How To Make A Floral Arrangement

Floral arrangements always bring an extra level of beauty to a room or a tablescape. While it’s easy to grab a bouquet from the store and throw it in a vase, Victoria shows us that there is something special about taking the time to carefully create an arrangement.

Next time you host a dinner or bring home some flowers, try using these simple steps, and admire your handiwork.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

  • Flowers of choice

  • Container of choice

  • Shears or scissors

  • Options for creating structure

    • Chicken wire

    • Flower frog

    • Oasis foam

    • Tape that you have at home!

If you are interested in buying new materials, basic floral arranging kits are available on amazon, or your local craft store is a great place to look!

I am a big fan of using what you have! If you are already a floral master and already are equipped with a flower frog and your favorite compote, great! If you have some tape and a soup bowl, that works too! The beauty comes in the process of creating something that brings you joy.

 

SELECTING YOUR FLOWERS:

For a typical arrangement, you want to have a selection of greenery, focal flowers, filler flowers, and textural flowers. Examples of those include:

Greenery:

  • Eucalyptus

  • Italian Ruscus

Focal Flowers:

  • Rose

  • Anemone

Filler Flowers:

  • Mum

  • Carnation

Textural Flowers:

  • Solidago

  • Statice

STEP 1: PREP YOUR CONTAINER

Create a structure within your selected container. For chicken wire, create a dome structure and insert inside the container. For a flower frog, use some putty to adhere it to the bottom of the vase. For oasis foam, soak in water and then place in the container. For tape, create a grid-like structure over the opening of your container.

Then fill your container with water!

STEP 2: PROCESS YOUR FLOWERS

Strip any leaves or blooms off of your flowers and greenery that would be sitting in water once placed in the arrangement. Personally, I like to lay them out on my working table organized by type of flower before I start arranging.

STEP 3: “GREEN OUT” THE ARRANGEMENT

“Green out” the arrangement by inserting your greenery in a way that creates the shape of the arrangement that you would like.

 

STEP 4: FOCAL FLOWERS

Add your focal flowers in the most prominent place in the arrangement. You want it to stand out!

STEP 5: FILLER/TEXTURAL FLOWERS

Add in your other filler and textural flowers to fill out the space.

 

STEP 6: DELICATE FLOWERS

If any of your flowers have more delicate stems, such as anemones or scabiosas, then you would want to add them last.

STEP 7: ENJOY!

Step back (literally!) and enjoy your work, preferably with a glass of wine! Good job!

3 TIPS TO MAKE YOUR ARRANGEMENT LAST LONGER:

  1. For an all-natural flower food alternative, mix some sugar with apple cider vinegar or white vinegar and mix in with the water.

  2. Keep the arrangement out of direct sunlight.

  3. Give your arrangement fresh water every 1-2 days.

 

Tutorial written by friend and contributor, Victoria Farlow. @victoriaplybonfarlow

Photography by Abby Keeler

Abby KeelerComment