is starting to turn colors, and the dark berries below add just enough color depth and texture to keep your eye interested. I do however, also really love a large hearty branch of large, white snowberries. I guess I just love them all!
Well there you have it. My top 5 favorite fall flowers. And just as a reward for reading through to the end of this post, I’ve put together a special arrangement, just for you, using all 5 ingredients. Can you spy them all?
