I offered to do the flowers for a dear friends 40th surprise birthday party. The party was to be held on a roof deck in San Francisco.

I used coral/watermelon colored poppies and peonies as the stars. I also incorporated some berries, wax flowers, and greenery. I discovered the delicate white ones which I fell in love with! Does anyone know what they're called? On the way to the roof deck, I panicked that we may not have enough. I stoped by Trader Joe's and picked up a few bunches of white freesia, white ranunculus, and white hydrangea.

Her sweet sister offered to help me put together the flowers in her boyfriend's apartment.

The birthday girl usually likes more calming serene colors, but when I came across these watermelon colored poppies, I decided to go bright! They turned out well. Since SF is usually grey & foggy, the pop of color livened up the space.

Here are the flowers at the end of the night after we brought them down from the roof.

Here is the inspiration photo I started with. I added more greenery for a more wild organic feel. I liked the addition of the delicate wax flowers and the new white ones!

Notes for next time:
Next time I may use white wax flowers instead of the pink. The berries looked best in the larger arrangements with the hydrangea. Coral peonies are tough to find-so get to the flower market early or buy in advance. I would also include some greenery with larger leaves. The party was April 22-so around this time of year you should be able to find these flowers.

Shopping list-the flowers below + at least 2 kinds of greenery.