What Fillers Go With Calla Lilies?

Whether creating an arrangement for the tables at a wedding reception or making the most out of a kitchen centerpiece, calla lilies add body and beauty. These flowers have a distinct look that makes them the centerpiece of any floral arrangement. While often used with other flowers, calla lilies are often presented with one or more of several "fillers" that complement the flowers without stealing the show.

Baby’s Breath

• Gypsophila muralis, also known as Gyp or baby’s breath, is a thin-stemmed annual that requires little water and matures into 12- to 18-inch green stems with dense but small white blooms. These flowers are often used as a backdrop for flowers in bouquets and arrangements. Baby’s breath works well with both white and colored calla lilies either as filler or as one of several flowers in an arrangement. Use baby’s breath in a flower arrangement when half of the blooms open to gain optimal bloom time. Baby’s breath used strictly as filler can also be harvested just after budding to provide smaller white accents and more green.

Queen Anne’s Lace

• Also known as the wild carrot, Queen Anne’s lace, or Daucus carota, is a long-stemmed plant that grows commonly in dry fields and ditches. The plant is closely related to carrots found on dinner plates around the world, but also blooms into a frosty, ice white plume of small white flowers that each have a purple center. Like baby’s breath, Queen Anne’s lace can be picked either at half bloom to provide a white backdrop to the lilies, or slightly earlier to provide more green. Although Queen Anne’s lace has a bushy bloom at the top, the stem is bare and because of this, the flowering plant is used in conjunction with other fillers to provide more green.

Israeli Ruscus

• The Ruscus hypophyllum, or Israeli ruscus, is a tough green plant that produces broad, oval-shaped leaves that fold out from a thick stem. This plant provides plenty of green to fill out a vase or floral arrangement and has a deep green color that complements many shades of calla lily. This species of plant is related to asparagus.

Leatherleaf

• Chamaedaphne calyculata, or leatherleaf, is a shrub that produces thick, waxy green leaves. The branches of these shrubs are often cut as filler for floral arrangements but they work especially well with calla lilies since their waxy sturdy texture is similar to the texture of the calla lily petal.