fool the eye spring flowers

We all love bringing beautiful blooms home from the nursery, don't we?!
Their happy colors bouncing on long stalks bring energy and life to our surroundings.

I had this pot of GORGEOUS yellow tulips - which you saw in the photo below in a recent post.

And then the Santa Ana winds blew. I think the yellow tulip petals all ended up in the Pacific Ocean.

And the potted tulip looked like THIS:

Well, as a stylist who has had to come up with instant solutions on a budget for client event decor, 

I have a fail-proof tip for making bulbs RE-bloom. In the SAME SEASON:

FAKE IT!

Yep.... use fake flowers.  

You just have to use them in a way that no one notices!

Here's what you do:

 * Grab some decent quality silk tulips in your favorite color.

* Strip the leaves from the stems, and bend the stems rather haphazardly to look natural.

* Insert the stems into the REAL FOLIAGE still in the plant pot.

[I stuck these down on the lowest tier of leaves, right up next to the real stem.

You can see the top of the real stem in the photo - I cut that down as low as I could after the shot.]

Five minutes later, you end up with a rather convincing blooming potted tulip:

I don't recommend this for table centerpieces, 

as they are too close to the viewers' eyes to pull off the fakery with class.

It's a GREAT solution for florals that will be located 

on a stage, at an entrance, or in a photo set backdrop.
Since the foliage is real, the flowers fool the eye into thinking THEY are real, too.

I used to tuck REALLY nice faux roses into the backs of large arrangements for events,

to help fill out the form and help the budget along (they can be re-used!).
I'm talking million-dollar events at wineries, photographed by media.

No one EVER noticed the fakes!

Last Spring, I shared another 'bloomin' flower secret'

and my tips on creating vintage-look faux flowers

shared online:

Cupcakes & Crinoline | Project Inspire{d}