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Show your mother who you get your talent from with an on-point arrangement you made yourself (with an assist from some florists). Go here to find out about the latest floral trend – a throwback to the 16th century.

(Photos by Hudson Hayden)

Lisa Collins, owner of Toronto’s Sweet Woodruff


Shopping list

5 stems bush ivy

3 stems strawberry foliage

3 stems camellia foliage

5 purple bouvardia

6 pink garden roses or carnations

5 purple parrot tulips

3 pink French tulips

3 purple clematis

3 pink peonies

5 peach ranunculus

12 pink sweet peas

5 lavender veronica

How to

1. Place floral tape in a tic-tac-toe grid over the opening of a footed vase no bigger than six inches in diametre.

2. First, add the greenery (bush ivy plus strawberry and camellia foliage) to create the basic shape and silhouette of the arrangement.

3. Next, add the larger flowers (bouvardia, roses and tulips). These form the floral base of your arrangement.

4. Layer the focal blooms (clematic, peonies and ranunculus) on top of the base flowers. This gives the arrangement depth and places the showstopping blooms front and centre.

5. Finish by placing the delicate accent flowers (veronica and sweet peas) so they extend beyond the base silhouette. For a true Dutch masters shape, use these cascading blooms to form a sweeping S shape, so that one side of the arrangement dips down and the other reaches up.

Jean François Legault of Montreal’s Le Tulipier


Shopping list

15 ranunculus

10 anemones

3 hydrangeas

2 viburnum branches

5 gardens roses

2 clusters spray roses

Foliages, fern, gardenia stem

Apple blossoms

How to

1. Install the foliage and the branches to hold the flowers in place,then proceed with the bigger flowers

2. Combine the other flowers in bunches and variety and put them together in the arrangement.

3. Separate the varieties to have a better impact. By doing this you’ll have also reduce the risk of breaking them and create a more natural look.

Jennifer Pederson of Edmonton’s Akiko Floral Artistry


Shopping list

3 garden roses

3 small white peonies

6 stocks

5 anemonies

3 clematis

1 bundle of red photinia

3 stems helleborus

10 sprigs lavender

6 sprigs lilac lavender

1 pieris cream

4 parrot tulips

1 bundle ivy green bush

1 bundle acacia knife blade

1 bundle seeded olive branches

1 bundle sprengerii

1 Granny Smith apple

How to

1. Start by placing the greens into the arrangement. Group the long springer in one side of the vase and the acacia on the other. On the left, keep them long and cascading; on the right, try to make them sit more upright. In the centre of the bowl, use broader leafed greens and seeded greens. Keep them low so as to keep the low flowers that will be inserted among them the focal part of the arrangement.

2. Start adding the ‘filler' flowers such as lilac – which is great for texture and fullness – and roses.

3. Next, insert the tulips and clematis. I like to keep the clematis in its natural state by allowing it to flow as it would on its vine.

4. Finally, fill spaces and open areas in with smaller blooms.