Spread Out a Little With a Long and Low Arrangement

Materials

Flowers and Foliage
6 'Dauco Corato' dill, or another flowering dill
7 'Aqua' single roses
1 garden viburnum stem (cut down into small sprays with short stems)
7 pink spray roses
6 lady's mantle (cut down into small sprays with short stems)
6 astrantia
6 salal stems

Consider substituting trachelium for dill, freesias for spray roses and peonies for single roses.

Other Materials
block of floral foam and single plastic tray
florist's tape
florist's scissors

Prepare the Tray and Foam

Place a soaked block of foam on a single tray and bind the two together with two lengths of florist's tape.

Create the Basic Structure

Set the height, length and width of the arrangement with the first few stems of viburnum. Press a stem in at an angle on each side of the foam and position three stems along the top to create a skeleton shape and spine.

Build up the Basic Shape

Build up the basic shape by adding the salal and more stems of viburnum.

Finish the Foliage

Place the stems of remaining foliage at similar angles to make a green framework of smooth contours that will surround the flowers.

Add the Single Roses

Arrange the large pink single roses. Place the first rose in the middle to gauge the right height, then arrange the rest of the roses alternately on either side of the central spine and around the sides. Cut the stems to about 3-4 inches.

Place the Spray Roses

Place the deeper pink spray roses next, ensuring that you maintain an even visual balance with the larger roses and foliage.

Add Other Flowers

Add the dark dill and astrantia blooms, filling in areas where there are still gaps.

Add the Final Flowers

Add the sprays of lady's mantle last to fill any obvious gaps and balance out the shape and color of the arrangement. Add odd pieces of viburnum and salal if the foam still shows through.

If you mist the flowers every other day and keep the foam wet, this arrangement should last for four or five days.

Shape and Texture

Although both pink in color, these spiky little astrantia and smooth-petalled, velvety roses have been placed together to accentuate their diverse shapes and textures.