How To Arrange Fresh Flowers Yourself

Few things are as lovely as a fresh bouquet – either to liven up a kitchen, brighten a hallway for a home-showing, or to give as a gift. Unfortunately, most of the time, buying an arrangement from a floral shop is quite expensive and may not be exactly the colors/type of flowers that you’re looking for. Like most artistic talents, some people are more gifted in certain endeavors than others; flower arranging is certainly one of those – some have a certain artistic ability they are born with. But, for those of us who do not, there are simple things you can learn to create a pretty arrangement.

Things You Will Need

  • Scissors or Gardening Shears
  • Vase of Your Choice
  • Plant Food
  • Water
  • Flowers of Your Choice (Available from your garden, supermarket, or florist)

How To Arrange Flowers

  1. Remove Extra leaves from long-stemmed flowers. You may want to use a sharp knife to remove thorns from roses to avoid sticking yourself. Exercise caution not to cut yourself! You can also leave some foliage, just make sure it’s pretty and not full of holes of discolored.
  2. Cut all of your stems at a diagonal slant instead of straight across. This helps them soak up water and stay alive longer because they won’t be flush against the bottom of the vase.
  3. Make sure your vase is half full of water, but don’t fill it more than that. Remember that the flowers you add will also take up considerable volume. You’ll need to change the water every three days because fresh flowers carry bacteria and standing water breeds bacteria as well, which may shorten the life of your arrangement.
  4. Put the plant food in the water. You can stir it if it doesn’t dissolve immediately.
  5. Criss-cross your foliage (baby’s breath, eucalyptus, ivy, etc) to form a strong base to that your focal flowers will have a nice backing to lean against and there will be no holes in your arrangement.
  6. Pick the flowers you want to be the focus of the arrangement – the large dahlias, calla lily, gorgeous roses. Add them in throughout your foliage base, making sure they are spread out.
  7. Add in any secondary flowers that are used to highlight your focal flowers.
  8. You can add a homemade bow out of ribbon, burlap or canvas to complete your look.
  9. Periodically be sure to remove wilted petals and add water. Most arrangements last for a week and certain variations of flowers, such as some lilies, may last for several weeks.

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