Dusky Zinnias inspire a Big Easy bouquet…

These dusky Zinnias were the inspiration for a bouquet I built for a New Orleans style shrimp boil the other night.

To embrace that historic Big Easy patina I used an old silver punch bowl I found at an estate sale. As always, I start my bouquets with a field of greens, these create the perfect foundation for any arrangement with color, texture and a physical support structure for the flowers.

I started out with stems of deep, glossy green Bay Laurel and fluffy, bright green Bells of Ireland.

Next, I balanced out the shape with these spiky, fluffy grasses,

adding just the right amount of texture and height.

This bouquet was going to be situated on the center table, so I wanted it to look good from every angle. Looking down from the top I could see the “holes” that needed to be filled

With those intriguing Zinnias.

I love the green veins on these Papery delights, does anyone know their name?

They fit in perfectly adding creamy, green color,  a touch of ruby and that wispy texture.

Finally, I filled in the rest of the openings with these fabulous pale green roses.

And that’s that, one big, easy, untamed, dark and moody bouquet ready to bloom and beautify {I put this together 2 days before the party so the roses could open up}.

Here are a few other elements of decor we used to set the tone: my Cajun princess draped Spanish Moss and hung lanterns in the surrounding trees.

These flickered beautifully, like fireflies, when the sun went down.

She and her friends distributed canning jar votives to all of the tables, even down on the dock, since we had a few friends coming by boat.

Whenever I’m in New Orleans I love to walk down St. Charles Street in the Garden District to ogle all of the grand homes along the way. Most every entrance is flanked with massive urns filled with immense, lush ferns, what an easy way to bring greenery to the tables, thought I.

So, I potted some up in these smudgy blue tins, surrounded with Spanish Moss. They looked great with these moody blue votives and as the sun went down they sent some sultry shadows on the dancing crowd.

I’ll share more details on the shrimp boil soon. It was my first, and I’m hooked, it was such a fun and delicious way to entertain a crowd.

Have a splendid Labor Day weekend dear readers!

It’s hot as a tin roof here in Seattle, so we are going to spend as much time as possible out on Lake Washington.

How are you spending these final days of summer?