'Autumn is full of admiration and amazement'

Florist Willy Pardijs of Vrij Geschikt loves every season, but autumn is her favorite when it comes to the many beautiful materials to work with. She works from the rural Wichmond in the Achterhoek. ‘If you look around carefully in late summer and autumn, you will see so many beautiful materials in nature that it is sometimes difficult to choose what you want to use.’

'Autumn also has something magical, the early morning, the mist that slowly rises and the beautiful warm autumn light that slowly makes its entrance and shows the beautiful colors of nature.'

‘I mainly get my inspiration from nature and I also like to work from my feeling, not thinking but doing. Nature, it provides admiration and wonder. The leaves on the trees get the most beautiful colors and flowers and plants often get the most beautiful fruits and seed pods.

'As a florist, I like to showcase our craft'

When floral artist Johannes de Boer thinks of autumn, he immediately thinks of mushrooms. And he puts his money where his mouth is by taking the special shape of the mushroom cap as the starting point for an arrangement.

'In terms of materials, the autumn period naturally has a rich assortment. Branches, berries and grasses, so wonderful to work with! Basic shades suit us very well, but the warm autumn colors are also definitely a favorite.'

‘In the autumn period, we often see that our customers want to make it cozy again at home. After mainly living outside in the summer, they want to go back inside. Flowers and plants then provide a lot of atmosphere. In our store, we mainly sell many bouquets, preferably as natural as possible. Field bouquets are the most popular.’

‘As a florist, I like to show our craft, which is why I make many bases and frames myself. Customers appreciate that enormously and keep coming back for it. It is also ideal for subscriptions, because you can reuse the bases with a different application each time and let them rotate.’

Mushroom hat

This autumn bouquet is inspired by the cap of a mushroom. 'A free interpretation, admittedly.' A frame made of welding rods, subsequently wrapped with Oasis Rustic Wire, serves as the base. The flowers – Gloriosa, Kniphofia, Crocosmia, and tendrils of Rosa 'Smeralda' – are woven through the frame, with some flowers incorporated inside the frame. This creates depth in the bouquet. The stems are deliberately left long so that the whole looks like a kind of mushroom.

Playful

In a beautifully mossy piece of cork, holes have been drilled in which Craspedia has been inserted, increasing in length. Various materials that dry nicely have been glued onto the cork: seed pods of Eucalyptus ‘Bellgum’, rose hips, and prepared oak leaves. To give the whole of this longer-lasting arrangement on cork a playful character, grasses have been clamped between the glued materials.

Autumn basket

A half hollow polystyrene ball is covered on the outside with birch bark and on the inside with terracotta-colored clay. An Oasis ball filled with chrysanthemums is placed in the bowl shape. Materials that dry nicely, such as Rudbeckia, rosehip, Viburnum berries, and Scabiosa stellata, are then glued to the edge of the bowl.

Indian summer

Dried sunflower stems of various lengths are glued around an Oasis wreath. These stems are a harbinger of autumn. The whole is covered with orange candle wax. Various flowers are inserted into the floral foam wreath, including Dianthus ‘Green Trick’, nutans (Leucospermum cordifolium), Dahlia, Freesia, Tillandsia, Heliopsis, Stipa grasses, Crocosmia and Begonia leaf. Glass test tubes have been placed in some sunflower stems, in which flowers have also been placed. The Indian summer color scheme emphasizes the autumn period.