Make Gorgeous Sunflower Topiary

Welcome to VisiHow. Today, we want to show you how to make a sunflower topiary with roses and crabapples. For foliage, we've used wild laurel.

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   Let's talk about the floral foam experience. Since we're only doing one arrangement, we don't want to waste the floral foam. It's really important not to waste. We're going to measure what we need and cut it down first, so we know what we're going to be using before we soak it in water. We're actually going to use all the pieces we cut off as well, and we're also going to save what we don't use. We don't want to keep any wet floral foam because it gets bacteria in it, and it's just gross.

   

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2. 2
   Next, we're going to take a bucket with water, and we're going to place the pieces of floral foam into the water. There is actually already floral food in the water.

   

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3. 3
   The pieces we cut off are still going to be used, so we're also putting them in the water bucket.

   

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4. 4
   Now, we're going to put our soaked floral foam in the container. We're going to let it fall into the bucket so that it can absorb on its own. We don't have to force it in there, but just let it fall in.

   

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5. 5
   Now, we're going to put in all the little pieces. We're not squishing them in too hard because we want there to still be room in the oasis.

   

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6. 6
   Next, we're going to cut the top off the foam. It's okay if it's a little bit crooked. The reason we cut the foam to be a little higher than the container is that we're going to have some of the foliage and flowers come sideways, as though they're cascading down.

   

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7. 7
   Next, we're going to put 2 pieces of floral tape in a cross over the foam. This is a waterproof clear floral tape. We could use the green or the white too. There are many different colours. The clear tape is good for this kind of use because it gives us the option to put as much space for putting in the flowers.

   

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8. 8
   Let's start with the first sunflower. We'll get a good look at where it is we want it to be in the arrangement. Remember, the stem is going to come down at least halfway into the oasis in the container.

   

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9. 9
   Cut the sunflower stem right before putting the stem into the floral foam. Just guiding it in, we want to put the stem in where it's nice and firm, and where we don't feel like the flower is going to fall out one way or another.

   

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10. 10
    Starting with the second stem, take a look at everything before placing it. Then place it after we've gotten a good look at it and have decided exactly where we want it to be. Try to only put the stem in once.

    

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11. 11
    We want to work the flowers in so that they each have their own little space. We don't want to bunch any up too close to each other. Just keep turning the arrangement to see where we want to place the other stems.

    

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12. 12
    In this demonstration, we only used 5 stems. Now, we're seeing it starting to take shape as a topiary.

    

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13. 13
    Thanks for watching VisiHow. If you have any questions or comments, leave them in the section below.

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Welcome to VisiHow. Now, we've already added some foliage. The foliage we're using is called wild laurel. It's the cousin of something we use in floral design called myrtle, and it smells fantastic. It really looks like another green used in floral design called pittosporum. So, it kind of takes that place. When making an arrangement similar to this in a shop, we would probably reach for the pittosporum, the green, not the variegated that's used in this case. It's a really nice green, and where we've placed the greens, it's coming sideways out of the foam.

1. 1
   Now, we're placing the little garden roses all around because this is going to be considered an all around arrangement. We'll look at where we're going to put them, and then right before placing them, we'll give the stems a fresh cut so that the stems can drink. Then the arrangement will last as long as it can.

   

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2. 2
   So, we're just turning and turning it as we add foliage and to see it from all the viewpoints.

   

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3. 3
   It's best to do the foliage in stages because we don't want to waste anything.

   

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4. 4
   Before we add the crabapples, we're going to put raffia around the sunflower stems. It's very nice. It gives the topiary a very natural look. A lot of people choose to use raffia instead of ribbons. Some flower shops don't use anything but raffia, as they just don't like ribbons. With this arrangement, we've crossed it along the middle part of the topiary to secure the sunflowers together, and also to give it a whimsical look.

   

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5. 5
   Now, we're going to put in the crabapples. We're going to put them in the middle space where there's nothing going on.

   

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6. 6
   Also, we're using the foliage of everything that we've picked. We're going to add the foliage of the sunflowers towards the end, and also the foliage from the crabapple tree. It harmonizes with the crabapples themselves because that's what we would see in nature. That kind of leaf would be next to that kind of berry.

   

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7. 7
   So, let's take a good look again at where it is we want the crabapples to be before placing them. We're starting to build the pinks and reds up towards the middle, which will look really nice against the yellow.

   

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8. 8
   Now, we're going to take some more of the laurel and add that as well.

   

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9. 9
   Thanks for watching VisiHow. If you have questions or comments, leave them in the section below.

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Welcome to VisiHow. Now, we're just turning the container and placing foliage where there needs to be additional coverage, but not more than that. We're just trying to use the leaves, and place them in a way that is going to do what we need it to do, but no more. We just want to cover the mechanics - the tape, the foam, or whatever else we may have used. If we don't have floral foam, there are lots of things we can use, such as chicken wire. It's harder to use chicken wire for an arrangement like this, but you can do a lot with chicken wire. We could also have used some old-fashioned floral frogs.

1. 1
   Now, we're going to add in the foliage from some of the sunflower leaves. This gives it a long, graceful extension that we weren't getting from the other foliage.

   

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2. 2
   Let's continue going up with a little more crabapples or foliage. We're just going around to see where there seems like there should be something. If we take a look at it, we can tell where things are out of balance, and it might need something extra.

   

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3. 3
   Now, we're working toward the top, and we're fluffing out the flower heads. We'll try really hard not to damage any of them as we do this. Also, we don't know how some flowers are going to perform, especially wildflowers. Therefore, if we're making an arrangement with wildflowers, we can put them in water overnight before adding them to an arrangement.

   

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4. 4
   We can now go back and work a little bit more with the raffia tie.

   

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5. 5
   Let's step back and look at what we have so far. We are going to add one more thing, and that is a twig. I really like the topiary, but felt it needed something else. Let's get a twig and cut it down to where we want it. Normally, we would put something like this in first, and not necessarily at the end. Then we'd put the sunflowers in around it. However, in this case, we're going renegade!

   

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6. 6
   So, we're putting the twig in behind the sunflowers. One of the reasons we did this is because we weren't sure how the heads would perform. The twig will help to give them a brace. It will not only make the overall arrangement look much larger by adding negative space above and around the sunflowers, but it will also help to support.

   

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7. 7
   Twigs and sticks look great in almost any arrangement. What we might normally use for a twig in floral design would probably be a curly willow. Those would probably be available, and they're really gorgeous. In this demonstration, we used a twig we already had, and this twig is not even alive. It's dead, but it looks really nice within this arrangement.

   

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8. 8
   The following items were used in creating this arrangement - "Flowers used In This Design - Wild Sunflowers, 5-7 Stems, each stem with at least 3 blooms. Wild Roses, 2-3 stems, similar to Sweetheart Roses in floral design. Crab Apple branch cuttings, 1-2 small. Greens - Wild Laurel/Bayberry-Sunflower leaves."

   

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9. 9
   Thanks for watching VisiHow. I you have any questions or comments, leave them in the section below.

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If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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