Big Impact Floral Arranging

I love having fresh flowers in my home! I know many of you probably do too. You may think it’s too costly, but really if you pick the right flowers and add in your own cuttings from trees and bushes around your home, you can have beautiful arrangements all the time.

I want to share with you how I arranged my dozen Valentine’s Day roses. First- buy them the day after Valentine’s Day. My dozen fresh Vendela roses cost $12 on February 15th.

Now everyone can stick a dozen roses in a vase on the center of the table and call it a day. But how about trying something more interesting? Gather vases of different heights that are made of the same material (i.e. all glass, or all white ceramic, etc).

Generally speaking, it is pleasing to the eye if the overall height of the arrangement matches the height of the vase. If you’ve ever put flowers in a vase and thought it looked off or weird, that’s probably why Working one vase at a time, hold the flowers up to the side of the vase and give the stem a diagonal trim at the desired height. Make sure you remove any leaves that will sit under water.Vases with small openings can get a single flower, while larger ones can get two or three.

Put all your vases in a cluster and play around with the placement until you like it.

This way you’ll get more bang for your buck as far as impact.

I love this little bird vase my friend Amy got me He’s perfect for a single flower or a few sprigs of fresh herbs.

Now don’t forget to change the water and use the little packet of powder that usually comes with flowers. Fresh flowers should last at least a week if not two. I always try to buy from the refrigerator section of the floral department- but if you have to choose from the buckets, pick buds that are mostly closed. I never buy pre-packaged bouquets unless it includes 3 or more flowers that I LOVE. Seriously, you are paying for those shiny twigs they stuff in there, and half of the flowers will be rotting. Your money is better spent buying a couple bunches of a single flower and a bunch of greenery. Here’s a list of flowers and greenery my grocery store usually carries that I buy regularly, most are $3.33/bunch:

Spray Roses (small roses, several on a stem)

Snap Dragons (tall with delicate flowers, I’ve seen mostly pink and yellow)

Peonies (spendy, but fun when they are in season!)

Stock (SO fragrant, comes in all colors…this is my favorite budget flower)

Daisies (try to avoid the ones that have obviously been food colored)

Salal (a.k.a. Lemon Leaf, big fat green shiny leaves for lining the base of an arrangment)

Solidego (sprigs of bright yellow flowers)

Hypericum Berries (red or green, fun accents!)

I have a lot more floral arranging tips to share, but I don’t want to bore you…are you interested in learning more? Let me know in a comment!