How to Design a Rose Vase
Tree fern is a dainty, lacy greenery with a delicate, wispy look.
Ok . . over with the rant and back to the tree fern. This delicate fern is one of my favorites to use in flower vase.
It's wispy and doesn't overpower the flowers, yet adds a beautiful texture to the bouquet.
Another common wispy fern is called plumosa. It is often added to rose vases as well. The stems are longer and the laterals form a triangle. Be warned that plumosa does shed more than tree fern and has almost invisible thorns to deal with. You can't see them very well - but it hurts to get one in your finger, so take care!
If you like the look of the fern trailing over the edge of your vase, you may want to use plumosa fern instead of tree fern.
Tree fern has a lot of laterals off a central stem. The stem is so slender it is easily inserted into the vase between the roses and the leather leaf. It will fill up the open spaces naturally without requiring a lot more greens.
Insert it randomly, filling out open places. Use the greenery insertions to separate each stem from the other roses. This creates a strong, locked grid that doesn't move, keeping the flower heads firmly in place.
I pull the flower heads apart, gently inserting the greens between all the stems.
Don't forget directly down the center and nestled up against the tallest rose.
Take care. It's easy to poke these stems in so easily and you don't want to miss inserting them down into the vase so they connect with the fresh water.
I prefer tree fern to traditional filler such as babies breath, but if you wish you can add stems to your own design.
The view from the side shows good placement of the rose heads with lots of green showing, but not overpowering the rose heads. Keep the greens a little bit shorter than the flower heads so they are the focal point of the bouquet.
A top view shows a good placement. Give the vase a twirl and see if all your stems are locked into place and be sure none are poking outside the vase. You'll notice now that the middle rose is standing straight up from the center. I used the greenery to push it back into the right place.
