If you’re looking to create a beautiful flower arrangement that seems professionally done by a florist, you’re in the right place.
Trust us - our head florist Nicola has given us her top tips that make flower arranging easy, even when you don’t have prior floristry experience.
Crafting your own flower arrangements allows you to play around with the textures, shapes and colours of your favourite blooms, as well as use your creativity, learn a new skill, and develop your personal style. Plus, the end result can be incredibly satisfying; you’ve got a stunning bouquet that looks like it should belong in a florist’s, made by your own bare hands!
Whether you want to gift a bouquet to a loved one, create a statement-making centrepiece for your dining table, or just want to brighten up your space, these simple tips will set you up for success.
1. Choose your flowers
You need to choose your flowers first, but you actually need three different types of blooms to create a professional-worthy bouquet.
First, we’d recommend choosing your focal flowers (big, striking blooms like roses, lilies or sunflowers that really catch the eye). Next, pick your filler flowers (smaller options like long-lasting daisies or elegant baby’s breath, to add depth and dimension), and then add your greenery (such as ferns, vines, and eucalyptus) to provide structure.
But if arranging three types of blooms feels a bit of a stretch for your beginner skills, Nicola recommends less variety, but more quantity. “You could have more flowers of the same type, rather than a few stems of each different flower. Use plenty of foliage to support your design and add texture.”
2. Prep your flowers
Now, it’s time to prepare your flowers to keep them fresh and vibrant for as long as possible. Trim the stems at a 45-degree angle to help them absorb water, and remove any leaves or thorns below the waterline to keep the water clean and prevent bacteria from growing.
But Nicola reveals something that is commonly forgotten when preparing your flowers. “It’s important to condition flowers correctly for every design you make,” she says. Conditioning is simpler than it sounds; it’s just popping your blooms in clean water for a few hours before you want to start arranging. This helps them to rehydrate and recover from being cut, which also extends their vase life.
3. Arrange your flowers using the Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds is a design principle that helps to create a visually balanced and aesthetically pleasing arrangement, where you simply divide your arrangement into three parts to ensure harmony and proportion.
Start with your greenery (anything without a typical flower head) to use as a base. Then, add your smaller filler flowers to start creating shape and depth, before adding your largest focus flowers last. Avoid centring everything perfectly, as placing the flowers slightly off-centre creates a more natural, organic feel than something overly symmetrical. You could place your flowers at a slight angle as you go, using a criss-cross method to hold the stems in place, which also offers a more professional finish.
Something to keep in mind for additional visual balance is to keep your arrangement about 1.5 times the height of the vase for a balanced composition. For example, if your vase is 10 inches tall, your flowers should extend to 15 to 20 inches above the rim.
4. Maintain your flowers
Place your arrangement in a cool, shaded area away from direct sunlight, heat and strong drafts, which will all cause them to wilt prematurely. If any flowers do start wilting, remove them to stop them affecting the rest of your flowers.
Change the water every two days, and every few days, add new flower food and trim the stems to keep your blooms looking fresh for as long as possible. Also keep them away from fruit, as they release ethylene gas, which speeds up a flower’s life cycle.
And you’re done! Don’t stress about perfection or worry if you don’t get it right the first time, but with these top tips, you can’t go far wrong with your flower arrangement.
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