Saturday, May 29, 2010

Orange Flowers for Church Decoration



The smallest category in Patteson-Knight and St. Claire's list of "Flowers Suitable for Church Decoration by Color" is that for orange flowers. The list has some surprises like the one for white flowers did. Among them are Butterfly Weed, Tritoma (Kniphofia) and Tithonia.

Butterfly weed, whose official name is asclepias tuberosa, gets its nickname from the fact that butterflies are especially drawn to its color and nectar. Tithonia (bottom image) grows best in Mexico, while Tritoma (also known as Kniphofia) is native to Africa. It is also called "torch lily" because it looks like a torch.

Aside from the three surprises, the orange flowers on the list are: calendula, chrysanthemum, coxcomb, dahlia, gladiolus, lily, ranunculus, rose, tulip, and zinnia.

Though perhaps fewer in type, orange flowers can work very well for decoration of the sanctuary. In fact, the best church flower arrangements I have seen in the past year were comprised of orange and golden flowers.

One display that I really loved featured orange alstromeria (top picture above). Somehow the orange and golden color really brought alive the gold of the candlesticks and other golden items on the altar and contrasted pleasantly with the white of the traditional linen altar cloth.

Orange or gold flowers seem particularly suitable for Corpus Christi, when the color of the vestments and altar frontals is white.  Another church flower book (by McClinton, an Anglican/ Episcopalian) says that "yellow and white or white and gold are the appropriate flowers" for Corpus Christi. She suggests using Shasta daisies, calla lilies, or white and yellow roses.

Source:
McClinton, Katherine Morrison, Flower Arrangement in the Church (Morehouse-Gorham Co., New York, 1958), p. 97.
Patteson-Knight, Francis and St. Claire, Margaret McReynolds; Arranging Flowers for the Sanctuary (Harper & Bros., New York, 1961), p. 40.

Images:
Top - Alstromeria, from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.
Bottom - Tithonia, from Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Color in Church Flower Arrangements


Please note:  If you are visiting this post because you are looking for information about the liturgical colors for different feast days and seasons, you will find what you are looking for in my post "Traditional Liturgical Colors and Church Flowers".  This post is about how to use color effectively.

As a follow-up to the discussion of color in church flower arrangements in the post Altar Flowers, here is some advice from Patteson-Knight and St. Claire on the same topic:
"[T]he cool or receding tones are the least satisfactory, especially in larger sanctuaries. Cool colors lose a substantial amount of their eye appeal under artificial light. The unit of any arrangement, in fact, will change its tones when it is assembled under one lighting condition but is exhibited under another. No color is constant to itself, but is always subject to variation in different degrees of natural or artificial light.

"A good analogous arrangement, therefore, will contain one of the more steady, more intense colors of the warm range. If composed solely of the receding tints, it will tend to wash out and become nondescript. A monochromatic arrangement of reds, yellows, or orange shades has the best chance of success, particularly in the subdued illumination of many churches. The best monochromatic design will use gradations of color, with more or less of the darker or lighter values as the arranger wishes, but never in the same amount.

"The carrying power of color is no more important in any flower arrangement than when in a church. It must first overcome the demands of distance, then lighting and background. Pastel shades will thin out and merge unless they are backed with greens. Blue and violet fade in the distance or become muddy under poor illumination. Almost nothing stands out against ornate or lavish decoration inside a church. This is why the altar, with its simplicity, is the best area for placing flowers and why, also, color in flowers is often needed to accent the plain cloths and simple fittings.

"Sometimes light colors will succeed against a dark [background]. They may also give a happy result if the [sanctuary] or the altar is a rigid white. Light flowers against a light background will show to advantage in a darkened church when they are framed in green. This will give them a dimension they would not have alone. Green, however, does not show up well in front of [a dark background]. Against its own shades or against purple or maroon, green loses visibility.

"One color must always predominate; more than three used together require artful assembly. Too many colors establish a feeling of discord. This means that the flowers will not succeed in creating a logical and simple arrangement.

"The exclusive use of green to decorate a church makes an effective display, but it has its limitations. Planters look well, and, of course, so do palms and palm fronds. Palm Sunday, in fact, is one [day] for which a green motif might be planned. The altar can be backed with green foliage . . . Green foliage lends itself well to vertical arrangements. Therefore, a little of it may be made to serve much, but this is often only possible in smaller sanctuaries.

"The wise arranger, seeking harmony of colors in her decorations, will look about first at the altar frontal, the . . . reredos, the color of the walls, and the carpet. She consults the church's interior architecture before creating her own accent in the place. If the arrangements are for a feast or for a saint's day, thought must be given to the liturgical color. Also the availability of flowers at any time will determine the colors. The seasons put their penalties on the arranger as much as do the obstinate skills of her craft."
Source:
Patteson-Knight, Francis, and St. Claire, Margaret McReynolds; Arranging Flowers for the Sanctuary (Harper and Bros., New York, 1961), pp. 82-84.

Image:
Photograph of red anthurium, from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain. It was this blogger's experience that red anthurium worked very well as a church flower in a large Gothic style church.