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Patriotic Flower Arrangements

  President's Day, Fourth of July, Constitution Day

Red, White and Blue are the colors that come to mind for patriotic occasions.   Blue can be a difficult color to find, but you can seek out iris, delphinium, cornflower and hydrangea to fit that slot in the color wheel.  If these fail, you can use permanent flowers. I try to keep a few permanent blue flowers handy for emergencies.

Click on thumbnails to see larger images

Step-By-Step

The floral foam was soaked and then placed in a white bowl. It was secured with clear floral tape, placed across the edges. 

Pieces of wheat were cut to stand about 14" tall and were wrapped with stem wrap to keep them bundled. These were inserted in a dry water pick to keep them from being ruined so they could be reused.

 Why not fruit?

As American as apple pie and easy to create. Take an aluminum pie plate, used or new, and hot glue fabric trim to the edge to simulate pastry.  Fill the plate with red sisal, then add five shiny red apples. Rub apples lightly with vegetable oil or cooking spray to get a good shine.  Center miniature flags stuck in floral clay, or secure plastic flag holder with a little floral clay.   After your event, everyone takes an apple or two home!

For George Washington's Birthday, place a candle and surround with cherries. Your guests can eat the centerpiece.
Seven red carnations were cut at varying heights to stand below the wheat. One bent and was repaired as shown in Arranging Tips. They were inserted in the foam close to the wheat.   

 Five large white mums were cut with short stems and inserted, as a group of 3 and group of 2, in the foam to cover the edge of the bowl. One of the pair was cut slightly longer to match the height of the tallest carnation.

Spaces remaining were filled with permanent stems of cornflower to add areas of blue.  A few sprays of baby's breath add for variety.

Sometimes stems break or bend when you try to insert them in floral foam. There are a few fixes when you absolutely must have that flower to have the correct number.    

Take a piece of stem you have trimmed and hold it next to the bent stem. Use a piece of floral tape to wrap them together. Wrap on a diagonal, pulling the tape slightly to activate the ability of the tape to stick together.

To create a pave' design, select compact flowers like small carnations, mums or rose buds, cut the stems short and place them close together all over the surface of the foam.  Add flags or other patriotic decorations that you can raise on sticks through the flowers.  Drizzle red, blue or silver Bullion wire all over  the top of the flowers as you would frosting on a cake.

- If the stem breaks, you can place the shortened stem into a water pick and use it in an area where the pick will not be obvious.

- A bent stem can be straightened by inserting a thin gauge wire into the center of the stem.

- Place a thin stem that has broken into a hollow stem trimmed from another flower.

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