Meet the Floral Designer Making Carnations Cool

Designer Kaylyn Hewitt gives this often overlooked flower the spotlight with some creative ideas for arrangements where carnations take center stage.

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March 30, 2021

By: Deanne Revel

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Photo By: Cara Zozula / The Bouqs Co.

Kaylyn Hewitt Loves Carnations

The floral world can be judgmental. Just look at the design breakdown of bouquets and arrangements. Florists often follow the age-old rhyme “thrillers, fillers and spillers'' or simply “focals and fillers” for smaller designs. The practice elevates some flowers, such as peonies and hydrangeas, to luxury, dream-wedding status, while branding others as cheap, not as pretty filler. But Kaylyn Hewitt is on a mission to flip the script for one of the most overlooked fillers in the world: the carnation. The lead floral designer and content manager at The Bouqs Co. loves working with dianthus caryophyllus, aka the grocery store flower.

“Carnations are the unsung hero of flowers,” Kaylyn says. “What inspired me to work with them was a general belief that they can’t be beautiful or that they are second best. I don’t believe that and it’s been fun slowly changing people’s minds with each design.” If you’re not convinced carnations are cool, Kaylyn’s ready to change your mind, too. She whipped up five carnation-forward designs just for HGTV at The Bouqs Co. studio just outside of Los Angeles. Take a look at these gorgeous, Pinterest-worthy bouquets and learn how to style carnations at home.

Learn More: Growing Carnation Flowers

"Variegated" Bouquet

Pairing bright red and hot pink together has been so popular on the runway in the last couple of years and Kaylyn shows off the trendy hue duo in this bouquet. But it's not just a bunch of carnations in two solid colors. If you look closely, you'll notice that some petals have a watercolor or dip-dyed-like gradient. And that extra flair comes from variegated petals.

Perfect Petals

Tie-dye might be in style this year, but carnations have been on the trend for thousands of years. In addition to the flower's dramatic ruffles, the petals themselves have even more drama thanks to variegation or having different colored zones on a leaf or petal. "The variegated petals on both varieties of the carnations were so fun to play with," says Kaylyn. "Their petals pack a few different colors and I worked to play off each of them with the additional flowers in the design."

Learn More: Carnation Flower Meaning

"Between the Seasons" Bouquet

In the wedding world, more brides and grooms are opting for greenery-forward florals such as all-white bouquets or all-foliage arrangements. Here, Kaylyn riffed on the trend and created a winter white palette with just a hint of springtime green. "These white and green hydrangeas added so much softness to this design," she says. "They are the perfect kind of pillow-y."

Budget Style

Who knew white carnations could be so chic? And that green flower next to the white flowers? That's a carnation, too! You can find both at the grocery store. To style at home, Kaylyn said to stick to a minimal color palette. "If you spy a few stems of white carnations at the grocery store," Kaylyn says, "take a look to see what else is white or green around and begin to layer those elements in as well. Color plays a huge role in elevating a design and an easy way to do that is staying within the same color palette."

"Berries" Bouquet

When dreaming up floral color palettes, a lot of Kaylyn's inspiration comes from sweets, from Starburst chews to fresh summer berries. "This is a color palette that will never get old and I think carnations shine in this one so well," Kaylyn says. "There are so many colors of carnations that lend themselves to this color palette and they have a way of elevating it."

Organic Inspiration

"Textures and color are also huge sources of inspiration for me," Kaylyn says. "Deciding on a particular greenery element over another can change the entire look and feel of a design. Same with color. There are so many flowers that do an exceptional job of adding depth to a color palette just because they have natural color variations on their petals or leaves."

"Carnation + Baby's Breath" Bouquet

"Carnations really are such a versatile bloom," Kaylyn says. "And for that, I think they deserve all the cool points." Part of the carnation's versatility comes from its hundreds of varieties. Just like tomatoes and other plants with heirloom blends, the carnation has a robust offering of sizes and colors. These antique carnations are gorgeous and come in several shades of peach with variegated petals that turn into a deeper terra cotta or burnt sienna. To prove just how pretty carnations can be, Kaylyn paired them with another polarizing petal: baby's breath.

Sturdy Stalk

"I specifically wanted to do a design with these two ingredients because they are given such a hard time," Kaylan says. "I wanted to highlight their strengths and inspire folks to think out of the box when it comes to these two ingredients." Like carnations, baby's breath has a bad reputation for its use in dated '80s hair (Sixteen Candles, Steel Magnolias), but there is something dainty and almost whimsical about baby's breath. And perhaps with the new cottagecore trend, baby's breath will get another chance. These two flowers deserve a lot more praise if only because they last forever! Both carnations and baby's breath can last in a vase for two weeks or longer.

Learn More: Defining Cottagecore, the Homespun Design Style We Love

"Sunset" Bouquet

In addition to sweets, Kaylyn takes design inspiration from the farms around the world that work with The Bouqs Co. as well as SoCal sunsets at home. "These are some of my favorite colors," Kaylyn says. "And when I saw these tonal carnations, I knew I wanted to create something warm and reminiscent of those California sunsets."

Reimagining the Ordinary

"Designing an arrangement is a very peaceful place for me and I find a lot of inspiration in flowers," Kaylyn says. "I’ve always been an artistic person, so with flowers, I’ve found my medium." With that medium, Kaylyn is challenging the floral world and giving overlooked stems a second chance. This arrangement shows just how fun flowers can be — with only roses and carnations.

The Bouqs Co. Buttercream Bouquet

Convinced yet? If you don't want to create your own carnation arrangement, you can also order several of Kaylyn's designs on The Bouqs Co. for delivery straight to your doorstep. The "Buttercream" bouquet is perfect for spring with soft peaches and yellows inspired by cake icing.

Buy It: The Bouqs Co., From $49

The Bouqs Co. Splendid Bouquet

Another carnation-forward bouq, "Splendid" is the perfect arrangement to send someone just because. It's such a happy design with pink carnations front and center and cute, whimsical green buttons as accents.

Buy It: The Bouqs Co., From $54