Floral Design Color Combinations

I often get quizzed about how I come up with my floral design color combinations.  It’s easy.  I just go shopping!

I make a regular habit of taking slow strolls around the entire farm in the evenings after all the crew are gone and all the major tasks and distractions of the day are done.  I let myself focus on single blooms and pieces of foliage.  It’s like shopping at the department store for that perfect outfit.  Try this top on with those pants.  Maybe this skirt instead with the top.  That’s good.  But now what about these earrings to tie it all together?

Just like shopping it’s best if I don’t go into these color strolls with any agenda in mind.  If I’m hunting for something specific, I’ll never find it.   So, I let my creative mind drift and toy with various ideas.  I snip individual stems of this and that as I walk.

After gathering an interesting collection of specimens, I get a small bottle to use as a vase.  Then I play with floral design color combinations by trying a stem of this with a stem of that and paying attention to how each color plays off the other.  Put a stem of dark foliage into the bottle and suddenly everything feels a little moodier.  A touch of light blue brightens it up and makes it feel summery.  The differences are subtle when in this small bottle format, but once applied to a larger design, each choice really makes an impact!

I take some quick snapshots as I go along, so I can remember which color combinations I liked the best.  It’s nice to have these pictures to show wedding clients too, serving as inspiration for their full floral palette.  It’s amazing what an evening stroll and a small bottle of blooms can inspire!

So here are a few photos from my most recent evening stroll to experiment with floral design color combinations.  I tried three different foliages to see how they would bring out the tones in the flowers. For more inspiration for floral design color combinations, check out this blog post and this blog post.   And one of my favorite fellow floral designers who inspires me with her color choices is Ariella Chezar. That lady has some mad skillz!