WHAT’S NEW IN FLOWER ARRANGING TRENDS?

Flower trends can come and go almost as fast as trends in the fashion world. Different "looks" go in and out of style. Particular colors get hot - while others just cool down.

To find out what’s new in floral and flower arranging trends, the Dutch are a good place to start. More flowers come from - or pass through - Holland than any other country in the world.

"Trends start in many pockets of the world - but the best ones tend to sweep the globe," says Mieke Stap, a floral design expert at the International Flower Bulb Center in Hillegom, the Netherlands, who stages international photo shoots year-round. Following is Ms. Stap’s list of top floral style trends to watch for during the spring-blooming season when bulb flowers such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, lilies, Star of Bethlehem (ornithagalum), Persian buttercups (ranunculus), and grape hyacinths (muscari) are at peak availability.

ingle Color Concepts - A hot trend in Europe and espoused here by such lifestyle arbiters as Martha Stewart: the monochromatic look achieves a special lushness by repeating one color in mixes of all-the-same kind of flowers, or various types of flowers in closely-related hues. Arrangements are often densely packed with flowers.

Outside-In Arrangements - Here, both the stems and the flowers appear totally INSIDE clear vases so the flowers appear "under glass" as if in a jeweler’s or museum case. The vase envelopes the flowers completely, with the flower tops aligned near the upper rim of the vase. Water is kept low, and topped off regularly.

Repeat Performances - This is a style designed to show off the singular shapes of particular flowers. Groups of identical containers are featured, each holding one perfect flower. How many containers? Anything goes - more than three and as many as you choose. Continuity creates unity.

Low-Slung & Topsy-Turvy - With appealing results, trend-setting designers are choosing to flip-flop the traditional design formula of 1/3 vase topped by 2/3 stems and flowers. The new topsy-turvy look is bottom heavy, with the vase occupying the lower 2/3 of the arrangement, and the flowers just cresting over the top.

A Different Twist - Designers with deft hands have adapted hand-tied bouquets, in which stems are carefully angled in a spiraling fashion, to create free-standing arrangements that stand on their stems in plates or bowls of water. While it appears that the flowers are standing upright without support, the water and tied stems provide just enough oomph to hold the flowers up.