My brother, the budding florist, has been doing his homework, which means checking out the work of other experienced florists at design shows. He took some pictures for me at one recent show in Orange County.

Photos by Daniel Barrientos

He sent me quite a few photos, but I split them up into “regular” flowers and tropical arrangements. These are the “regular” flowers, but the designers designed them in such a way that they are in no way “regular” at all. Take, after all, this arrangement of pink roses, purple daisies and green poms — so colorful and cute and perfect for a fun, outdoor wedding.

I know this photo is a tiny bit fuzzy, but the flower arrangement is adorable nonetheless. In what looks to be a pink box, is an arrangement of pink and green roses, surrounding a candle, entwined with silvery ribbon. If there are more flowers in the arrangement I can’t tell. I might have to get my brother a new camera.

This arrangement is fun and simple. We’ve got a bunch of pink roses in what looks to be a clear vase entwined with shiny purple string or wire. And a plastic flamingo. Don’t forget the plastic flamingo!

This arrangement, which would work well as an altar arrangement or perhaps as an entry arrangement, looks like a riot of spring flowers. A few of the flowers I can identify include larkspur, white lilies, yellow roses and white spider mums.

Then there’s this arrangement, which has two bases because its sort of a mini arch. I don’t know if it’d be advisable to use this as a guest table arrangement, but it would be cool on a buffet table, or maybe on the entry table. The designer took branches and plumosus and twisted and arched it from the bigger base on the right to the smaller one on the left, then entwined it with different types of flowers.