James Whitaker
Why Floral Foam Is Falling Out of Favour
For decades, a green brick of floral foam sat at the heart of almost every pedestal arrangement, wreath and wedding arch in Britain. It was convenient, it held stems at any angle, and it kept flowers drinking. The trouble is that it is a single-use plastic foam that crumbles into microplastics, cannot be recycled in kerbside collections, and usually ends up in the bin after a single event. For a florist working with British-grown blooms, that sits uncomfortably alongside the values that drew so many of us to seasonal flowers in the first place.
The good news is that the alternatives are not a compromise. In many cases, reusable mechanics hold stems more securely than foam ever did, and they let you work with longer stems, wider vessels and heavier seasonal material without a soggy base giving way halfway through the day.
Chicken Wire: The Reusable Workhorse
Nothing beats a scrunched ball of galvanised chicken wire for holding a loose, generous arrangement. Choose a mesh of roughly 2.5cm across; anything smaller is fiddly with thick stems, anything larger gives too much movement. Cut a piece about twice the width of your container, scrunch it into a loose ball, and press it into the vessel so it sits just below the rim. If the container is glass or the wire feels springy, run a couple of strips of waterproof tape across the top to hold it steady.
The magic is that every gap becomes a natural holder. You can push a dahlia stem in at a steep angle, then thread a trailing ivy through the same ball without disturbing it. The wire grips firmly but gently, so stems stay where you place them. After the event, lift the ball out, shake off the debris, rinse it under the tap and leave it to dry. A single ball will serve you for years, which makes it far cheaper over a season than a box of foam.
Moss and Natural Supports
Moss is the quiet hero of eco-friendly floristry. A layer of damp moss around the rim of a container hides all your mechanics, adds weight to keep tall designs stable, and gives stems a cool, humid pocket to sit in. For wreaths, a moss-filled wire ring is the traditional British method and it works beautifully: soak the moss, squeeze it out, pack it firmly around the frame, and bind it in place with twine as you go. Stems are then pushed straight through the moss into the wire beneath.
Do source your moss carefully. Look for sphagnum or carpet moss from a reputable supplier, or gather it from your own garden and hedgerows where it grows in abundance. Avoid anything harvested from peat bogs, and never strip moss from wild sites that need it. Bark, twig bundles, hollowed branches and dried seed heads can all act as armatures too, especially for autumn and winter work when the structure can be as beautiful as the flowers.
Pin Holders, Hairpin Wires and Other Reusable Kit
Pin holders, also called kenzans, are a Japanese mechanic that deserves a bigger place in British floristry. A heavy base studded with upright pins sits in the bottom of a shallow dish, and stems are simply pushed onto the pins. They are ideal for low, ikebana-style designs and for anything where you want stems to appear to rise straight out of the water.
- Hairpin wire loops for wreaths and garlands, bent from floristry wire and reused indefinitely.
- Reusable grids in plastic or metal, laid over a vase to create a supporting lattice.
- Twig armatures tied with bindwire, brilliant for large installations and arches.
- Sand or gravel in a waterproof liner, which holds stems and anchors heavy branches.
- Glass or ceramic cups set inside a display, each holding a small posy in water.
Keep a box of these alongside your snips and twine, and you will rarely reach for foam again.
Putting It Together for a Seasonal Design
Try a simple autumn pedestal arrangement to see how the pieces combine. Line your urn with a waterproof liner or a sturdy bin bag, then press in a ball of chicken wire. Pour in water until it sits just below the wire, and tuck damp moss around the rim to conceal the edges. Build your shape with foliage first, beech, eucalyptus or copper tones, then place your main flowers such as dahlias and chrysanthemums, and finish with berries and smaller filler blooms threaded into the gaps.
Because the wire supports every stem individually, you can adjust the design as you go without the whole thing collapsing. If a stem is too short to reach the water, thread it into a small water-filled vial tucked behind the moss. Nothing is wasted, and nothing needs to be thrown away at the end of the day.
Looking After Your Mechanics
A little care between jobs keeps everything ready for the next season. Rinse chicken wire and shake it dry so it does not rust; store it coiled loosely rather than crushed flat. Scrub pin holders with a stiff brush and warm soapy water to remove plant sap, and soak them in a little vinegar and water if limescale builds up. Moss that has been soaked inside a design is best composted after use, but dry moss bases and wreath frames can be reused several times over. Label a storage box and keep it somewhere dry.
Working without foam is, in many ways, a return to older British floristry, the methods our grandmothers used with wire, moss and a good pair of hands. It asks a little more thought at the start, but the results are sturdier, more natural and far kinder to the garden and the wider landscape we all depend on.
