Hello there and happy Friday! I hope you enjoyed a shorter week and are looking forward to a fun weekend. I’m sure some of you will be spending time in your yards or planting flowers. I absolutely love that we’re in the time of the year when I can go outside and pick fresh flowers right from my garden. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve while I’m waiting for my Peonies and Hydrangeas to bloom! But after I pick them, then what? Let’s just say that flower arranging hasn’t been a strength of mine. I can put together a simple arrangement but that’s about as far as it goes.
So in case you’re anything like me with your flower arranging skills (or lack thereof), today’s find will be right up your alley. Who knows, even if your flower arranging skills are on point, you may still pick up a pointer or 2 that you didn’t know.
Tip 1: Prep The Flowers
This is key. Properly preparing the flowers will make them look better and last longer. This is a helpful infographic from Fix.com that goes over the basics of flower prep.
Tip 2: Think Outside of the Vase
There are so many objects that make perfect vessels for flower arrangements, why limit yourself to just a vase? I love the rustic feel that this galvanized steel pot gives to this beautiful arrangement done by Natural Designs in Columbus.
Tip 3: Size Matters
Get your mind out of the gutter, silly! 😉 We’re talking vase size. The vase should be about 1/2 to 1/3 of the size of the entire arrangement as demonstrated in the below picture.
Photo: Napa Wedding Flowers
Tip 4: The Formula to Flower Arranging
Now that you’ve selected the vase, how do you know where to place them? This Flower Arranging 101 lesson from Brit + Co is super helpful and clearly defines the elements you need in order to have a strong arrangement; focal flowers, secondary flowers, fillers and greens.
Tip 5: Keep the Flowers Where You Put ‘Em
Now that you feel more comfortable with your flower arranging skills, how the heck do you get the flowers to stay in place? Well this trick from Country Living blew my mind! For arrangements with a wider and more shallow vase, create a grid with tape to keep the stems in place.
For taller arrangements, you can utilize a similar concept with chicken wire as suggested by HGTV.
Tip 6: How Do They Do That Thing Where the Stems Are A Perfect Spiral in the Vase?!
Southern Living gives a great step-by-step on this technique; it all starts with taping the stems together.
Tip 7: How To Create a Floating Arrangement
I’ve seen many of these at weddings or parties and always wondered how they got the flowers to float. Christine de Beer has the perfect answer; by giving them a little bubble wrap tutu!
Tip 8: How to Keep Tulips from Drooping
Tulips are one of my favorite varieties of flowers to have in a vase in the house… they’re also the most frustrating. Within a day or 2 the once beautiful and confident heads begin to put their heads down in defeat. It’s very sad, really. Check out What’s Ur Home Story‘s tip to maintain your tulips healthy self-esteem. 😉
Tip 9: Change Out Water Everyday
I never knew this until I read it on WikiHow; I would always just change the water when it started to look cloudy. Oops. Changing the water daily will keep the flowers much healthier and therefore make them last much longer.
Tip 10: Forget the Rules!
Not to negate all of the above; they are fabulous tips, but remember flower arranging is an art and art is subjective. All that really matters is that you enjoy your flower arrangement and if that means breaking the rules than so be it.
Are you ready to tackle some flower arranging this weekend? If you don’t have any flowers in the yard, maybe pick some up at the grocery on your next visit and give it a spin. I’d love to hear your favorite flower combos and how your arrangements come out!
Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for reading!
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Janet ginsburg says
I thought I know a lot already about flower. Arrangement, I help out friend who just got married with her flowers . From the flowers for her whole entourage , her bridal bouquet, flowers arrangement for the church& etc. i did very good at it. but about the tulips I don’t know much on how to handle them properly so they don’t droop.Also about grouping & tying the flowers together before puttingthem on the vase such a very good idea . I learned so much from you. Pls keep more of your ideas coming. Thanx a lot.
Lydia says
Thanks Janet, I’m so glad you enjoyed the tips! 🙂
Heather says
I’ve always tried to arrange my flowers in a spiral, but it never worked. Now I know that the process just requires some strategic taping and cutting. Thanks so much for these tips, they’re gonna be a big help!
Lydia says
My pleasure Heather! I’m so glad you found them as helpful as I did! Happy arranging! 🙂
Neha Sharma says
Great tips, very easy to follow – cute arrangement too. Thanks for sharing!
Lydia says
Thanks Neha for stopping by! Have a great rest of your week!
McKenzie says
Thank you so much for sharing these amazing tips, and I think it is great you recognize that rules can be broken to do this! Love it.
Lydia says
Thanks McKenzie! Rules shmules, right? 😉
Brian says
Awesome guide for taking care of and arranging flowers! I had no idea how they did the floating trick, but now I know! Thanks for sharing.
Lydia says
Thanks Brian, I’m so glad you found it helpful too! Yeah that trick rocked my world! 😉
Kaitlyn says
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing these great, informative tips! Making a grid with tape is such an easy step and can make all the difference in placement.
Lydia says
Thanks Kaitlyn, I’m glad you found them helpful! 🙂
Tina R. Rucker says
Hi Lydia,
It really like your post!
It is an awsome post shared by you.Flowers are very important for any decoration but it look beautiful with proper arrangement only.In your post your have shared such great ideas with the proper arrangement of flowers.Keep sharing more ideas.
Thank you so much for such a great post!
Regards
Tina R. Rucker
Lydia says
Thank you so much for your kind words Tina, I appreciate them so much! 🙂
Morgan says
Love all of these flowers and colors! So beautiful! Fresh flowers are always such a treat. Very cool post! Thanks so much for sharing!
Lydia says
Thank you so much Morgan! I agree, fresh flowers are such a treat and always brighten my day.
chris says
Great ideas, thank you! My favorite arrangements are using some of my flowers such as roses and lavender with wildflowers I find around in ditches. You’ve inspired me to go urban floral foraging this weekend!
Lydia says
That sounds so pretty Chris! Thanks for stopping by and I’m so glad you were inspired! 🙂
Maria says
This is a great post! I love flowers and love to give them as gifts. The idea of paying $50 for an arrangement from a florist is not ideal, especially now that I have this guide on how to do it myself… Score! Thank you
whitney says
I am motivated to try again. I often don’t buy flowers because I don’t know how to make them sing.
Julia says
Beautiful!!