The Importance of Greenery in Floral Design

Floral Design

Mar 19

Written By

Collage of three types of greenery: eucalyptus, dusty miller, and lemon leaf

When you look at most arrangements, bouquets, and even landscapes, what is the foundation of the overall design? Greenery!

Foliage is important for creating structure in an arrangement and building a canvas to make focal flowers truly stand out. Like flowers, greenery can define a bouquet's shape, add texture and color, and create balance. Together, these details begin to form a specific aesthetic for not only an individual design, but an entire event.

Some of Our Favorite Greenery

Mini Variegated Pittosporum

Mini variegated pittosporum is such a fun foliage. It’s a bit bushy, and is great for creating wonderful organic-feeling arrangements. The leaves vary from sage green to ivory, and add luscious texture and color to a design. It’s great for bouquets, arrangements, and even large installations.

Lemon Leaf

Lemon Leaf (also called Salal) is a green you’ve probably seen before in arrangements. It has a strong, bark-like stem that provides amazing structure to designs. A few stems in a bouquet or vessel creates a wonderful base for the rest of a design, and its large, bright green leaves add liveliness to any arrangement.

Dusty Miller

Dusty Miller is a silvery-blue foliage that has a soft, felt like texture. It’s a versatile green that pairs incredibly well with deep dramatic colors for winter weddings, as well as all of the romantic pastel hues during the spring. Dusty Miller comes in different varieties and offers a lush, unique texture to floral arrangements of all kinds.

Plumosa Fern

Plumosa fern can be a bit prickly to the touch, but it provides the softest detail to a design. The stems are skinny, yet sturdy, and the foliage looks whimsical, with an almost cloud-like essence. A little goes a long way with this green and only a stem or two is needed to add some airy, woodland charm to designs.

Nagi

Nagi is a great structural green. It boasts an incredible emerald green color with a slight sheen, and adds wonderful texture to floral designs—not to mention that it lasts forever. Nagi’s sturdy, upright nature makes it an ideal choice for bouquets, arrangements and garlands.

Willow Eucalyptus

Willow Eucalyptus is a unique green. The stems (and leaves) are thin, making this a perfect foliage for carefree handheld bouquets, especially of the cascading variety. For a bride wanting a bohemian aesthetic, this is the perfect choice in greenery. While it’s not ideal for sculptural arrangements, willow is wonderful for romantic arbors, installation pieces and table top garlands.

Seeded Eucalyptus

Seeded Eucalyptus smells wonderful and has incredible texture, too. Not only do you get the smooth dusty blue-green leaves, but also a smattering of light green seed pods. This foliage is perfect for adding some drape to a bouquet, and also serves as a great base for garlands.

Silver Dollar Eucalyptus

Silver Dollar Eucalyptus is another great greenery found pretty often in wedding design. The leaves are typically a bit larger and wider than seeded eucalyptus, and in general has a strong, yet flexible stem good for creating shape in a bouquet or arrangement. With its airiness and soft mint color, silver dollar eucalyptus complements any season of flowers.

When thinking about a floral arrangement, it's easy to jump right to the flowers. They're undoubtedly the star of the show, and make it so easy to get lost on Pinterest for hours on end browsing for floral beauties. Don't underestimate the power of greenery, though! Greenery supports and emphasizes its floral counterparts, and can be equally beautiful (and definitely equally important!).