How To Arrange Like a Pro - At Home!

Hi Friends! As one of my first blog posts I wanted to walk you through how to make a beautiful arrangement with one of my paper-wrapped bouquets. 

Let me do some educating…

I wish I didn’t need to talk people through why it’s always best to buy from a florist (ahem – me), but in case you want some facts, here they are: most florists and designers are trained to properly condition flowers. For example, I have spent hours, time, and money to learn how to properly cut, water, feed, and store florals so they reach maximum length in your home. I also have the proper tools and chemicals for each flower variety and understand how and when to use. I understand how to preserve florals so when they reach your home via USPS, the flowers don’t skip a beat in vase life.

Turn a hand-wrapped bouquet into a beautiful vase arrangement in 5 easy steps!

 While it may seem enticing to buy a large bouquet from your local Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s – even I am guilty of it at times - no one in that store has cut, peeled, reflexed, or conditioned those flowers before plopping them into their water buckets. That means stems and breakage end up in the water causing bacteria to grow and draining vase life. Not to mention, Trader Joes takes a loss on their flowers. Trader’s purposely prices flowers to lure you into their stores which reallllllly effects small town florists and designers. The bottom line: shop and support local.

Ash + Lily Hand-Wrap Bouquet Can Ship to all 50 States!

This is what you will need to flower arrange at home:

1.     A vase of your choice, preferably one with a 4-5 inch opening.

2.     Some mechanic to keep flowers in place (e.g., tape, chicken wire, floral pin frog, oshun pouch, agra wool, moss, or oasis foam).

3.     One of my hand-wrapped bouquets which always includes the following types of flowers: line (veronica, stock, snapdragon), focal (rose), specialty (ranunculus, dahlia, peony), filler (alstroemeria, aster, statice), and added foliage (eucalyptus, fern).

Four Flower Types: Line, Focal, Secondary Focal, and Filler

5 simple steps to arrange at home:

1.     Make a floral grid across the top of the vase using your tape.

2.     Fill the vase with the foliage included in your bouquet.

3.     Once you have a base of greenery, add your larger, focal flowers and tall, line flowers.

4.     Add your filler and specialty flowers. For delicate-stemmed specialty flowers (e.g. sweet pea), I like to add at the end so the flowers and greens can help stabilize their stems.

5.     Fill in any holes.

Organic, garden-inspired arrangements shouldn’t take long. If you don’t have a hand-wrapped bouquet, look around in nature. There are so many plants that can be used in flower arrangements that you might not consider - I added these branches using my own backyard! Be creative, and most of all, have fun bringing a little bit of the outdoors into your home!

Beautiful Vase Arrangement Made from a Simple Hand-Wrapped Bouquet!

 You can order these flowers from my online shop!

Author: Annie S. Hull, owner of Ash + Lily Floral Design in Lake Tahoe, CA.