TALL BEARDED IRISES IN ARRANGMENTS

The weekly arrangement for today features two of my favorite Tall Bearded Irises that are in bloom today--GLOBAL CROSSING (Van Liere 2012), and QUEEN'S CIRCLE (Kerr 2000). Making arrangements that need to last a week and still look vibrant and alive is much different than making one that is on display for a day.  Choose blooms in bud stage that will bloom within the week, with maybe just a few that may have recently opened up.  Use your eye to visualize where those buds will bloom in the arrangement. As always, pick first thing in the morning before the sun is out, and immediately plunge the stems in water, cutting the stem again under water an inch up from the original cut.  Immediately arrange.  In the arrangement I use oasis wet flower foam, with a flower preservative added. This arrangement will last a week.  Older flowers can be pinched off, some with another bud that is in the same place, as is the case of the tall Queen's Circle bloom.