The Flowers of Fall

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Pink for Autumn? While the typical fall-inspired reds, yellows and oranges still have a home in fall 2007 décor, floral trends for the new season are moving toward organics punched up with fun, bold hues such as pink.

“I love traditional oranges and reds,” says Preston Bailey, a floral designer with celebrity clientele including Oprah Winfrey, Uma Thurman and Michael Douglas. “But I like adding a number of organic elements including leaves and branches.”

Have fun with an accent color to add to the organic theme, says Bailey. “I love using hot pink and incorporating that with some more earthy elements,” he explains.

For David Halsey, floral director of The Meetinghouse Companies Inc., in Elmhurst, Ill., the accent color of choice is lime green. “The blues and lavenders of spring are now eggplant, deep purple and mauve,” he says. “Oranges and yellows are now a dark rust, terracotta and mango. I personally love to add a splash of lime green into the mix to make these rich colors pop.”

Christine Saunders, owner of The Spiraled Stem Floral Design in Anaheim Hills, Calif., confirms that pink is definitely the hot new color this fall.

“The traditional fall color combination of red, brown, orange and yellow will be modified this season,” she says. “The oranges and yellows will be replaced with all shades of pink. Red, brown and pink is a rich combination that bridges the warmth of summer with the pink coolness of the coming winter.”

Rich hues are another way to add some oomph to your naturals theme.
“We’re seeing the traditional reds and oranges tempered with deep eggplant purple and chocolate brown,” says Shannon Cosgrove-Rivas, owner and head designer of Flourish in Sacramento, Calif. “Dark chocolate brown is a wonderful color to work with because it grounds the color scheme and plays beautifully off the other brighter colors in a palette. Eggplant is also great, and adds a rich, Moroccan tone to the brightness of the traditional red and orange fall theme.”

The traditional fall colors can also be played against contrasting colors, adds Nancy Kitchen, an accredited floral designer with international clientele and owner of The Flower Loft in Rahway, N.J. “The contemporary interpretation of those traditional hues means using deep, saturated color with striking contrast,” she notes. “For instance, rather than going with yellow and orange, perhaps consider a deep gold and a chocolate tone.”

The Color Green

Saving the environment is a hot topic on everyone’s mind, and it has shown a lot of influence in floral designs for the fall.

“Neutrals and organics are so popular right now, and I believe it’s directly related to peoples’ environmental awareness,” says Kitchen. “A room that’s done with tablecloths in various hues of green, for instance, can be grouped together by color. The look of the room becomes blocks of color flowing into one another and forming a sort of aerial landscape.”

“An ‘organic’ aesthetic is definitely gaining popularity with our clientele,” says LuAnn Dickson, owner of Verbena Floral Design in Austin, Texas. “We are incorporating elements from nature into our floral arrangements — the result has been compositions with multiple layers of texture and color.”

Almeta Smith, creative director and owner of Floral Designs by Meta in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, agrees that organics are the hottest trend of the season. “Extreme colors are being replaced this fall by more basic earth tones,” she says.

Other Shades of Green

But being eco-conscious is influencing more than design ideas. Floral designers and event planners are being more careful about the products they select and preventing excess waste.

“Many companies are looking to find more environmentally friendly options for their events,” says Saunders. “There is a misinterpretation that flowers by nature are organic, but that is not the case. Many flowers are commercially produced in regions around the world that are not subject to existing U.S. environmental regulations. The practices of many farms are harmful to the environment. As event professionals working with companies that are going green, we must educate our clients on the options to incorporate green elements into the event beyond just organically grown food.”

Recycling event materials is another way to go green. Kitchen tells the story of an event for Senator Hillary Clinton in which centerpieces made of fruit and flowers were re-used. “Mrs. Clinton’s staff was gracious enough to arrange for transportation so that the fruit could be delivered to a charity after the event,” says Kitchen. “After we removed the fruit from the arrangements, the remaining flowers were re-arranged and given to hotel workers who were able to display them again.”

Even the candles used during the event were donated to a women’s shelter. “Candles are always symbolic of hope and light in the future,” explains Kitchen.

Prolonging the life of your centerpieces is good for business too. “The impact of a roomful of flowers for an event is amazing,” says Saunders. “But having that impact go home with someone will allow them to think about you and the event for a few extra days — that can create new customers for the future.”