November 9, 2010: Michael A. Lanni, the owner and floral designer for, Volanni, a custom florist located on Capitol Hill, discussed his floral design philosophy and created several designs. Joyce Jones introduced Lanni (r):
Lanni rolls up aspidistra leaves to line the interior of clear class containers:
Lannie tries to limit the use of Oasis (wet floral foam) inside vases. One technique he uses is to create a grid of bamboo or branches to set atop the container and then place the horticulture within that grid:
Another technique is to fill the container with palmetto fronds: He takes a frond, gathers the leaflets together in a bunch, snips off the petiole, inserts the bunch into the container and, after the container is filled, cuts off the ends of the leaflets to a uniform height:
Lanni then places flowers or other design elements in the grid created by the leaflets; he says he gets some of his inspiration from Ikebana:
The three arrangements in the clear glass vases on the right were awarded as door prizes:
The refreshments table featured a Pontorno arrangement:
