The Perfect Flower Arrangement: Forest Lake

The Perfect Flower Arrangement

story and tips provided by Harriet Charles, co-owner of Forest Lake Greenhouses

The Forest Lake Greenhouse story began over 30 years ago when Tim and Lisa King sought out the help of local entrepreneur Ed Young to see their greenhouse dream become a reality. A partnership was born with the Kings and Mr. Young’s four daughters — Claudia Venable, Harriet Charles, Virginia Gene, and Rebecca Madden. After decades of building, growing, and making a profound impact on the community of Florence, the Kings decided to retire. To carry on the legacy of Forest Lake Greenhouses, two of Mr. Young’s grandsons, Luke Venable and Austin Charles, came together with their mothers Claudia and Harriet, and long-term friend Hunter Robertson to form a new partnership and keep the doors open. Over the years Forest Lake Greenhouses has grown and evolved in many ways, the new leadership team seeks to offer the same superior quality of plants and extraordinary customer service everyone has come to know and love. They look forward to sharing more growth, more happiness, and more beauty with the community!

1 For this project, I started with a small to a medium-sized planter. Studies show that using just dirt in the bottom of the pot as opposed to adding rocks is just as efficient for drainage. Be sure to use good soil. I used Sungro Professional Growers Mix, which is lightweight. Another favorite is Happy Frog by Fox Farms. Both can be purchased at Forest Lake.

2 Determine the look you want and where the planter will be placed. This pot will be tall in the back and short in the front.

3 I begin by picking a color palette. Start by finding a flower with a few variations of shades so that you can find other plants to pull in that are complementary. The flower I chose as my base for this arrangement was a Rocky Mountain Light Pink Geranium. It had the lighter pink on the outside of the petal and darker pink on the inside. It’s also important that every plant chosen requires the same amount of light exposure and water.

4 I start planting in the back with the tallest plants. A Jolt Carnation gives you a nice height and comes in a variety of colors. I used the Jolt Cherry and Jolt Pink to compliment the geranium. Be sure to loosen the soil at the bottom of the plant when you take it from the store container.

5 You want to expose the roots on the bottom and possibly even sides so that they can jump into the new soil.

Jolt Carnation

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6 Next, plant the geranium directly in front of the carnations. The geranium is a medium-height plant.

7 Often referred to as the rose of spring, the ranunculus is great to carry the pinks throughout the pot. It’s all about color and texture and the ranunculus does just that. However, this plant won’t last in warmer temperatures. In July, you can replace it with another complimentary plant to give your arrangement a fresh new look for summer.

Rocky Mountain Light Pink Geranium

8 Now that the base is complete, it’s time to fill in holes. The Euphorbia Diamond Frost will get tall and run wispy throughout the other plants giving it a whimsical look. Put this in the center so it can twine around other plants.

9 Next, I added the red-veined dock for texture and sweet alyssum for its colorful carpet of tiny flowers and delicious fragrance. A white nemesia is added next. This plant is similar to the sweet alyssum but grows upright and over, enhancing the whimsical appearance while offering extra height. The pink snapdragon is added to offer additional height, texture, and color to the arrangement.

10 To complete the look, I add Bacopa, thyme, and wire vine. All of these plants spill over the sides of the pot rounding out the dramatic look.

Red-veined Dock Ranunculus

Sweet Alyssum

White Nemesia

You can find all of these plants including pots of every size, and potting soil at Forest Lake Greenhouses. If you’re more interested in having the finished product without the do-it-yourself work, the expert staff at Forest Lake are happy to create your masterpiece for you. They’ll even do it in your pot! Just drop it off, let them know what color palette and textures you’d like to see and they’ll take it from there!

843-66-Bloom • 3108 Alligator Rd, Florence SC www.ForestLakeGreenhouses.com