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.

>> With additional support from the following.

>> Today on "Life in Bloom," we'll expand on ways to arrange a classic market-flower bouquet, from adding blooms or produce from the garden to simply get different ways to arrange them.

You'll enjoy your favorite bouquet in a new light.

I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

Today, I'm going to show you how to enjoy the versatility of a single market bouquet.

This bouquet is beautiful in the vase as is, of course.

I merely unwrapped it, cut the ends, and placed it in the vase.

But I wanted to show you four more ways to present this same bouquet.

Before we get to that, I also want to provide tips on getting the best results from a market bouquet.

Look for a fresh bouquet and make sure that your bouquet is exactly what you want.

Once you're home, remove the wrapper and review the contents.

Sort through the stems and remove any that might be damaged.

Remove foliage on the lower two-thirds of the stem to reduce the chance of bacteria below the waterline.

Use cold water whenever possible to inhibit bacteria growth.

And, of course, use the packet of flower food.

Follow the directions, and you can extend the life of your flowers as much as 25%.

So, now you're ready to arrange your bouquet in a vase like this for this result.

Or maybe you're up for a new technique that will create your market bouquet in a completely different manner.

One of the simplest ways to enhance this market bouquet is to add flowers from the garden or even foliage from the yard.

So this morning, I went out and picked some things that we're going to add to this bouquet.

We'll start by creating a structure with our foliage first.

I've added some hosta leaves and some hellebore foliage, as well as some viburnum and one of my favorites, the African blue basil.

That creates a wonderful structure, and we can start to add the flowers from the bouquet and the flowers from the yard at the same time.

I always like to sort the flowers, so I've sorted my garden flowers, as well as these into varieties so it makes it easier for me to choose and know what I have to make a beautiful bouquet.

We'll start with the Lepidium to continue to add to the structure.

Another fun thing to do is to group our flowers together.

It makes it look different and it allows us to give more resilience to that flower in one spot.

So dahlias, roses, spray roses, this big dahlia in the front, and our garden roses over here means that we get more emphasis with that color and flower type in one spot.

So, see how adding a few flowers from the garden really changes this bouquet?

And it makes it a little more personal, too, having a little bit of your garden with that beautiful market bouquet.

Placing the flowers in an arrangement with wet foam automatically changes the look of the bouquet.

Beyond that, fruit or veggies, even just two or three pieces of citrus are great opportunities to change the vibe of this bouquet.

We've got a box, and inside, there's a liner.

And we've placed three blocks of soaked flower foam inside.

We'll be making our arrangement in that flower foam, along with the placements of our fruit.

It's going to add a different dynamic to this bouquet.

We've sorted all of our flowers and we'll start with our fruit.

I picked up bamboo skewers at the grocery store, and we're going to use those to insert directly into our fruit.

I'm going to use two, because then it's not going to spin around when I place it where I want it to go.

It's going to be secure and not rotate.

You need to have a little bit of a vision of where you want the fruit and the flowers to be.

I think that's important.

But once you've seen this completed, you'll have a vision in your mind that you can use as a reference point to what you'd like to create.

We've also cut up some of our fruit, and so we're going to add that last as topping to the other flowers.

So, we've put in two lemons two grapefruits, and two oranges.

Now we can add our flowers.

I'm taking this Lepidium and I'm breaking it up into pieces.

And then I'm putting them together as a bundle and cutting that singular bundle as one flower stem.

Then I can place it in as a group, and it's going to all be gathered together.

So, you'll notice, with this arrangement, we've added our accent flowers first -- the solidago, and our dianthus, our Lepidium, and the stock.

Now we'll come in with our focal flowers, the roses and our spray roses, to fill in areas with those.

Then we'll add our fruit as a topping.

Here's another great trick.

When I have a stem like this that has beautiful foliage on it, I can use that inside my arrangement to add some foliage in between those flowers.

It's a quick and easy way to use that beautiful rose foliage again in a different way.

It's important to remember, when you're using this trick, to make sure you leave the leaves attached to the stem.

It's the node at the bottom of the leaf that hydrates those leaves.

So we need to make sure that that stem remains intact.

We cut it and then we can add it right to the arrangement.

Now we can add in our cut pieces of fruit as topping for the arrangement.

Not to worry if you don't have bamboo stakes.

Remember that you can use the stem of your flowers and insert it in the fruit to hold it in your foam, as well.

Can you believe it's the same bouquet?

That citrus added to this arrangement makes it even more beautiful.

Limonium sinuatum, commonly known as statice, wavyleaf sea lavender, notchleaf marsh rosemary, seafoam, and sea pink.

It is native to the whole Mediterranean basin and usually grows in sandy grounds.

Grown for both its colorful flowers and its everlasting calyx, the green leaf that encloses the flower bud, statice is also considered an herb.

It is a short-lived perennial plant and is often treated as an annual.

The flowers present in short, papery clusters and colors ranging from white to pink, purple, and yellow.

Statice is commonly used in dried-flower arrangements, as well as fresh bouquets.

In the language of flowers, statice symbolizes remembrance.

Starting with the same bouquet, this time, we'll create a table runner -- flowers that run down the center of the table.

Several vases allows us to create a centerpiece, but I also sometimes want that centerpiece to have great impact.

So, this is a box that my dad created for me out of the wooden benches in our greenhouses.

And these three vases fit neatly inside, so this is a great way for them to be compartmentalized, create great impact, and be easy to move.

We'll start with our Lepidium and place that to create structure in the vases.

You'll notice how we've done that with almost every project.

Then we'll add our accent flowers.

We have three pieces of solidago, three vases, three dianthus, three vases.

Then we've got our stock.

And then we'll add our spray roses, building each arrangement individually, but as a unit for our table runner.

We're adding the roses last, because those are our focal flowers and we want to make sure that we don't cover them up with any of our accent flowers.

Now we've completed our table-runner arrangement.

It has wonderful impact, it's narrow, and can be set in the middle of the table.

The other thing I love is that it's in a box for great and easy transportation.

But don't forget -- we can slip out these bouquets and we could elongate them on a table or we could set them in different areas of the house.

This is a great way for us to transform our market bouquet.

Here we are again with our beautiful friend, the market bouquet.

Another way to change up this bouquet is to sort through the blooms and divide it into collections of flowers.

I love to do this as I also love to share bouquets.

When I'm done, I can bring cheer to all my friends or position them around the house if I need a flower fix myself.

So, our vases are containers that were in recycling.

I've cleaned them out.

We'll fill them with flowers so we can give them away, and I don't have to worry about them coming back.

Let me show you how to make these gifted arrangements.

When I'm creating gift bouquets, I look at my bouquet when I'm purchasing it to make sure it has lots of different types of flowers.

I'm dividing it, as I always do, and then I can use each of the different flowers in a different container.

Using some of the accent flowers with some of the other flowers works well, too, or two flowers in a small bud vase is great, as well.

This is a great way to take that magnificent bouquet and create six wonderful gifts.

What a great way to take that beautiful bouquet and distribute it to friends as a gift.

Remember that when you create a bouquet and give it away, you also get the health and wellness benefits, as well as the person receiving it.

It's an important way to create a life in bloom.

And now it's time for my favorite part of the show -- "Flowers from You," the viewers.

Today, I have a few arrangements from Brad and Kelly Gomez of Florida.

You may remember that the phrase "Schwankes" was coined by these early fans of "Life in Bloom."

Brad sends me pictures of their arrangements almost weekly.

They've really taken experiencing the positive effects of flowers to heart, and I love seeing the progression their arrangements have gone through.

Brad and Kelly are a testament to practice makes perfect, as they work weekly perfecting their flower-arranging skills, from trying new techniques, like using flower foam, or branching out with different varieties of flowers.

I also wanted to put their faces with their names.

This is Kelly, awe-inspired by the choices at their local flower seller.

And here they are together with some of their "Finer Things Sunday" arrangements.

These two enjoy the health and wellness benefits of flowers, from processing the flowers to arranging them, gifting them, and enjoying them.

They have fully embraced a magical life in bloom.

Thank you, Brad and Kelly, for the joy, laughter, and sincerity your amazing stories and flowers bring to my life.

You're two-in-a-million.

And thanks again for coining the term "Schwankes" for your bouquets.

I love to see pictures of your flower Schwankes inspired by "Life in Bloom."

Send them to [email protected].

The letter "J" at the letter "U"-bloom.com.

And watch for more Schwankes on upcoming shows.

I hope you've been inspired by these ideas for bouquets and market flowers.

It's always exciting to stretch even a little out of our comfort zone and try something new.

Give at least one of these ideas a try.

You'll enjoy your favorite market bouquet even more.

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

"J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

>> Visit uBloom.com to access all episodes of "Life in Bloom," plus exclusive flower videos, J's newsletter and blog.

Find recipes, flower tips, techniques, and much more.

Be sure to follow "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" on social media.

"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.

>> With additional support from the following.

Closed caption funding provided by fabulousflorals.com.