Essential Question Why are flowers meaningful to people? introduction Flower selection is critical to the success of any fl oral design. Flowers chosen wisely not only produce the best results, but also minimize the cost to achieve those results. Every fl ower, berry, branch, or leaf has natural qualities that make it different from all the others. Analyzing materials for their strongest trait can help you loosely group materials into categories for easy selection. Does the fl ower have a round shape or a star shape? Does it have single or multiple stems? Is it long and thin or short and dense? Designers use these special traits to create a desired effect, Figure 8-1. This chapter focuses on choosing the right fl owers to create a successful design. Application As you know by now, hundreds of different fl owers are available commercially for fl oral design work. How do you begin to choose which fl owers to use for your designs? Base your selections on the “W” principle: who, what, and where. Answer these questions to determine the application for each design, which in turn will narrow your options. For whom is the arrangement being created? Is the design for an adult or a child? For a male or a female? What is the occasion? Is the piece for a birthday celebration in someone’s home or a visit to the hospital to see a sick friend? Will the arrangement be used in a residence or a place of business? Is the design for a temporary one-day event or longer? StudioPortoSabbia/Shutterstock.com Figure 8-1. Floral designers choose materials with specifi c characteristics to achieve a desired outcome. This sympathy wreath contains assorted round mass fl owers to accentuate the round wreath form. It is accented with a variety of textures from supporting materials in a red, white, and green color story. 174 Principles of Floral Design Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.