Woodland-Anemone Tablecenter

Project created by Christopher Grigas
Armatures are intriguing and artful…and useful. Tall flowers are often unstable and need a little help staying in place. Creating a natural armature out of birch twigs to stabilize the blooms in your design adds visual interest and organic flair to a rather simple floral piece.Ingredients:

• One 9” x 7” concrete planter by Accent Décor (item 93321)

• Dry foam to fill

• Reindeer Moss

• Permanent Eucalyptus seed heads (purple filler)

• 7-9 long stem permanent white Anemone

• 1 bunch Permanent Rex Begonia leaves

• 20 stems dried or fresh River Birch twigs (Betula nigra)

• 3 ‘ lilac 2.0 guage aluminum wire from Accent Décor (item 29860)

Steps:

1. Start with the concrete planter by filling with dry floral foam so it is tight in the vessel
2. Insert Anemone at least one inch into foam but leave stems as long a possible
3. Tuck fresh Reindeer Moss into container to form a mounding effect…notice the color matches the container so add little bits of the purple filler for more texture and color
4. Remove most small lateral twigs from the Birch branches and using the color aluminum wire, attach Anemones across from each other with the short thick stems. Be sure to attach just under the bloom head to help in disguising the mechanics later.
5. After the main armature is complete, add the smaller twigs in a random fashion so the tips hang out a bit from the bloom edges, creating an umbrella effect.
6. Attach the Begonia leaves with wire or glue to help disguise some of the mechanics under the bloooms.
7. Last, use the 2.0 wire in spirals starting at the base of the blooms and coming down in different lengths.
8. Even though the design has a large base and canopy, it is perfect for a table center as you can see right though its forest of stems…with no visual wall