Miniature Arrangements--You Bet!
by Elizabeth Abler

Miniature arrangements are not just for shows, they are fun to do to decorate a guest room, a powder room, or a luncheon table. Because they're colorful and jolly, and almost everyone grows minis these days, putting them into a design gives them significance.

What's required? Well, miniature roses, an arrangement schedule to trip your imagination, a container, and some extra plant material. The basic designs are line, line mass or mass designs. Arranging consists of placing plant material in a specific order, in some kind of container that holds the flowers. Inside the container there should be a basis for controlling the positioning of the plant material. This can be floral foam, available at a florist shop, a Michael's or Frank's. Cut a piece to fit a small container. You can also use a needle holder or frog. You might start with a plastic film cylinder, a doll-set pitcher, or even a candle holder from church as a container.

Cut several minis from your garden - or if you want to arrange now, before you have any blooms in the garden,- buy some artificial small flowers merely for practice. Of course, artificial flowers are not allowed in a show, and they surely aren't as satisfactory as the real thing, but the time to practice is now so that when show time comes, you're ready with experience. Line designs are the simplest, require the least amount of plant material, the fewest roses, although some way-out modern designs may use but one rose. You can use roses to make a line that's straight up from the container, or they can be at a diagonal, or a curve. There are directions to follow which guide your fingers as they work the plant material.

Usually, you select pliable plant material often which you can find in your own garden. Maybe you have euonymus in vine form, or some kind of grass, equisetum, or evergreen to form a background, or setting, for your minis. If you use several blooms with your line material, you may have a line mass arrangement which can be more satisfying, especially for home use. Technically, a line mass design has more plant material in its body than a line design which should be narrow in comparison with the container and the size of the blooms. If one of your roses tends to be wayward, you can always use a small bit of florist wire to keep it under control. Use the plant material sparingly so you don't spoil the outline of your arrangement, and again, use wire, if necessary, but do not let it show. Hide it in the foliage, though you'll be using very little foliage. If you want to, you can remove some of the foliage from a rose or other plant material in order to preserve the line, or outline.

With small containers such as those mentioned above, you ought to use the smallest of your mini blooms. If you want to use some of the newer larger blooms, like Miss Flippins, you'll need a larger container, possibly a demitasse cup, or something of that size. The problem is proportion, a basic proposition in arranging mini designs which are limited to ten inches or less in overall measurement. You don't have to be an expert to see that a large leaf or bloom looks silly in a small container. That's because the leaf is out of proportion to the container. So, not only the leaf, but every flower and piece of plant material, must obey this rule. Everything in the design must be in proportion to the container, and must also be in proportion to other components of the design. The design must be a harmonious whole with nothing standing out. The viewer then looks up, down, and around the design with a pleasant feeling because the rhythm is good. There's balance, contrast, something more important than the rest. Also, there s a center of interest, a focal point, which is usually toward the lower part of the design, and is usually the largest rose. It's not contradictory to say that nothing must stand out yet there must be a kind of dominance in the design. In a traditional design, all plant material fans out from a focal point or a rose. Focal point is a technical term, sometimes called center of interest. If everything looks as though it belongs and contributes to the beauty of the arrangement, then you've got a successful design. It s a matter of choosing the roses, the plant material, and the container.

Some practice, and some reading how-to books, or asking questions of those in the know - the same way you learned how to grow winning roses - and you end up with a blue ribbon.

Elizabeth Abler

Editor's Note: Elizabeth is a very active member of the American Rose Society. She is an Arrangement Judge, Horticulture Judge, Consulting Rosarian, and has just finished her term as the National Chairman of the Arrangement Judges. During her term as National Chairman, the Arrangement Judges' Guidelines was revised with a lot of the work done by Elizabeth. She has also published poetry and fiction as well as the book "Secrets of the Miniature Rose" which I hope to finish and review next month. I took the pictures at South Carolina National Convention.