Citrus and Sunshine: Designing an Orange and Yellow Floral Arrangement

Sometimes bright, happy colors are just what is needed to bring a room to life, especially during the sunshine rich days of July. When I saw these flowers at the market the other day I knew they would make a unique combination displayed in a white stoneware pitcher.  The arrangement includes a refreshing mix of  lemon yellow spider mums, light orange carnations and white alstrolomeria combined with white button mums, basil and calamondin oranges.

For this design, I placed the large yellow spider mums first to provide structure then added the carnations and button mums to soften the shape.  Finally, to make the arrangement more fragrant, sprigs of basil and clippings from our decorative orange tree were included.  The pitcher is filled with flowers pouring out in all directions as shown in the image below.

This detail photo of one of the yellow spider mums captures the unusual shape of this flower.  It reminds me of exploding fireworks with its long straight petals bursting forth.  Happy Fourth of July!