Flower arranging is an art practiced in many cultures and at all levels of “expertise”. We see flower arranging in a child’s first fistful of dandelion heads to a commercial florist's product line to a competitive entry in a show with formal guidelines. Probably most commonly though, we see ordinary folks arranging flowers for their home or workspace.
FLOWER ARRANGING GUIDELINES FOR REAL PEOPLE:
- Try it, you’ll like it.
- Cut the stems of the flowers underwater with sharp knife at an angle to enhance the ability of the flower to take up water.
- Change the water every 2nd to 3rd day and top it up whenever needed.
- Almost any container that holds water can hold a flower arrangement.
- Look at websites and books of flower arranging for inspiration but don’t feel you need to be professional. Flowers are very forgiving, and fun.
- Use purchased, plucked or gift flowers. Supplement purchased flowers with free flowers.
- Use greenery. It can also be purchased or plucked.
- Or, use a single bloom. You don’t have to have large arrangements. Small desktop arrangements on a regular basis also bring a lot of joy.
- Free flowers (and attractive weeds and greenery) can be found in your yard, on the roadside, at a friend’s (with permission).
- Don’t pluck flowers in a park or that are endangered.
- For anything under about 7 stems try to work in odd numbers. Even numbers of blooms always seem to suffer from unrealistic competition for perfection.
- Pick off all the leaves that would be underwater.
- Play with Oasis or flower frogs to help hold stems in place.
- Use floral food in your water; it really does help flowers to live longer.
- Re-cut the stems every 2 or 3 days. For loose flowers, start with long stems when possible.
- A big arrangement can gradually be recycled into a smaller arrangement as dead flowers are removed and the longer lasting flower are re cut and arranged again in a new container.
Ouch...Rose Thorns are prickly!