J Schwanke’s Life In Bloom

>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by the following... >> That flower feeling.

At home.

At work.

Or anytime.

CalFlowers is a proud sponsor of "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom," where flowers and wellness go hand in hand.

>> We have fresh in all our stores, from soups and steaks and all things flour to all things flowering.

Custom fresh arrangements designed by our in-store florists at Albertsons Companies.

>> Today on "Life in Bloom," we're counting on petals for entertainment.

You'll learn the importance of petal counts, we'll craft with petals, assemble some artistic creations, and even include petals in an hors d'oeuvre spread.

I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

Petals are the focus of today's episode.

How many of us have asked the iconic daisy who loves us?

The familiar act of plucking petals one by one, questioning as we go, is a satisfying exercise, isn't it?

On the other end of the petal count is a rose or a peony, with luxurious amounts of petals, almost too numerous to count.

However, my favorite reference to petals is from Constance Spry, a London florist known as the mother of modern floral design and known for abandoning the restrictive rules of Victorian-era flower arranging.

It's said that one of her favorite moments was when the first petals began to drop from an arrangement.

It is a reminder of the fleeting aspects of flowers and life.

It reminds us to appreciate every moment.

Many years ago, I was asked by my friend Andy Koch from Eufloria Flowers to go to Amsterdam with him and his crew.

When we were there, we were picking out new varieties of roses that they would consider growing on their flower farm to sell to florists and people all across the country.

So, when we went to learn about these roses, and we would go to breeders, we would learn about new varieties they were growing, about the color that they were, the lasting quality that they had, and the petal count.

That was extremely important because a rose with more petals is more desirable because it gives us that big, voluptuous shape.

So, when we have lots of petals, the rose looks fuller when we don't have as many.

If you think about the roses that we grow in our garden, many people refer to those as a noisette rose, which is like the original floribunda rose.

And it has a single row of petals around the center instead of multiple ones.

It looks a lot like this butterfly ranunculus.

See how we've got petals?

Just one set.

Now, if we were to look at this, we've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine petals.

This is what the original ranunculus look like.

We visited the flower farms in California one time, and they talked about how the person who developed the flower farm helped hybridize ranunculus that look like this to create ones that looked like this, with multiple layers of petals.

Petal count's important to all sorts of flowers.

Here we have a mini, or spray, carnation.

These are advancements to a dianthus that looks like this.

Again, we may only have ten sets of petals around on this flower.

This is the type of dianthus that grows in our garden.

And this is the hybridized form of a spray carnation that has lots of petals to make it look more ruffled.

Now, petals are what we talk about for ranunculus and roses and carnations.

Hydrangeas, we don't necessarily refer to these as petals.

Each one of these little flowers is an inflorescence.

And each one of those little flowers has one, two, three, four, five petals on it.

The inflorescents make up the entire bloom of the hydrangea.

So let's take a look at a hybrid tea rose versus a garden rose.

This is a hybrid tea rose.

And I just want to show you this as an example of petal count.

We've got 1, 2, 3, 4... 9, 10, 11... 18, 19, 20... 27, 28, 29, 30.

So, we roughly have 30 petals on that rose.

And those 30 petals help make that rose the fullness that you saw.

Now, let's take a look at the garden rose.

1, 2, 3... 12, 13, 14... 28, 29, 30.

Now, 30 was how many we had over here.

And that's how many more we have left.

31, 32... 56, 57, 58... 81, 82, 83... 98, 99.

So, very close to 100 petals on that versus the 30 that we had on the other flower.

So, you see, petal count is important because it makes our flowers look more voluptuous, makes them look more full.

At the same time, a flower like this can look dainty and delicate, as well.

I love flowers, and I love the wonderful lessons that they can teach us, even when it comes to petal count.

Of course roses are romantic, and, thus, rose petals carry on that romantic feel.

Using petals is a wonderful way to maximize the flower effect with only a few flowers needed.

Each rose can provide a veritable mountain of rose petals.

Here's three romantic ways to combine rose petals and candles that add a little romance to any setting.

This is a fun project, and it takes a little bit of preparation.

Any type of clear glass container will work well.

A fruit jar works great, or we can use a votive.

We use a brush and apply a thin coat of craft glue to the glass container.

Then we use our pressed rose petals and apply them to the glue.

I removed my fresh rose petals, and I pressed them in my flower press.

That takes a little bit of time.

Generally, about 3 to 5 days in the flower press will give us beautiful petals.

They retain their color, and they're paper-thin.

They're perfect for this project.

Then we'll put another coat over the top.

That second coat is dcoupaging those beautiful petals to the outside of the container.

Then we can slip a candle down inside.

And we've got a beautiful votive candle.

You can use petals, you can use leaves, or even different types of flowers.

These pansies and violets were pressed, as well.

So, I can apply those to a glass votive like this.

So, for this project, we need petals.

And you grab the rose and simply pull off all the petals at once.

It's oddly satisfying.

So, then we'll place our petals down inside the vase.

This vase takes about a rose-and-a-half worth of petals to fill.

Then I hold the petals down with my finger and pour in the water.

We place our floating candle on top.

Submerged petals like this will last about 18 hours before they start to discolor the water.

For this petal project, we use a low, clear dish.

We've got rocks in the bottom, and we'll fill it with water.

Then we use the petals from one rose on top of the water.

I'll push it down so that the petals start to be submerged.

Finally, we'll drop in our two floating candles.

It's a wonderful floating centerpiece with beautiful rose petals.

So, there you have it -- petals three ways and beautiful romantic candle centerpieces.

Leucanthemum superbum, also known as Shasta daisy.

The Shasta daisy is a well-liked perennial because it's easy to grow.

The Shasta daisy is a commonly grown, flowering, herbaceous, perennial plant with the classic daisy appearance of white petals, also known as ray florets, that surround a yellow disk.

The word "daisy" originally meant "day's eye" and was used to refer to the sunlike appearance of the flower.

The Shasta daisy originated as a hybrid produced in 1890 by the American horticulturist Luther Burbank from a number of different daisy cultivars.

Shastas are well-liked because they bloom all summer and attract bees, birds, and butterflies to your garden.

Shasta daisies are drought-tolerant, and many cultivars are suitable for cut flowers.

This is a fun mocktail called the ginger-rose fizz.

It takes a little bit of preparation, but it's definitely petal-rific.

We'll start with our glasses, and we'll dip the edge in honey, because we need a good amount of glue on the edge of the glass.

We'll dip the edge in dried rose petals.

These are organic rose petals that I grew in my yard so I could govern them and make sure they were organic.

So, then we'll squeeze in some lemon juice.

And we'll add some rose elixir.

I have ice, and the ice has a rose petal infused inside.

We simply added water, placed the rose petal, let it freeze, and added more distilled water on top.

We'll finish with ginger beer.

The ginger-rose fizz -- a petal-perfect mocktail.

Here's my "Bloom 365 Tip," helping you enjoy flowers every day of the year.

Today, we're talking about the gard petal.

Many people think it's "guard," like G-U-A-R-D, because it's protecting or guarding the petal from other things.

It's actually called the gard petal, G-A-R-D, named after William Gardiner, the professor that discovered that the petal on the outside of the rose is half of a leaf and half of a flower.

The petals on the inside have no ability to produce photosynthesis, like leaves do.

But these outside ones do.

And what that means is they draw water up the stem.

They also create photosynthesis that feeds the flower and helps the flower get bigger and to grow.

Now, the interesting thing about it is you can see how that petal is half leaf and half flower.

It has that wonderful, little green stripe on the side.

If it's damaged and looks unsightly, like this, you can remove it.

But when you remove that petal, you also create an area down here that it can draw air through.

So, it will shorten the vase life of your flower.

The other interesting thing about these petals is you'll notice that the gard petal recedes, and these petals don't get as big as the other petals on the outside.

They hold on and support the flower.

So, you'll notice that these petals on the back side are holding this flower up as it expands and gets bigger.

Another interesting thing about the gard petal is those petals are sometimes older.

And as they age, they change color, and they allow us to have an enhancement on the outside of the rose, giving it a bicolor effect.

Again, those petals are supporting all the other petals on the inside and helping it draw water up to that beautiful flower.

Leave your gard petals on, whenever possible.

You'll have longer-lasting flowers.

Obviously, when we pick up flowers and bring them home, we think about putting them in a vase.

But what about if we took the petals and the flowers themselves and created a piece of abstract art that we could turn into a card to send to someone else?

This is a fun, little craft where we'll take the petals and the flowers from this bouquet and create a beautiful piece of artwork that we can then photograph and send as a card.

I use watercolor paper as the background for this petal piece of art.

I like it because it has great texture, and it's matte white.

I'll start with my calla lilies.

I'll take one piece of skin off one side of the stem of the calla lily bloom.

What this does is makes it more pliable and makes it curve very easily.

I'll do that to two of them.

And then my third one, I'll cut shorter.

That'll be the foundation for the abstract piece we're creating.

Our next flower is lilies.

I like to deconstruct the lily blossom so that I have the petals and the stamen separately.

Both will be attractive pieces in this piece of art.

I love spray roses because if we cut them off with a knife and cut the calyx completely off, they stand up.

Then I can arrange them in order, according to size.

Roses can also be very interesting.

Simply by popping off the entire head and then cutting it back on the back side, you get a flower that almost looks like a ranunculus.

I'll save the center calyx and use that again a little bit later.

Next, we'll add the stamens from our lilies.

I love how they look like a delicate piece of art all on their own.

I love Craspedia yarrow.

Cutting them all flush, I can use them as little yellow globes.

The calyx looks like a starfish with a little flowery center.

That's another great accent.

Now all I need is my smartphone.

I'll take a picture, and then we can print it off on card stock.

So, now we've printed it off on card stock, and we can use it as a postcard, or we could frame it as a gift.

It's a perfect way to use our petals to create something personal.

For a recipe today that goes with petals is an herbed butter.

And we're going to create that herbed butter a little different way and use some of our edible fresh-flower petals on top.

We're working with unsalted butter, and we're going to take that.

And we're just going to spread it out on our cutting board.

We'll start with the lemon zest.

I'm using organic lemons.

Then we'll add some pink Himalayan salt... ...some herbs de Provence.

And then we'll sprinkle our edible petals over the top.

So, we serve our flower-petal butter with saltines.

And people come in and scrape up some and place it on their cracker.

That's delicious.

Today, I'm going to show you another way to make a composite flower, known as the duchess rose.

This method differs from other projects we have shown on previous episodes of "Life in Bloom."

I created an orchid composite flower on a round piece of cardboard.

You can make a duchess rose that way, too.

I also showed the time-honored method of creating a glamelia, like my grandpa "Carnation" Joe did back in the day, using floral tape and florist wire.

It's truly a lost art, and it takes a lot of patience.

You can create a duchess rose that way, as well.

Here's another way to create a composite flower from roses, or, as I like to call it, the duchess rose.

This is a classic florist term and references a rose that is oversized and typically created from several flowers to give it a more opulent, full, vivacious appearance.

And I'll create it using floral adhesive.

That's a professional flower glue you can get online, or you can also use rubber cement.

We'll start with three roses.

These have an enormous amount of petals, and they're going to make a great duchess rose.

One of them is darker.

The other two are lighter.

So, that's going to work well for contrasting petals.

We'll remove the petals and lay them facedown.

I just go through and sort, making sure to discard any petals that might have a blemish or look bad.

We'll choose our one that'll be our center rose.

We'll flip it around on the back side, and we'll remove the calyx, just peeling it off so that we've got a good surface to glue to.

Then we can start with our floral adhesive.

It's just like rubber cement.

So, we want to put it on the surface and let it dry a little bit before we start to apply two surfaces together.

We'll apply it to the back of the rose and let that dry as I apply it to the rest of the petals.

I'm going to flip the petals over and place the glue on the inside, at the bottom of each petal.

We'll start with the back of the rose and attach petals all the way around.

This covers up where I placed the floral adhesive.

So, we'll need to reapply it over each layer and then add another ring of petals around.

I saved four petals from the outside of my rose so I can place those on the outside of this rose.

That'll give it a more natural appearance.

You may want to let it dry for a few minutes before you attach it to the greenery.

I'm going to add a beautiful monstera leaf and two pieces of umbrella foliage.

We'll nestle the duchess rose down inside and bind them together using bind wire.

Obviously, those petals don't have a water source.

So, this is something you'd make the day that you were going to use it.

With the introduction and popularity of garden roses, there isn't as much of a need to create duchess roses, but it's a fun technique, and I thought it would be fun for you to see this classic technique for yourself.

Today, I have three arrangements to share with you from an accomplished fan by the last name of Maher, who arranges flowers for their church.

These are beautiful, and I so enjoy seeing how our viewers are perfecting their flower-arranging skills and sharing their passion for flowers.

That's what a life in bloom is all about.

I love to see pictures of your flower arrangements.

Send them to [email protected].

That's the letter "J" "@" the letter "u" Bloom.com.

And watch for more viewer bouquets on upcoming shows.

I hope you loved this episode, focused on petals, as opposed to loved it not, and that we've inspired you to enjoy an arrangement or two around your home, as well.

For "Life in Bloom," I'm J Schwanke.

There you go.

That's good, right?

You did a good job.

You did a good job helping me, yeah.

>> [ Barks ] >> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

>> Visit J's website, uBloom.com, for flower projects and crafts, complete recipes, behind-the-scenes videos, J's blog, flower cocktails, and more.

"J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by the following... >> That flower feeling.

At home.

At work.

Or anytime.

CalFlowers is a proud sponsor of "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom," where flowers and wellness go hand in hand.

>> We have fresh in all our stores, from soups and steaks and all things flour to all things flowering.

Custom fresh arrangements designed by our in-store florists at Albertsons Companies.

>> Closed-caption funding provided by Holland America Flowers.