>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by the following... >> That flower feeling.

♪ At home.

♪ At work.

♪ Or anytime.

♪ CalFlowers is a proud sponsor of "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom," where flowers and wellness go hand in hand.

>> We have fresh in all our stores, from soups and steaks and all things flour to all things flowering.

Custom fresh arrangements designed by our in-store florists at Albertsons Companies.

>> With additional support from the following... Dollar Tree.

♪ >> On today's "Life in Bloom," it's a taste of the tropics with tropical blooms... including a large-scale party centerpiece... and wall art made of foliage.

Make leis with my Jennifer.

And we'll also make a classic tropical cocktail.

♪ ♪ I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

I've enjoyed the recent rise in popularity of tropical foliage and flowers.

I refer to it as a bit of Monstera madness in honor of the giant leaves we see everywhere, both real and represented in fabrics, glassware, interiors, and more.

Tropical leaves and flowers are a motif that transport us from our daily lives to a place that's remote and relaxing.

It's a great go-to theme for parties or get-togethers that most enjoy.

Let's explore ways to create your own tropical escape this week on "Life in Bloom."

♪ Today's project is big.

It's for a special event or a party, but you could make it smaller.

So as we're creating this today, remember that there's options that you could do to scale this down.

Obviously, we could use a smaller container in both cases to make this a smaller tabletop decoration.

We're using two of the pieces of colored galvanized material.

And so, in this, we're using a tray and we're going to put our second vase inside that.

Now, we're going to fill this with fruit, but another great option -- you could fill this with ice and use it as a cooler.

You've got all sorts of fun things that you could do with this to personalize it to your party.

The end result is a very tropical-looking arrangement.

So, we've picked fruit that looks tropical that'll go with our palm tree.

♪ We're making sure the bucket in the middle stays in the center of our entire arrangement.

As you can imagine, this is going to get heavy, so we want to create it in the location that it's going to be displayed.

This is easily created.

We took our PVC pipe and pounded a few nails in it.

Then we sat it down in a paint can and poured in Quikrete, added water, and it sat up.

So now we have an apparatus that we can use that has a PVC pipe in the center of it.

And for today's palm-tree effect, we're using this great jute-type material.

It's actually a ribbon that's fibrous and it looks like the stem of a palm tree.

So, I tied it off with a piece of wire and then wrapped it all the way around and bound it again at the top.

It fits down in there perfectly, and now, this is completely covered so that it looks like a palm tree stem.

The next step is to fill this with water.

♪ I have a beautiful selection of protea.

We'll use those to give this a great tropical effect.

But remember.

You have the opportunity to use anything.

And we're working all the way around our pole because this will be an arrangement that can be seen from all sides.

So now we can make the topper for our palm tree.

A bouquet holder with soaked flower foam is perfect for this project.

It fits easily into the PVC pipe.

Here, we'll fill it with greenery and then place it in the top of our palm tree to create the umbrella effect.

You could use any of these foliages.

Sago palm or robellini would work great.

We've got aspidistra, or palmetto palm or beautiful leatherleaf would also create a great canopy.

For this one today, we're going to use a mixture of those so that we make it very tropical, but, again, any type of foliage could be used to create that canopy.

♪ ♪ Each one of these elements is separate, so it would be easy to transport.

It's a great way for us to use different containers together and create a wonderful tropical effect for a special event.

♪ When I traveled to Colombia, South America, I visited my friend Eli Perez at Rosamina Farms.

He grows protea in one of the most beautiful locations in the foothills of Colombia.

It was a pleasure to take in the breathtaking vistas on the farm where Eli grows a multitude of different types of protea, Leucadendron, and tropical foliage.

When I'm around flowers, I'm always inspired.

Eli provided a design station complete with many of his flowers, foliage, and a few containers ready for arranging.

I couldn't resist creating an arrangement with his beautiful flowers.

Starting with a vase filled with soaked flower foam, I placed tall Leucadendron to establish the vertical access of my arrangement.

Colombian pittosporum goes in the center of my arrangement.

♪ Adding pink mink protea in a cluster of three helps me create the focal area.

♪ There are so many different types of flowers and foliage.

I want to use a little bit of everything.

Adding single stems of different types of Leucadendron creates interest in the arrangement.

I love pincushion protea, and I'll use a collection of these bright orange pins on one side.

♪ ♪ And a single red pincushion on the opposite side.

♪ ♪ Eucalyptus is a wonderful finishing foliage.

It adds fragrance.

♪ ♪ It's truly like being a kid in a candy store with so many beautiful varieties of protea to choose from.

♪ ♪ My flower travels always introduce me to incredible places, wonderful friends, and, of course, amazing flowers.

It's all part of creating a life in bloom.

♪ Anthurium is a genus of herbs often grown as epiphytes on other plants.

The name Anthurium is Greek, meaning "tail flower."

Anthurium are also known as flamingo flower, Hawaiian heart, painted tongue, and laceleaf.

The colorful heart shape is not a flower.

Though it looks like a waxy bloom, it's actually a spathe, or shield-like leaf.

Its function is to protect the spadix, which contains several tiny flowers when in bloom.

The spathe can come in many colors, such as pink, orange, and white.

Native to the Americas and first discovered in Colombia, there are more than a thousand species of Anthurium.

Anthurium plants remove toxic substances, such as benzene, formaldehyde, and ammonia from the air.

They exude substances that kill mold and viruses, thus keeping us healthier.

Anthurium are available as both cut flowers and house plants.

♪ This arrangement has very few flowers, but it's about the texture that goes along with tropical texture.

We've placed a piece of foam down in the bottom of our container.

You'll notice that it falls way below the level of the container itself.

It's been saturated with water with flower nutrient in it.

And now we'll cover it with sand.

We know that it's down there as a water reservoir.

We'll add a couple of flax leaves.

What I'm going to do with the flax leaves is I'll bend them to create a knot.

We'll actually just take the flax leaf... tie it into a knot... and then press the knot to fold it.

We can sharpen the end.

We'll go through the sand into our foam.

♪ Do that with two of them.

♪ And our third one we'll just bend.

We'll also use...a single palm frond.

I'm gonna peel that back a little bit so that it looks like it has a stem.

One stem of oncidium orchids.

And again we're going down into our foam through the sand.

♪ ♪ Two Anthuriums.

We'll finish... with a few rocks.

♪ We can add a candle right at the front of our arrangement.

We've made sure that we've left plenty of space so that we can have an open flame.

♪ Using the sand as a textural element allows us to evoke the feeling of tropical texture.

Let's take a look at a little arrangement that has the same thing.

With this arrangement, I've also concealed the water supply.

I used a smaller cylinder inside this larger cylinder so that my sand and rocks are on the outside and the water and container is on the inside.

Then my flowers are placed directly into that vase.

The concealed water supply is a great technique.

And it allows us to use sand and rocks to evoke the same feelings that we did in this arrangement.

♪ Jen, thank you so much for coming and being here.

>> I love coming and visiting you, and, my goodness, I feel like I'm in a tropical paradise right now.

>> I tried to tiki it up for us a little bit, okay?

Alright, so that's good.

And I thought, because you're Filipino, that this was a really good, fun segment to tie in because you could talk a little bit about your culture.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

You know, it's interesting, though, J, because there are about 48% of Filipinos who consider themselves strictly Pacific Islanders.

And then others consider themself Asian.

And so it's kind of a debate, but regardless, a lot of the culture is really enmeshed in each other, so leis have always been part of my childhood and growing up in big, celebratory moments.

>> Oh, that's very cool.

So, what I did was honestly, this is available as a "graduation combination."

Okay?

So you get the -- you get this leaf one, okay?

So the tea leaf one, which is for good luck.

>> Yeah, and usually a lot of guys wear this one.

I don't know why they don't give the girls the good luck.

>> But I thought it would be fun for us to make our own.

>> Yes, I would love to make my own.

>> Right, right, right?

So I think that's pretty fun.

So, to do that, what we're going to do is we are going to work with dental floss.

>> Does it have to be waxed?

[ Both laugh ] I mean, there are so many different kinds of dental floss.

>> I suppose that could help.

I suppose that could help, okay?

And then you need a big needle.

With that then, you measure out your dental floss so that you have about two yards, okay?

This isn't quite two yards.

I mean, so, four yards.

This little thing holds four yards, so it's the perfect amount.

Okay?

>> So enough, really, to go around your neck is what you're measuring, right?

>> Correct, correct.

>> Love it.

>> So, you'll always see that there's a bow.

What we do is we're going to take that needle and we're going to put it through that bow.

This is a big needle.

>> Yeah.

>> Okay.

So then we bring this up here to the end.

>> Okay.

>> And then we tie it around there.

>> Oh!

>> Okay?

>> Okay.

>> When you tie it around there, you have a secure end when your flowers are coming down to the end of the lei and they don't just pop off because it's really hard to make a big enough knot to accommodate this giant needle.

>> Okay, okay.

>> Okay, so then you go in the center of this and you're actually going to miss that stem.

>> Not put it right through?

>> Yeah, you're going to just come up here towards the end.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> And then you're going to pull.

And it sits on there.

Now, we've cut them off kind of short.

Now, see?

Notice how they're about -- They're pretty short, right?

>> Sure.

>> And so then the next one goes through there.

And it's like sewing class, right?

>> So you don't have to knot them in between?

>> No.

>> You just continue to -- Oh, oh, oh, there we go!

>> Now, see, so then this little guy is going to fit down in that.

>> I see.

>> So we get a nice, solid, little pattern.

That's the easiest way to do it.

>> Okay.

Now through the top, right?

Is that what you just taught me?

>> Yeah, through the top.

>> Okay.

>> Always just do it the same way.

>> Yeah, I'm going to do it the same way, okay.

♪ ♪ >> Now, see, I like how you -- I like how you set it up like this.

See, I dangle like a fish.

>> Oh.

>> But I like your -- Yours is pretty.

>> I don't know what I'm doing.

>> I think it's beautiful.

>> I think this is perfect, J. I think this is a good size for me.

>> Okay, so now -- >> So now what do I do?

>> So at the end up here, when you bring this up here, you're going to sew through your bow.

>> Okay.

>> To secure it up there so that it's all secure.

>> Okay.

♪ [ Gasps ] Look at that.

Oh, it's so pretty!

>> Now, they talk about, too, that you're supposed to wear it a little up.

>> A little up.

>> So that's in the middle.

>> Mm!

>> Like that, right?

>> Yes, look at that.

Perfect.

Oh, but I have to put it on you.

>> I know, right, right?

Okay.

>> There you go.

>> See, look.

I said it was long.

>> Yeah.

>> But I can shove it way up here.

Obviously... >> Oh, of course, the signature flower.

>> The flower crown that I made for you.

>> Oh, okay.

>> How'd I do for your head?

Oh, see.

>> This is great.

Now I feel like I need to do the hula.

>> Do you hula?

>> I do hula.

>> Can you teach me a couple of hulas?

>> I can teach you a couple moves.

You want to do a couple moves?

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do a couple moves.

Okay, alright.

>> There's a hula dance that many learn off the bat, the hukilau.

>> Okay.

>> And you can Google that, of course, and learn how to do that, but I'm just going to teach you some really easy moves.

>> Okay, good.

Easy is good for me.

>> So, "we're going to the hukilau" is usually the first line.

So, J, I know you can handle this.

This is "we're going."

>> We're going.

>> To the hukilau.

So, hukilau is a fisherman's dance, and so they would go to use fishing nets to go and catch fish.

So we're going to the hukilau.

>> Going to the -- >> [ Laughs ] >> See?

See?

>> We're going to the hukilau.

♪ Huki, huki, huki, huki, huki, hukilau ♪ There you go.

Another word that's really easy, of course, the ocean and the sea.

So it's just very graceful movements of the ocean and the sea.

You got to kind of bend it at the wrist.

There you go.

>> You're very -- >> It's a graceful -- It's a graceful dance because, again, it's all in the hands, okay?

>> Got it.

>> Another one is 'ama'ama, which is "fish."

So you make a little fish like this and then have it go.

There you go.

So you learned a couple moves.

>> I have.

>> How about that?

>> You're awesome.

>> Uh-huh.

>> Okay, I love that.

>> Well, mahalo for having me on to do this.

This is beautiful.

>> Thank you so much.

So, I have a question.

>> Yes?

>> Do you want to come back and make a cocktail with me?

>> Of course I do.

[ Both laugh ] >> Perfect.

So we'll come back and make a cocktail.

>> Love it.

♪ >> If you're having a party or entertaining, I like to use a wall decoration to set the mood.

And this wreath is a perfect way for us to do it.

It's a flower-foam wreath, and I've soaked it in water so that it's ready to have all of these different types of tropical foliage arranged into it.

Then we can hang it on the wall and the tropical party can start.

This flower-foam wreath has a plastic back.

There's also a hanger and a drip tray at the bottom.

I always arrange in a work area because I'm going to displace water as I'm adding the different types of leaves.

After I'm done, I'll usually stand it up or hang it in a place where it can drip for an hour or so before I hang it in its permanent spot.

♪ I'm working with each individual bunch and grouping that foliage together.

You could also do it serendipity and mix them all together.

This would also make a great centerpiece on a table or it could be hung on a front door so that you could have an entrance to your tropical party.

I like to follow it up with some leaf shine just to make sure that the leaves are nice and glossy and look really pretty.

A tropical foliage wreath like this will last for several weeks.

Now let's get it up for display.

♪ ♪ So, Jen, I thought it would be fun for us to have a flower-inspired, tiki-type cocktail.

>> I'm in.

>> Okay.

So, this is supposedly for four people, but we have big glasses, so maybe it's only for two.

>> And we enjoy our cocktails.

>> Right, right.

So, we need a cup and a half of bourbon.

>> Okay.

>> [ Laughs ] >> That's a lot of bourbon.

[ Laughs ] >> It's for four cocktails.

>> Yes, alright.

>> Alright, so...

There we go.

>> Nice job.

>> Okay.

>> Alright.

>> Then we need 1/2 of a cup of orgeat.

>> Okay, orgeat.

That's a fun word to say -- orgeat.

>> And see, it's thicker.

>> Yeah, it's very syrupy.

>> Right.

And so we're mixing all of these things room temperature.

>> Okay.

>> Because then it will mix together well, because if you mix it cold, the orgeat does not do well.

>> Gotcha.

>> Okay?

So then we need 1/2 cup of our... >> Lemon.

>> ...lemon juice.

So that's going to splash off to the side.

>> Yeah.

There you go.

>> There we go.

Alright.

And then we need 2/3 of a cup of hibiscus syrup.

And I measured this out ahead of time so that it's 2/3 of a cup.

>> Perfect.

>> There we go.

So now we take this and we shake it.

It smells good.

>> It does.

>> Ready?

>> And you have to have the tiki cups.

>> You have to, right?

Right?

'Cause why would you not?

>> Right.

>> Now, supposedly this is for -- this is four, but those are big glasses.

>> They are.

>> So...

I have hibiscus in the yard.

>> You certainly do.

>> Those might be a little big.

>> Well, yeah, just a little.

>> But we can use little buds.

>> Oh, look at that.

>> Isn't the bud cute?

>> [ Gasps ] Beautiful.

>> You could put them... >> I could put them in my hair.

Yes.

>> Okay.

>> Look at that.

Maybe I stir it around with the stem as like my little straw.

>> Sure.

>> Okay.

Ooh!

That is delightful refreshing.

>> It's tropical, for sure.

>> Yes, mm-hmm.

Mmm.

I could hula all night long.

[ Laughs ] >> Is this what -- Is this is what I do?

>> Yeah.

Here you go.

It's all in the hands, J, all in the hands.

Meanwhile, I'll drink.

>> This way.

>> [ Laughs ] >> What?

A fishy.

>> The fish, yes.

>> The fish.

>> Oh, we need work.

[ Laughs ] >> Thank you so much... >> Cheers.

Thank you.

>> ...for coming and being with me.

I always love it when you come back.

>> Oh, I love being a part of this.

It's always fun to see what you whip up.

>> You make my life in bloom.

>> Aww.

Thanks, J.

>> So I appreciate that.

>> Alright.

>> Thanks, dear.

♪ >> Have you floated away on a tropical breeze after this show?

I love tropical foliage and flowers, and I hope you've enjoyed these ideas for an escape.

For "Life in Bloom," I'm J Schwanke.

>> I don't cut as fast as you.

>> That's okay.

>> [ Laughs ] >> Lots of practice.

>> Yeah, no kidding.

>> See, look, I like being your sous-chef.

>> I enjoy this.

[ Both laugh ] >> Did you make leis when you were a kid?

>> You know, my dad used to make them all the time but I never had the patience.

[ Laughs ] So now that I'm older... Look at this -- I'm making them with you, J.

>> Oh, see, now, mine's underneath all that stuff.

>> I could do it like that.

Two at a time.

Here we go.

>> Look, it's just a mess up there, Jen.

It's just -- See?

J does not sew.

It's a mess.

>> [ Laughs ] We all have our strengths.

>> I know, right?

I am the flower guy, not the sew guy.

>> No.

>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

>> Visit J's website, ubloom.com, for flower projects and crafts, complete recipes, behind-the-scenes videos, J's blog, flower cocktails, and more.

♪ "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by the following... >> That flower feeling.

♪ At home.

♪ At work.

♪ Or anytime.

♪ CalFlowers is a proud sponsor of "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom," where flowers and wellness go hand in hand.

>> We have fresh in all our stores, from soups and steaks and all things flour to all things flowering.

Custom fresh arrangements designed by our in-store florists at Albertsons Companies.

>> With additional support from the following... Dollar Tree.

♪ Closed-caption funding provided by Holland America Flowers.

♪ ♪