To ask how the hell you arrange flowers?

[Dillo10]

Birthday today... Have had some beautiful flowers delivered, but two of them were those letterbox flowers that I have to trim down and arrange in a vase myself.

I've just spent ages trying to arrange them beautifully in various vases.. they just look randomly thrown in. I find it's the same when someone brings flowers to my house. I get frustrated that I can't seem to make them look lovely in a vase.

Any tips or ideas? I am close to searching for a flower arranging course because this annoys me on a regular basis

And yes, I have first world problems. I also have real, life-altering problems but today I want to see if I can improve this tiny area of my life! Thanks

You need something in the bottom to hold them, oasis (the green sponge stuff) is ideal but I've had success with crumpling op the cellophane flowers tend to be delivered in, just crumple it up and put in the bottom of the vase.

You need to trim the stems. Otherwise they will all be one length and just stick up

Start with the tallest stem in the middle then trim down others so you surround the centre bloom with lower flowers and finish with smaller still surrounding those. If its to go against a wall arrange them in same way but keep the blooms to the front of the vase. Finish by filling any gaps with the green foliage or bushy stuff like gypsophelia ( the small white cottonny blooms on a fragile stem in clumps)

Snip a little off the stalks so they will take up water, they will be thirsty. They will come with some plant food, add that to the water as instructed.

If there are some big bits of foliage in there, put them at the back to provide a backdrop. Put some of the larger feature flowers in, distributed through the vase. then fill in with smaller items. Make the flowers at the front a bit shorter so you can see the ones at the back. Don't stuff your vase too full so they are all packed in, let them " breathe" a bit. If your vase is a bit too wide, stick some sellotape across the top of the vase at the back to push them all forward a little.

I’m the same as op, I never know how to arrange flowers, when they are all tied together I usually leave them tied together and put them straight in the vase without interfering with them but the loose ones get me frustrated as I really can’t make them look nice no matter what

I don't know if it's right but I aim for a domed effect by placing slightly shorter stems around the edges.

I trim a little from the bottom, place in vase then trim a little more if the height needs adjusting. Better than lopping too much off first time

You could also look at using a vase with a smaller neck if they look too sparse.

Sometimes I buy an extra bunch of something £2-3 from the supermarket offerings to beef my display up a bit

Love the sellotape tip Hopeisnotastrategy and all the other advice on here!

I don't think iot is about oasis in the bottom (never use it) or trimming (but you do need to cut a bit off so they soak up the water.)

i think it is all about the vase.

many vases are too short and have necks which are too wide, and so flowers just sprawl and look rubbish. You can either pad them out with greenery, or resort to something in th evase to hold the stems, or just buy a better vase.

Slimmer, taller vases work much better with your supermarket bunch of flowers.
As for spring daffs, you need a tiny vase to hold them!

The other type of vase which works is an hour glass shaped one, where the stalks are held as they are in a bouquet. But it needs ot be a decent height.

Best toon

Just trim the stems into various lengths, to achieve an all over look for some with height, some with filling in for a bit lower, and then smaller stems for above the vase top. No loose leaves in the water, but some nice leaves can be inserted amongst the flowers for effect.

Best tip I had was that the vase shape should mirror the bouquet shape, but be slightly smaller.

So a load of tall lilies or gladioli look best in a tall narrow vase, while arrangements which spread out should go into a short wide vase.

Or google pictures of nice bouquets with the same flowers you have

It depends where they will be placed:

Against a wall (on a fireplace for example) then try to create a fan shape, with the tallest in the middle and the foliage at the back.

On a table: look for a dome shape. Personally I leave the foliage out if there is any.

I use those big glass beads in all of my vases, you can pop the stalks in and it helps them stand at the angle you want. Don't forget to charge your water every 3 days and never put daffodils in with other flowers (they act like bananas with other fruit)

@titchy

Best tip I had was that the vase shape should mirror the bouquet shape, but be slightly smaller.

So a load of tall lilies or gladioli look best in a tall narrow vase, while arrangements which spread out should go into a short wide vase.

Or google pictures of nice bouquets with the same flowers you have

Oh yes, I love that. That is exactly what I was tryign to get at, but you said it much better

The simplest, most basic way to arrange flowers if you don't have oasis or a vase with a mesh or any experience IMO is to think of an upside down kite shape.

Start with cutting 2 stems to the same medium length to a make the horizontal corners of the kite and place them in the vase on a diagonal, one to the left, one to the right so they make a V shape. Then cut another shorter stem to make the bottom corner of the kite. Place it at the front of the vase but on the diagonal again so the bottom of the stem is at the back of the vase and the flower at the front.

Then cut 2 stems in between the 2 heights and place them in between the front stem and the side stems, again on an angle. Then do the same behind the V with 2 more mid height stems, again on an angle, and then 1 tall stem to make the top of the kite. The angled stems make a frame to support the other stems. You can then start filling in the gaps.

Oh wow so much good advice.

Two of my vases have a really wide neck so all the flowers just all apart and look sparse - I will try the sellotape trick!

Never thought about cutting the stems to different lengths to create a dome shape! Love that

Thank you all, might save me going on a flower arranging course

I think the ultimate trick is a tall narrow vase. So much easier to start with that than worrying about them all tilting to one side of the other.

Oh I also remove any bulky lower leaves from the stems so that they don't go mushy in the water/ monopolise the display above the water

I didn't know the daffodil/banana effect! I wonder if this is the case with other spring cut flowers? I tend to pair daffs with tulips and vice versa, nothing else.

Dome shape is lovely for a table top/low display but much fiddlier! If you want to do that I would recommend buying a vase with a mesh lid (like a rose bowl but you can get them in different shaped vases) to make life easier. This is a good explanation of the spiral technique if you want to give it a go by hand:

www.bloomandwild.com/diy-hand-tied-bouquet

I went to a flower arranging class run by a Japanese lady (known for good flower arranging) - OMG you needed piles of flowers for one little vase full.
Usually you will just not quite have enough to fill the vase.

Use a tall thin drinking glass, cut some greenery from your garden/the hedgerow to fill up the gaps.

I make a criss cross with lines of sellotape and cut the stems as others have said so they're not all the same length. Put the tallest ones at the back and middle then shorter around the sides and front

And add a couple of teaspoons of sugar to the water, helps them last longer