Guest in residence: Roughage Floral designer Amber England
On essential tools for beginners, where to get dahlia tubers, and tips on up-leveling your home arrangements
Guest in residence is a series of intimate conversations with creatives, experts, and tastemakers in the realms of design, food & beverage, and travel. I invite guests inside to share practical advice, their favorite resources, and the things they’re into right now.
Amber England of Roughage Floral is floral designer based in Colorado, recognized for her whimsical, organic arrangements and her wabi-sabi, foraged approach.
As someone who loves the texture and beauty that flowers bring to gatherings, I asked Amber if she’d be open to sharing some of her tricks of the trade with us. One spring morning, we grabbed coffee in the neighborhood and got to chat all things flowers and tabletop decor. Enjoy!
TW: How did you first get started with floral?
AE: During the pandemic, I had been taking a ceramics class that shut down and I was looking for another creative outlet. One day I was out walking my dog, and there was a girl in the neighborhood putting out small floral arrangements for donations only. I ended up reaching out to her on Instagram and asked if she would do a private class. Then one of my girlfriends asked me to do her wedding flowers—and that’s where it really started.
Where do you get inspiration?
My aesthetic is inspired by nature. I try to emulate a natural approach and tend to cluster flowers the way you might find them in a garden. I like a weird branch that catches your eye as opposed to something super neat and symmetrical. I always encourage people to go for a walk and see what colors and textures your eye is drawn to. Take a moment and see what it is about a certain photo or a specific color pairing that you really like.
Some of the artists that inspire me include Saipua, Max Gill Design, Jenn Sanchez, Pigsty Studio, and Sarah Winward.
What kind of arrangements do you usually create for your own home?
I like to create based on seasonality—rather than buy something that’s flown in from far away and likely not going to last, I try to use seasonally appropriate stems or something that’s cut from my garden. I always encourage embracing the season we’re in. In the winter, for example, I’ll gather random sticks alongside flowers I got from the supermarket.
“My aesthetic is inspired by nature. I try to emulate a natural approach and tend to cluster flowers the way you might find them in a garden. I like a weird branch that catches your eye as opposed to something super neat and symmetrical.”
What are some of your essentials for home arranging?
Coated green chicken wire.* Most florists are trying to get away from using floral foam for sustainability—you can ball up green chicken wire and use it in a similar fashion.
Floral scissors.* A set of snips is a must-have.
Flower frogs.* This is a good mix-and-match variety pack.
Your favorite vase or bowl. I encourage shopping at antique shops or estate sales. I’m a fan of a vessel that can stand alone when you aren’t using it. Neutral colors or brass are great—something opaque to hide the stems.
A little tip on using flower frogs*: Cake floral putty all around the outside lip of the bottom, place the flower frog in the dry vessel and twist to secure. If you can do it more than 24 hours in advance, it’ll stick better. Between uses, clean the pin frog with a toothbrush.
Let’s talk more about vessels. For someone who’s just starting to build their collection, what are a few that we should have on hand?
I would start with three sizes:
A bud vase. Love a bud vase—you can snip a few flowers and create a cute little moment for your bathroom with three stems or so.
A medium vessel. Ideally something that you can put a whole bouquet in, like a big bunch of tulips, roses, or alstroemeria. A taller vase typically means you’ll need to find longer stemmed flowers.
A really tall, heavy vase. A big vase is ideal for flowering branches. You want something heavy so that it’s not going to tip over. When you’re looking for something, think about how many stems you might want to put in there, if the neck is big enough. If you have a huge vessel that you can’t fill all the way with with water, you can also always put another narrower vessel inside. I love large arrangements, but if it’s going on your table, be mindful to keep it below your guests eye level (12-14”).
I love how you make floral design so approachable. For example, you were able to make a statement arrangement with just three types of Trader Joe’s flowers. How do you think about texture, scale, and palette in floral design?
A couple of foundational rules:
Scale: Whatever your vessel size is—you want your arrangement to be 2-3x the size of the vessel.
Texture: Stair step your stems to give it dimension—otherwise, you’re creating a very flat surface. One high, one low.
Clusters: Arrange the same type of stem in clusters. This helps you not overwhelm the brain visually—and many flowers bloom from the same stem or plant.
Negative space: Negative space within the arrangement allows you to take in the flowers and the environment.
Odd numbers: Odd numbers of a stem create more visual interest than even numbers—focus on grouping three or five when you’re clustering flowers together.
Color palette: Notice what you’re drawn to when you’re in nature. Do you like certain colors together? If you really want to commit, you can pull up a color wheel and Google color theory.
What are some tips you have for making your home arrangements last longer? What are the longest lasting flowers that you recommend?
Give your flowers a fresh snip and refresh the water every day or every other day. If you take a half inch off, it’ll give them a clean start. Be sure to remove all leaves or flowers below the water line. They have more bacteria on them and will sour the water quickly. And always keep them out of direct sunlight and away from heat source. Remove any expired stems ASAP to minimize bacteria production.
As far as what most people have access to, carnations, alstroemeria, any sort of mum, and roses typically last the longest. Ranunculus can be long lasting and tulips keep growing even after they’re cut! Tulips look the best a few days after they’re cut—their stems get a little wild, heads open and petals peel back.
Let’s talk about tablescapes—yours are done so beautifully! How do you approach tabletop decor?
I typically start with one larger arrangement that has a focal flower, a secondary flower, filler flowers, and then greenery or foliage. Then I’ll do clusters of bud vases in varying heights—maybe in groups of two or three. I like to tuck a few stems in each one, pulling in one or two elements from the bigger piece into the bud vase. There are no hard and fast rules. Bud vases are great to plug in leftovers or stems that broke along the design process.
As for candles, I like to make them all the same color but bring in varying heights, which creates a more organic feel.
I’m trying to get a little cutting garden started this year (though I have a black thumb, so don’t hold me to it). What are some favorite places to buy seeds and bulbs for your garden?
For seeds and bulbs, I like Floret Flowers. Flower Hat is a great place to get tulips, dahlias, and ranunculus. And Artemis Flower Farm offers a lot of tulips and bulbs in the fall. For those in Colorado, Red Daisy is a local farm that offers garden plug setups in the spring. Check out your farmers’ markets for specialty cut flowers, or swing by the local garden shop and plant something that you can snip blooms from.
Any other advice for someone looking to explore floral arranging?
Embrace the imperfection—know that everything is temporary. When I was going through a difficult time with infertility, I found a therapeutic release in the form of flowers. It sounds cheesy, but the beauty of imperfection mirrored my challenges with pregnancy. You become resilient and you adapt to what you’re given.
Thank you, Amber, for sharing your floral advice with us! Readers—Amber would love to hear from you: Have a question about working with a certain flower or want some feedback on a tabletop concept? Drop a comment below, jump into the chat with your questions, or reach out to her by DM.
To explore more of her whimsical designs, find her on Instagram at @roughage_floral.
In case you missed it: Five things for your spring table and how Athena Gronti hosts six women at a time through & the Table.
soooo pretty
Great article, Amber! Beautiful arrangements!