Petal to the Metal

I just got a bundle of flowers from flower subscription company Petals for the People who has expanded its delivery service to include Creative Parties in Bethesda and ArtSpring in Silver Spring. It was a bit daunting--at least 25 stems of flowers you don't usually see in the grocery store, all waiting for me to use my keen eye for design and dexterous hands to arrange. Um, where to start? I had roses, kangaroo paw, cornflowers, orinoco mums, monte cassino, salal and an aspidistra leaf. I checked out the Petals for the People blog and watched Sarah von Pollaro arrange them on the demonstration video. A snip of a stem here, there, some water here, a decorative petal here and wa-la--three different arrangements: large, medium and small. I opted for one medium and one large and came up with two arrangements bursting with color and 'verve'. The medium is pictured above. How'd I do??