#410: Ask A Florist, with Ellen Frost

This episode of Field & Garden replays a recent Ask Me Anything event with guest host Ellen Frost, one of our online instructors and the owner/head designer of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore, Maryland.

Here, Ellen shares practical floral design advice for working with seasonal, locally grown flowers — including favorite foliage for September weddings, how to keep hydrangeas hydrated, reliable flowers for fall boutonnieres, ways flower farmers can practice designing with what they grow, and why fall can be a great time to connect with florists.

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More from Ellen: ⁠Website⁠, ⁠Email⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠FlowerMore⁠

Ellen's online courses: ⁠Preparing to Sell to Florists⁠, ⁠Growing Your Business with Local Flower Sourcing⁠

Ellen's recommended books:

⁠Cultivated: The Elements of Floral Style⁠ by Christin Geall

⁠Color Me Floral: Stunning Monochromatic Arrangements⁠ by Kiana Underwood

⁠Life in Bloom⁠ by Graeme Corbett

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The⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Field and Garden Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, owner of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Gardener’s Workshop,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Flower Farming School Online,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and the publisher of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Farmer-Florist School Online⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Florist School Online.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Lisa’s Story⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and connect with Lisa on social media!

Ask A Florist Anything with Ellen Frost

Ellen has spent more than 20 years designing with locally grown flowers and has created thousands of weddings, events, subscriptions, and retail arrangements using flowers from farms near Baltimore. Her studio sources flowers from growers within 100 miles year-round, giving her a deep understanding of how seasonal, local flowers can be used beautifully and successfully in real design work.

Here, Ellen answers questions about favorite foliage for September weddings, how to keep hydrangeas hydrated in chair arrangements, reliable flowers for fall boutonnieres, how flower farmers can practice designing with what they grow, favorite floral design books, and why fall can be a great time for growers to build relationships with florists.

In This Episode

Ellen shares practical floral design advice on:

• Choosing foliage for September weddings and blush fall palettes
• Keeping hydrangeas hydrated in wedding chair arrangements
• Selecting flowers and herbs that hold up well in fall boutonnieres
• Practicing floral design with flowers grown in your own garden or field
• Building confidence with mechanics, color, movement, and seasonal ingredients
• Understanding what florists may be looking for from local flower farmers in fall

Favorite Foliage for a September Wedding

September weddings are so much fun because you can still use the softness of summer while adding richer fall color. For a blush palette with pops of autumn tones, foliage can help tie everything together.

Eucalyptus is always a great starting point. There are many kinds available, and they do not all have the same color. Some are dusty and gray-green, while others are a clearer, brighter green. Choose the one that works best with the rest of the palette.

Ellen also loves scented geranium. There are so many beautiful types now, including attar of roses, ginger, and chocolate geranium. Some are lime green, some are darker, and each brings a little texture and fragrance to a design.

For that deeper fall pop, consider adding:

• Ninebark for dark foliage and rich color
• Smoke bush for softness and drama
• Diervilla when you need a darker green or burgundy note
• Sage for its dusty, soft color
• Oregano or mountain mint for an herbal touch

While Ellen doesn't always love the smell of sage, she does love its color in a blush wedding palette. It works especially well when the flowers are soft pink, peach, cream, or muted mauve.

And then there are sea oats. They are not technically foliage, but that's how Ellen uses them. Sea oats bring movement, whimsy, and that wonderful early-fall feeling. They can make an arrangement feel loose and natural without being messy.

How to Keep Hydrangeas Hydrated in Chair Arrangements

Hydrangeas are beautiful, but they can be very finicky. If you are putting hydrangeas into a wedding chair arrangement, they need access to water. Ellen advises not to use them out of water unless the ceremony is very short and the flowers are installed right before it begins.

Ellen's favorite solution is simple: a water pick. Put the hydrangea stem into the water pick, then hide the pick with foliage. A large hosta leaf or hydrangea leaf works especially well because it covers the mechanic without looking forced.

You can also use a small sustainable floral mechanic, such as an ocean pouch or Agra Wool, covered with chicken wire. This gives you a water source and a place to secure flowers. But for hydrangeas, she prefers the clear, direct water supply of a water pick whenever possible.

Hydrangeas are just too valuable and too thirsty to take chances with.

Reliable Flowers for Fall Boutonnieres

Boutonnieres need to survive hugs, body heat, movement, and a long day. That means choosing flowers and foliage that hold up well out of water.

Ellen's number-one choice is rosemary. It is fantastic in every season. Rosemary does not wilt easily, it stays neat, and it does not crush when people hug. It also gives a boutonniere a little texture and a fresh herbal feel.

Other great choices include:

• Strawflower, which is fresh but acts almost like a dried flower
• Gomphrena, especially sturdy red, orange, or fuchsia types
• Ball dahlias, such as Cornell Bronze or Cornell Red
• Terracotta celosia, which tends to be sturdier than softer plume types

A favorite fall boutonniere recipe is a ball dahlia, a small piece of gomphrena, and rosemary. It is simple, seasonal, and sturdy.

Wire Ball Dahlias for Extra Security

Ball dahlias are lovely, but sometimes the flower head can pop off the stem. That is not something you want happening during a hug or in the middle of wedding photos.

To make them more secure, use a light-gauge wire. Push it through the center of the dahlia and into the stem. Then tape the wire along the stem and trim the wire tip. This small step helps keep the flower head in place.

Gomphrena usually does not need wiring. If you are using a branchy, lighter-stemmed variety in pale pink or white, a little floral tape around the stem can add support. Sturdier gomphrena types are generally fine on their own.

Designing With the Flowers You Grow

For flower farmers, learning to design with your own flowers can change everything. You may be growing beautiful dahlias, zinnias, celosia, salvia, or lisianthus, but it can be hard to know how to turn that harvest into arrangements that feel finished and useful.

Design gets easier through practice. One helpful way to practice is to give yourself a clear design challenge. Instead of just gathering flowers and hoping for the best, make one arrangement with a specific goal.

For example, try creating:

• A table arrangement with the vase completely hidden
• A meadow-style arrangement for a wedding
• A low centerpiece that guests can see over
• An arrangement using only flowers from your own garden
• A design made for an unusual place, such as floating in a pool

Working this way helps you learn mechanics, balance, color, flower placement, and which flowers last well out of water. It also helps you see your own crops differently. A flower that may not be a big focal bloom can still be the exact ingredient that gives a design life.

Designing with local flowers really is the best. You have the chance to work with flowers at their freshest, use unusual varieties, and create designs that actually reflect the season.

Floral Design Books Worth Keeping Nearby

Ellen and her team love floral design books. Ellen has hosted an in-person flower book club in Baltimore for nearly 14 years, and they have read dozens and dozens of books together. A good floral book can teach technique, but it can also help you develop your own eye and style.

These are a few books Ellen especially enjoys:

• Cultivated: The Elements of Floral Style by Christin Geall. This book is wonderful for learning how to think about color, style, and the feeling behind an arrangement.
• Color Me Floral by Kiana Underwood. This is especially helpful for asymmetrical arrangements because it shows the process step by step.
• Life in Bloom by Graeme Corbett. Graeme is a flower farmer in England, and his approach makes floral design feel welcoming and doable, especially for beginners.

Why Fall Is a Great Time to Sell Flowers to Florists

Fall is busy for weddings and events, which means florists need flowers. It is also one of the best times for flower farmers to begin reaching out and building relationships with local floral designers.

Dahlias and zinnias can be a real opening. Many florists cannot get great dahlias from a wholesaler, and good zinnias are not always easy to find either. If you grow reliable, long-lasting flowers, you have something valuable to offer.

Zinnias are a great example. If you can show a florist that your zinnias are well grown, properly harvested, and long-lasting, that can set you apart.

Approaching florists can feel stressful. Florists are busy, and sometimes they may seem distracted or hard to read. Do not let one rejection stop you. Building confidence and learning how to approach a florist professionally can make a huge difference.

Start with your best flowers. Be clear about what you have, when it is available, and how you sell it. A florist may already be buying many things from a wholesaler, but your local dahlias, zinnias, and specialty crops can fill a gap that the wholesaler cannot.

Favorite Local Flowers for Spring and Fall

Spring and fall are both full of flowers that Ellen loves to design with.

For early spring, her favorites include tulips, ranunculus, anemones, freesia, hellebores, and poppies. Tulips are her favorite flower, even though they have become expensive. Before peony season arrives, spring flowers feel extra special because they are the first big burst of color after winter.

As spring moves along, snapdragons, stock, Bells of Ireland, larkspur, and delphinium offer wonderful line and height. Then peonies come in, and it suddenly feels like the season has crossed into something new.

In fall, dahlias and heirloom chrysanthemums are major focal flowers. Ellen also loves strawflower, celosia, gladiolus, and sword lily. These flowers bring color, shape, and personality to autumn designs.

Local flower design is about noticing what is good right now. It is about using the flowers that are at their peak, choosing mechanics that help them last, and trusting that seasonal ingredients are more than enough to create something beautiful.

Quick Answers from This Episode

What foliage works well for a September wedding?
Eucalyptus, scented geranium, ninebark, smoke bush, diervilla, sage, oregano, mountain mint, and sea oats can all work beautifully in September wedding designs.

Can hydrangeas be used in chair arrangements?
Yes, but they need a water source. A water pick is one of the simplest ways to keep hydrangeas hydrated in chair arrangements.

What flowers work well for fall boutonnieres?
Rosemary, strawflower, gomphrena, ball dahlias, and sturdy celosia can all work well for fall boutonnieres because they hold up better out of water.

Why should flower farmers practice floral design?
Practicing design helps growers understand how their flowers work in arrangements, which crops last well, and how to create finished pieces for customers, weddings, markets, and events.

Why is fall a good time to sell flowers to florists?
Fall is busy with weddings and events, and florists often need local dahlias, zinnias, foliage, and specialty crops that may not be available or of high quality through regular wholesale channels.