Over The Top Flowers - Azuma Makoto

Azuma Makoto, is an amazing floral artist.  He has done major art installations in Paris, New York, Milan, Tokyo.  Recently he did a special exhibit for a new Isetan Department store in Japan.   Titled "Art of Plants", the work includes intricate foliage on entire walls, freestanding sculptures and suspended shapes.   Simply stunning!

Simple Tulip Arrangements

Now that you know how to process and condition your just purchased tulips you will want to place them in an arrangement.  However, they can be frustrating to keep in line.  Tulips are very temperamental--like teenagers; they like to do what they want, when they want! 

Because tulips continue to grow (as much as 3-4 inches after being cut) and bend toward the light they can be difficult to arrange.  Here are a few simple arrangements to make them behave.  

This is super easy, just place three tulips at varying heights inside two different size glass cylinders.  You could do this with two, three, four or more vases of different sizes or all the same size.  Just make sure you check the water level every day as tulips are thirsty flowers. 

Gather tulips (here I used five each since the vase is small) keeping flower heads level and use a rubber band to hold stems in place.  Wrap the bottom of the stems with a tulip leaf and secure with decorative pin.  Cut stems straight across below the leaf.

Arrange tulips and grass in your hand (here I used bare grass but lily grass would work, too) and secure with rubber band.  Cover band with decorative ribbon or rafia.  Cut stems to correct length for your vase and angle over side of vase.  

Tulip Time

It's peak season for tulips.  Although tulips are available year round--thank you hot houses and overnight shipping--now is the best time to find quality flowers in a variety of colors and at the 

lowest prices.

Generally, tulips are kept in cold storage and out of water when shipped and at flower markets.  To make sure your tulips last as long as possible you will need to process and condition them correctly.

Once home, remove the tulips from their plastic wrap.  Fill a bucket with cool water but not too deep.  Tulips prefer shallow water.  Like most spring bulbs they like their feet cool and their heads warm.

Take newspaper and loosely wrap the bunch.  This will help keep the stems straight and strong as they absorb water.  Remove any lower leaves that would fall below the water line.  Cut the stems above the white parts at an angle and place in the water bucket.

Leave in the bucket for a few hours or overnight.  Tulips are heavy drinkers so make sure you check the water level in your bucket and add more cool water as needed. 

Tulips can "blow" open quickly if they have been stored in a cool location (such as the flower shop cooler) and then exposed to heat too quickly.  Be careful to move them to a cool location out of direct sun light so they don't open all the way on the first day home.