Spring has finally sprung and what better way to usher in this new season than with a stunning floral arrangement for your home! Designing floral arrangements can be a great creative outlet that doesn't require a massive time commitment or specialized skills. Even if your bouquet of choice is just a simple bunch of tulips, taking flowers home is a simple way to brighten up your space. Your house doesn't have to look like the lobby of the Four Seasons — any supermarket flowers you see on your way home will do! Here are some tips and tricks to making a less shiddy floral arrangement:
- Look for a variety of textures, shapes, and colours to keep things interesting. You'll want to have a balance of visually striking and simple blooms.
- Always cut your stems at an angle — this is so that there is more surface area to absorb the water and also so the stems don't sit flat against the bottom of the vase. Place them directly into water after, as some stems can form a 'scab' after being exposed to air for too long, which affects their ability to drink up!
- Remove any greenery (leaves, buds, etc.) from the water line down. These extra leaves will not only steal water before they reach the flowers, but they will rot if they're damp.
- Start with the thicker-stemmed flowers and work up to placing the more delicate ones
- If your arrangement has greenery, start by placing those, then placing focal point flowers, and then filling in the gaps with the rest.
- Layer your flowers at different heights and directions to create interesting angles and perspective in your design
- Don't fuss about the flowers looking great from all angles — focus on one orientation and place it accordingly
- To hold your arrangement together, you can either use a ball of chicken wire or make a grid with tape on top of your vase before placing the flowers in it. If you're feeling extra fancy, there's an inexpensive tool called a flower frog that is like a block with spikes on it to keep your flowers standing up straight.
- Change the water daily to keep the flowers from molding or dying prematurely
- Those little packs of flower food crystals you get with grocery store flowers? Use them! They extend your arrangement's lifetime.
The most important rule of all: have fun with it! In my mind, most of the joy of floral arrangements comes from the preparing and arranging itself, so don't feel like it needs to be perfect. Take it from me, a little task like this will make your day feel a whole lot less shiddy!