(gentle music) - [Announcer] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is brought to you by Albertsons Companies with additional support from the following companies, the Ball Horticultural Company, Cal Flowers, Design Master Color Tool, Golden Flowers, Sunshine Bouquet, and TheRibbonRoll.com.

(gentle music) - Today on Life In Bloom, we're pairing flowers with fruit for a colorful twist on arranging.

My friend Catherine joins in the fun with a fruit kebab centerpiece.

I'll share a couple of fruit and flower-inspired recipes and provide tips for longer lasting arrangements.

(bright music) I'm J Schwanke, welcome to Life In Bloom.

(gentle music) Why not go out on a limb?

That's where the fruit is.

Why add fruit to flowers?

There's so many reasons.

Fruit adds vibrant colors, texture, and even fragrance to your arrangements.

It's a simple way to use the abundance of whatever may be in season in new and interesting ways.

This encourages us to get creative and think outside the box.

It may seem an unexpected choice but it makes so much sense to pair other things that grow, fruits, vegetables, herbs, foliage with flowers.

Today, we'll show you some fun and colorful ways to integrate fruit into your arrangements and entertaining.

Sometimes we can have a little fun with our fruit and flowers.

So today, we're going to arrange flowers in a watermelon.

That's right, the fruit of the watermelon actually will act as foam and we can arrange our flowers directly into the watermelon.

We'll also use the piece that we cut out and make place settings with individual flowers as well.

So let's get started and cut our watermelon.

The first thing that we're gonna do is cut off a little bit of the bottom.

Just wanna take off a little bit to make it level.

That way it's gonna sit evenly on our plate.

Then we can come back in and cut out a slice.

So now we've got that beautiful color of the watermelon showing through.

These will be our individual place setting pieces.

We'll cut those in half like that.

So now, we'll arrange our flowers directly into the watermelon.

The flowers are gonna last about 24 to 48 hours.

We can also add water to the watermelon once our flowers are in there and that will give water to the flowers as well.

The question I get asked all the time is, can I eat the watermelon after I've arranged?

I generally buy two, one for eating and one for the display.

So let's get started and add our flowers.

(gentle music) Today's project is made up of three simple components.

We have our pottery container and we've built up the base with some dry floral foam.

So we can place our vase inside the container and it sits up higher.

And our wreath fits over the top and sits on the base of the pottery.

Our first component is the wreath.

Many floral wreath frames come with hangers and drip trays on them.

We'll wanna remove those so that we don't see them in the final project.

The next step is to add the lemons all the way around the wreath frame.

We'll do that by taking a double-ended wood pick and placing them into the lemon.

I do two so it holds it nice and stable.

And then those go into the wreath frame.

We'll do that all the way around.

Next, we'll cut our lemons in half.

We'll insert wood picks in those and place them in a random pattern, all the way around the wreath frame.

We're facing the open part of the lemons towards the outside of the arrangement.

We'll fill in between the lemons with the roses.

So anywhere we can still see a little bit of foam, we'll fill in with the bupleurum.

Now for the vase, we'll drop in a teabag so we have good floral nutrient water inside that vase.

Then we'll add our delphinium.

Ocean View delphinium is absolutely incredible.

So many different colors and such great variety.

We're using a mixture of different color blues.

We wanna make sure no leaves or foliage fall below the waterline.

Bacteria is the number one enemy of our flowers.

So now all that's left is to put together our three components.

Our wreath sits on top of our ceramic container.

Our vase drops down inside the center and is sitting on our foam base on the inside.

It's a simple, dramatic effect that you can create yourself.

(gentle music) This is a delicious dish with fish that actually has fruit and flowers.

We're gonna use some chive blossoms and we're also gonna use lemons along with our orange roughy.

This is an easy recipe and it's light, so it's perfect for an evening when you don't have a lot of time.

We're using orange roughy and we're also gonna use chive blossoms and lemons.

That stays with our fruit and flowers theme.

So we'll start with a little bit of coconut oil.

Just spray that inside the dish to keep the fish from sticking.

We'll add our two pieces of orange roughy.

And then we use our chives.

So these are fresh chives I just cut.

We'll use those, we'll add some butter.

I'm a huge butter fan, so.

Then, use some fresh lemon.

And I like to just throw my lemon in with it, it gives it some essence as it's cooking.

We'll use some fresh ground pepper and some pink Himalayan salt.

Super easy prep and we go into the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes.

It looks great and see how easy it was?

It doesn't take a lot of time.

We'll plate it up.

Put the pieces over.

(lively music) Today for flower cocktail hour, we're making a blueberry bloom.

I've got a great glass that looks like a blueberry.

We'll start by coating the rim with some sugar.

We've got two ingredients.

We have blueberry juice, it comes unsweetened or sweetened.

This one happens to be sweetened.

If you wanna sweeten it up a little bit, you could add a little bit of honey, as well.

And our vodka.

(ice rattles) Such a great color.

We'll add a little ice.

And we'll finish it with some soda water.

You can float blueberries on top.

These are fresh, organic blueberries, they look great.

If you want to, you could skewer 'em and set 'em on the edge of the glass.

That's delicious and it's refreshing.

It's a perfect sunshine drink.

(gentle music) Today, my friend Catherine Behrendt is joining us.

She's a lifestyle TV host and we've known each other for years.

We're gonna have some fun in my flower studio creating a project with fruit and flowers.

So, Catherine, I am so delighted to have you here.

We have known each other for over a decade.

- Amazing.

(laughs) - And I started doing live television with you, which was so fun.

- Well, I don't know how much you had done prior to that but you-- - Not very much.

- You were a natural and our viewers loved you and I think it's because you connect with them, certainly over flowers, but you make it so easy and accessible.

- Oh, well thanks.

- And it gives me courage when I watch it, I say, I can do that.

- You, and you are the best about jumping in and doing a project with me, that's what I love.

- Well what are we doing on this project?

- So with this project, we are gonna do fruit kebabs.

So this is a fun little thing that you can do to dress up your table which incorporates fruit and flowers.

And so we have little containers.

You can use a ceramic container or I have a concrete one over here that has a little bit of weight but I've put soaked foam in the bottom and I beveled the edge, so I didn't, I should have beveled the edge for you.

So we just bevel, we always bevel the edge of our foam.

- So we can get a nice shape on our arrangement, is that the idea?

- It's easier to insert into.

- Oh, gotcha.

- Yeah, and it does give us a nice shape so you're absolutely right.

So then I got wooden dowels and so what I did was, you'll notice I cut them at an angle so that when they go into the foam, they won't twist.

If they were cut flat, they would roll around a little bit.

All right?

- Oh, interesting, okay.

- So our dowels are gonna go in the middle and we're gonna drive them down until we hit a hard spot.

- Hit the bottom, okay.

- Got it, so then we're in there.

Now we have fruit, so I figured, you could work with lemons and limes.

I would work with oranges and grapefruits.

So a couple secrets about that.

I'll make a little X and I'll flip it over on the other side and make a little X and then, when that goes on, it goes through there and you know what, the fun part about this is it makes a mess.

- Yeah, it's juicy!

- I love that it makes a mess, right?

- Yeah, I do too.

And so then, yeah, they just go on there.

- [Catherine] Woo!

- I am at five and I'm doing well.

I'm okay, so what I do with the spheres is I take a little bit of waterproof tape and I just wrap that around there.

And what it does is it prevents it from exploding if I would get overzealous with too many stems.

- Okay, good.

- Okay, which you know-- - It's a support structure.

- Right, it's a support structure and so then, it just goes on top of that like that.

- I like it.

- There we go, now I got a selection of yellow and green flowers for you and I'm gonna do oranges and oranges and yellows with mine.

So you have green trick dianthus and we're gonna do 'em top and bottom so at the top there's fun things.

And I gave you a little, I gave you a nipper, how about that.

- So J, I kinda want the smaller stuff on top so that I-- - You can, yeah.

- Oh, I see.

- I think that that's, I mean, I've got some kumquats up here but there's nothing to say I couldn't use a little bit of kumquat at the bottom too.

- Got it.

- Right?

- I think it's-- - That was a hint.

- It's always fun.

We used to do, on your lifestyle show, we got to do segments together a lot and that was always super fun.

- Yes, very fun, and like I said, you've taught me a lot.

Okay, that one kind of, I shot that one.

- You did, what'd you do?

- I broke the stem way high up.

- Oh, well you can cut it short.

Just drive it in low and tight like moss.

- Yeah, okay, that's what I'll do.

Hate to waste one, these are real pretty.

What is this, J?

- So that's, it's actually a carnation.

- Oh, are you kidding, it looks like a sea kelp almost.

- It's green trick dianthus.

And so green trick dianthus is in the dianthus family, just like a carnation.

But it is a special one that has evolved to not have any flowers.

- Huh.

- It's got just that greenery, It almost looks like a big, hefty piece of moss.

- Yeah, it's beautiful.

- I feel a responsibility to make it pretty after more than a decade of lessons from you.

- I think, you know what, the thing that I love about it is that flowers always allow us to do fun things and flowers are very forgiving.

And the act of actually arranging flowers, as we spoke, many, many, many times makes us feel better.

- Yeah, it actually has health benefits, eh?

- Mm-hmm.

So I use these little pieces.

- Pretty.

- And then-- - Jack me up.

- Look it.

- Mm.

- Oh, I like this lemon.

See, then you could take your little topiary and you could have a cocktail.

(both laugh) - You mean when all is said and done?

- Right, right, right, I think, you know, there's those types of things.

- Whoa!

- And the other thing too, another secret trick with this is, our antitranspirants?

- [Catherine] Yes.

- They seal in flowers but they also seal in fruit.

- [Catherine] So how much life can I expect to get out of there when I've got that on there?

- Okay, so with that, we've got, it's gonna naturally dry, you still have the fragrance that comes through, it's gonna be two or three days.

- Very nice.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe even a little bit longer.

- Actually J, I've outdone myself.

(laughs) - I think you did well, I think it's awesome.

Well and the best part is that we got to do it together.

- Very nice.

- So Catherine, we have a little tradition at Life In Bloom and it's flower crowns.

- Oh, how beautiful!

- Because we should always just wear flowers on our head.

- No front or back, really it's just whatever strikes you.

- No, yeah, whatever, oh, see I love that you put the purple towards the front.

- Sort of like a headlamp.

- Exactly, it's all good, it's all good.

(bright music) (gentle music) - Here's a helpful tip for using apples in arrangements.

An apple can remain fresh as long as the skin's not broken but if the skin gets broken, it'll start to rot very quickly.

I like to use a pick to put my apples into my arrangement.

So first, I dip my pick in oil of clove and then I pierce my apple.

The oil of clove will prevent it from rotting the apple.

So I won't have this happening if I use that oil of clove.

Oil of clove and apples, it's a fun way to use fruit and flowers together.

I hope I've inspired you to go out on a limb and incorporate fruit into your next arranging and entertaining project.

For Life In Bloom, I'm J Schwanke, see you next time.

(gentle music) Look out, splash zone.

Oh, I love it Catherine.

- Do you like it?

- Mm-hm.

- I'm bunching a little like you do.

You've also taught me that you can't be too fussy.

Like, normally, I would have tried to put everything just in the right place.

- Right.

- But you've released me from that.

- Oh, well I'm glad.

- Yes.

(chuckles) Oh wow, do I feel inferior-- - Don't!

- When I pause to look.

- That's how I felt when I came on your show.

- Yeah, I'll bet.

- I was like, if Catherine was just with me, I would be fine.

(laughs).

- [Announcer] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] J Schwanke's Life in Bloom is brought to you by Albertsons Companies with additional support from the following companies, the Ball Horticultural Company, Cal Flowers, Design Master Color Tool, Golden Flowers, Sunshine Bouquet, and TheRibbonRoll.com.

Closed caption funding provided by Chrysal.

For everything flowers, recipes, projects, and more information, visit uBloom.com.

(orchestral swell) (bright music)