Winter '09 :: Mimi’s Mechanics
Le rouge et le noir

tools:

A pair of snips, block of Oasis, an Oasis knife, and a garbage bag + your container

flowers:

Red spray roses Red peonies Black Baccara roses Fernshoot Privet berry Black callas

For this year’s winter shoot, I wanted to do something unpredictable. Whenever “winter” is mentioned, “white” is the first thing that pops into my mind. Why not a black arrangement instead? There are few truly black flowers, but several varieties of dark roses evoke the feel. My favorite black rose is Black Baccara, used here. Callas and fernshoot can pass for black. Upon close inspection, the callas are really eggplant and the fernshoot, a rich chocolate brown.

I included the red spray roses to pop out and the dark navy privet berry as a nice compliment to the other dark flowers. Red peonies are a nice transition from the Black Baccara roses and the red spray roses, because they are a shade lighter than the roses and don’t have as much red in them as the sprays.

1. Start by lining the urn with a garbage bag (floral foil will work, too) if your urn doesn’t hold water. This particular urn is made of iron and thus, watertight, but has a small drain hole in the bottom so it can be used as a planter as well. Cut off the parts of the bag hanging out of the urn once you’ve fitted it to your container.
2. Trim a block of designer Oasis close to the right size and then push the block into the urn. Use your Oasis knife to remove any excess and bring the height down some, if necessary. The Oasis should stick up about an inch from the lip of the urn for this arrangement.
3. I started with the privet berry to form the lines of the arrangement. Put the berry in clusters so it makes a bigger impact and doesn’t start to look too busy. The biggest flowers—peonies—come first after this. I chose the ones that were open the most to go in the very front and be the stars! (If your arrangement is going to be seen from all sides distribute your “star” blooms accordingly. Mine will be seen from just three sides, but the back still gets several nice blooms though none as blown open as the one in the front.) My smaller peonies I add in clusters to look like the larger fully open one.

Pick up our Winter 2009 issue (available on newsstands in December) for Mimi’s complete instructions on how to create this rich “black” winter arrangement.

Winter 2009 | By Mimi Brown | Photos by Jason Wallis