Best Way to Create the Eucalyptus Pots in a Cupboard

Cupboards and shelves can be used, to show off small displays of flowers. Dried and parchment flowers are ideal for darker places; fresh flowers and pot plants for better-lit areas.

The shelves of this carved Swedish-style cupboard provide a frame for terracotta pots. The pots are simply painted to suit the pastel shades and natural wood of their setting and are filled with dried eucalyptus and red silk roses. The symmetrical positioning of the pots on the shelves has helped to create a formal pattern that enhances the decorative detailing of the cupboard. Arrangements that rely on repetition to create a design should be kept simple so that the eye is not distracted by one element but takes in the picture as a whole.

Small arrangements come into their own when positioned on shelves or in cupboards. What the arrangements lack in size, they make up for in the impact of repeating colours and shapes. Small terracotta containers can be filled with either dried or pot-grown plants, depending on the light available; baskets can be filled with aromatic dried herbs or flowers. Make sure that the style, texture and form of the pots and arrangements are in keeping with the surroundings. Small baskets of country flowers suit a pine kitchen; mote formal pots look better on plain glass shelves.

The colours you use will depend on the setting: traditional in style or bright and contemporary. Within this framework, you can choose flowers to contrast with an existing colour scheme or you can provide a further colour accent, picking up a predominant colour from fabrics or wallpaper.

Creating the Eucalyptus POTS

Eucalyptus is a favourite foliage plant for adding depth and variety to cut flowers because of its long-lasting grey-green colour and the interesting shape of its young leaves. The leaves dry well and here provide a subdued, textured background for the deep red of the silk roses.

The soft pinkish beige of the terracotta pots is a perfect foil for dyed and glycerine-dried eucalyptus, and red silk roses add a colour accent.

Any neat foliage, dried or fresh, can be used for this pot. Box or bay work equally well, and you can vary the colour of the accent flowers according to the colour of the pot you use. A bright yellow glazed pot, for example, would benefit from a few gold chrysan­themum heads added to the foliage.

1. Snip the eucalyptus leaves into several short lengths. For a pot that is 6in (15cm) tall, cut sprigs about 6in (15cm) long. Cut a length of florist’s wire and use this to wind a few sprigs of foliage together, leaving enough wire to form a stem.

2. Snip off any surplus leaves from the small bunches of leaves so that they will form a smooth shape. Insert the eucalyptus sprigs into the block of oasis. Begin in the centre where the arrangement will be at its highest point and then work around it.

3. Once you have created a satisfactory, smooth round shape with the foliage, you can insert the silk flowers into the oasis. Space them around the arrangement in any gaps you find between the leaves, until you have achieved a balanced effect.