Over the past few years, the Pop-Up bouquet has become a staple of Academy Florist’s signature look. Whether it is a monochromatic beauty featuring a peony in full bloom or an explosion of colour where ranunculus plays the lead or a delicate offering with Icelandic poppies, the Pop-Up is always a fan favourite.

Our team was first inspired by what they were seeing from Little Posy Co out of Perth, Australia. Their Mixed Posy bunches, made with their freshest, in-stock flowers seemed like just the thing our customers, here in Winnipeg, needed for a wee floral pick-me-up!

Our Pop-Ups reflect our team’s desire to offer our customers specialty flowers at an everyday price point. Many of the flowers that are now included in these made-fresh-daily bouquets were once primarily ordered in for special events or added to luxury arrangements exclusively but with a little imagination and creativity these little gems are available for all.

While there is no set formula for creating a Pop-Up, each incarnation of this bouquet has a few common elements. Each creation begins with a focal flower -  a peony, a ranunculus, a garden rose, a poppy or another flower that has captured our designer’s imagination. Then a few filler flowers like stock, snap dragons or statice are added. A few designer greens like ruscus, olive branch or eucalyptus bring the whole bouquet together.

The flowers and colour combinations used each week are inspired by the seasons and what special thing we have arriving in store in our latest shipment. Nothing about the Pop-Up is pre-scheduled or arranged. Our designer just walks into the cooler and creates out of what catches her attention.

Pop-Up bouquets tend to be a bit shorter than our other fresh cut bouquets for a few reasons. Many specialty flowers grow on shorter stems than other flowers like roses or daisies. Many of the specialty flowers are also a bit heavy-headed so they tend to droop a lot if left untrimmed.

To keep your one-of-a-kind Pop-Up looking fresh for as long as possible, be sure to give the stems a trim under warm running water before you place them in a vase with plant food. Also change to water every few days to keep it fresh and give the stem a little snip each time you change the water. You can expect your flowers to be at their best for three to five days and begin to fade sometime after that.

What are some of your favourite colour combinations in a Pop-Up?