My favorite arrangements to make for the holidays are those inspired by my natural surroundings.
Photographs by Sophia Moreno-Bunge.
This year, I decided to use castor clippings as my base, since they grow rampantly all along the Pacific Coast Highway in California where I find myself for the holidays. I love the star-like shapes of the leaves, and their surreal size.
Star-shaped castor leaves.
Bright red bottle brush.
At the market I chose striped red and white amaryllis, a beautiful bundle of pine (whose bunch shapes are incredible) and some wild rose hip branches.
In addition to your flowers and greenery, you’ll also need a large vase, preferably with a tapered opening to keep your stems from spilling out, and a pair of clippers.
To begin, I fill the vase with water and add my castor and pine base, creating an architectural shape. The beauty of this sort of arrangement is that you can supplement with your own floral materials, and use whatever you have handy as your foliage base.
I added a cascade of bottle brush on one side of my arrangement, accentuating its natural shape.
Next I added rose hip branches. And last, three stems of amaryllis (or your own floral choice).