I recently read the book Floret Farm’s A Year in Flowers.
It is full of gorgeous arrangements that challenge me to move beyond my basic mason jar bouquets.
The most eye-opening concept in the book for me, however, was the idea of blenders. Using a flower or piece of foliage with more than one color on it allows the designer to combine colors that might not otherwise be used together.
I have already used this concept three times.
Here the little Persian Carpet zinnias serve as blenders. The dark red center allows for the dark red pincushion flowers. The Perdian Carpet zinnia on the top has both orange and yellow, allowing both colors in the arrangement. Here is a still life Lydia created. The arrangement has all red zinnias, some of which have yellow centers. This serves as a blender flower and makes the sunflower look like it belongs. This one is my favorite. The actual arrangement of flowers isn’t my best work, but look how the different shades show up on different flowers and then in the foliage. Without the blender flowers, I never would have though to combine the peachy Queen Lime Orange zinnias with the wine amaranth leaves.
I’m sure this principle could also be used in quilting. This was fun.
Amy's Garden 
I love having a cut flower mother!
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