How to Arrange Flowers Beautifully
by The Editor on June 3rd
Just like our article on amateur flower arranging says, there’s an increasing awareness, fuelled perhaps by the very visual nature of new media, that flowers don’t just need to be cut – it also requires a great amount of skill to successfully arrange them into an enchanting bouquet.
The key, perhaps, is knowing what you want before you start. Before you even put your flowers near the vase, think about how you want them to turn out. It wouldn’t be a bad idea at all to keep a pencil and some paper handy, especially if you’re artistically inclined, so that you can sketch ideas for your finished bunch of flowers before you even get your hands on the flowers. Do you want a tall and elegant bouquet? Or something small, rounded and cheerful, like a hanging basket? Do you want your bouquet to overflow with exuberant flowers like a jungle in a vase, or do you want a calmer, serene effect with only a few artfully placed flowers?
There are no right answers, but what is important is to know what you want in advance, rather than just stuffing flowers into pots in the hope that everything will work out okay.
This said, we can offer a few cheeky practical tips for how to get the magnificent bouquet which you have in your head to exist in the real world!
The two most immediately striking aspects of a bouquet are colour and shape. For colour, you’re going to want to stick to one or two key colours (unless you want a happy, messy rainbow effect, in which case go wild!), and possibly a bacjground colour too. Green foliage is always a great backdrop – bring in an armful from the garden – or alternatively, white makes a great backdrop for a calming bouquet. Fill a bouquet with an assortment of white flowers, and then use a tasteful pattern of five or six brightly coloured blooms, arranged evenly through the white background. A bright pink looks great in this kind of arrangement!
Another option which can work really well is to have several different flowers of the same colour. This makes the texture of the bouquet really stand out – try an assortment of different lilac or yellow flowers against some carefully arranged green foliage, and vary the texture so that the different shades of colour complement each other like a visual ripple.
As for shape, there are many things you can do to increase a bouquet’s stability. Inserting a ‘frog’ – a mesh – into the vase will help to make sure that your flowers don’t shift around in the vase too much. For shallower vases, you can make a frog by creating a grid across the opening to the bowl using clear plastic sticky-tape. For a simpler, looser arrangement, consider a loose elastic band around the stems of your flowers – make sure it is hidden below the lip of the vase.
Following these hints can help you on the road to arranging your own pretty bouquets. But remember, the only limit is your own imagination! Remember what works and what doesn’t, and use this experience to slowly develop your skills in flower arrangement. You’ll have your bouquets looking blooming wonderful before you know it! After all that, if you would just prefer to buy a bouquet then there's no better place than Clare Florist.
Tags: flower arranging, bouquet, blooms, foliage, clare florist
Written for you by flower experts, giving you tips and advice on everything flower related. Read interesting flower facts and news.