A Lesson in Drama

"Roses are red. Violets are blue," so the rhyme begins, but floral color choices aren't quite that simple anymore. From surprising blue carnations to roses so darkly red they appear almost black, the color spectrum for flowers today is nearly limitless, particularly with advances in plant breeding. Knowing how and when to combine such saturated shades can be daunting. However, Houston floral designer David Brown advises, "Don't be scared of color. We get stuck in ruts (using the same shades again and again), but we should experiment with color." After 26 years in the plant and flower business, Brown has done a lot of experimenting.

In his own shop, which borrows aesthetically from his favorite floral boutiques in New York, Paris, and Amsterdam, Brown uses color to entice his customers to linger. "I wanted my shop to be a sensual experience rather than a retail experience," he says. "I wanted to stimulate the customers' senses of sight, smell, and hearing and design a space that people would be comfortable in." To achieve this, Brown designed his shop from "the dirt up." Inside, he left some of the ground exposed for an interior garden complete with river stones. He also has fountains located in the store. "It was very important that everything in the store be organic, because the shop is the backdrop for the flowers," says Brown. Against mossy green walls, unfinished teak cabinets, and a raw concrete floor, brilliant roses, hyacinths, hydrangeas, and lilies fill the diminutive shop.

According to Brown, it's okay to break some rules when creating colorful arrangements. "Good design is about breaking the rules with reason and good taste," he says. He does, however, offer a few guidelines for experimenting, and he recommends monochromatic arrangements. When using one concentrated color, the shape and texture of blooms become more pronounced. If you choose to combine multiple shades of one color, it is best to use at least three varieties, says Brown. "If you combine only a lightest shade with a deepest shade, you'll risk the arrangement looking polka-dotted. The light colors will come forward and the deep colors will recede.

"If a customer has any hesitation about color combinations, a color wheel from an art-supply store will give confidence in what to combine," advises Brown. Avoid jarring combinations by selecting adjacent colors on the wheel or by blending complementary hues (opposites on the wheel) that intensify each other. For additional guidance, look to Mother Nature, as Brown does. "I'm a real proponent of working with the psychology of the season."

RESOURCES: Floral design by David Brown, 713/664-0466, davidbrownflowers.com.