Anthurium & Floral Frogs

I have always loved the look of anthurium. They're so odd looking yet beautiful at the same time. You also see them absolutely everywhere in floral design nowadays. So I finally decided to try my hand in designing with them.

In addition to never having worked with anthurium before I thought it would be fun to try using a floral frog for the first time. These are used in floral arranging when you want to create an airy minimalist style design. There are a few different kinds and sizes of floral frogs but the one I wanted to try was the pin frog. I personally had never used one before but they've recently been making a comeback and they look really cool.

My first try didn't go so well. Turns out I wasn't using the right adhesive to anchor my frog. I also should have been using a larger frog. Ooops! Live and Learn..

What you'll want to use is a roll of sure stick adhesive. You rip off a piece from the roll (how much you use will depend on the size of your frog), spread it around the bottom of your frog, press the frog down in the center of your vase using the handle of your clippers (the pins are sharp so be careful if using your fingers), and then let it set for about 15 minutes to make sure the adhesive is activated. Then fill up your vase and you're ready to start designing!

Since I didn't have the right kind of adhesive, this arrangement was a huge struggle for me but I actually ended up loving the overall design. Before I starting cutting my stems I bundled them together to help me visualize how I wanted them to look in the vase.

Then I simply cut all of the stems in one swoop to make sure I didn't lose the specific height I wanted. Once I stuck all of my anthurium stems into the pin frog I moved onto the greenery. To keep with the minimalist design I only used a few stems of palm and aspidistra.

To give the palm a more crisp edge I used a scissors to cut an angle up to the tip. Then to give the aspidistra leaves an interesting look I looped two of them before sticking them into the design and kept one long to bring balance to the back of the arrangement.

Besides my adhesive failing me this was a very fun and calming design session. I would highly recommend everyone playing around with different kinds of floral frogs and enjoy the zen it brings to your space.