Flower arranging basics to brighten up your home

Flower arranging basics to brighten up your home

Flower arranging basics to brighten up your home

Flower arranging basics to brighten up your home

Having flowers in your home can feel like one of life’s little luxuries but if you’re lucky enough to grow your own you can decorate your space fairly inexpensively. Whether you’re buying cut flowers or want to show off your own growing efforts at their best this post will provide you with a few hints and tips to get started with flowering arranging

Preparing flowers for display

First things first, to give your flowers the best chance of lasting while on display you’ll need to cut and clean the stems along with ensuring whatever vessel you plan to use for display is nice and clean. Bacteria will age flowers prematurely so it’s very important that your vase, bowl or other display aid is cleaned properly. Trim the stems of your flowers at a 45 degree angle to cut off any brewing bacteria and allow them to suck up water more easily. If your flowers come with leaves you may want to peel some or all of these away and retain some for outer display depending on your plans.

Keeping your flowers alive
There is many an old wive’s tale about how to keep flowers looking tip top for longer – from dropping a penny in the bottom of your vase through to adding a teaspoon of sugar. Trimming your flower stems, cleaning your vase and replacing your water every few days is the best way to ensure you get more from your bouquet but there’s also some evidence to show that adding a few drops of bleach to the water could stop bacteria from growing. Adding a little sugar and vinegar or topping up water with lemonade are also said to help flowers flourish.

Basic tools of the trade
Once you go beyond the basic vase you can enhance your flower display in lots of easy ways. You’ve probably heard of flower foam or oasis – the spongy green stuff that can be shaped to create a base for displays. Other tools of the trade you may be less aware of include floral adhesive, flower frogs – also known as pin holders and flower fix, which is a type of putty. All of these tools can be used at the bottom of bowls, vases or other implements to put your flowers in the perfect position. You may also consider adding grids at the top of bowls to help you support heavy flower heads, this can be done with something as simple as sticky tape.

Some basic ideas for arranging your flowers
• For a simple bunch display you can separate flowers and leaves, tie your bunch with a rubber band and insert into a vase, arranging your flowers with a few leaves around them. This will ensure the flowers are the focus of the display and that you’re not squashing your bouquet into the vase.
• Long stems look elegant spread in tall thin vases spread like a peacocks feathers. You can use leftover flowers in smaller vases to mimic the original display.
• We tend to use bunches of the same flowers in different colours or a mix of colours and flowers for display. Using different flowers in the same colour can make for a really interesting bouquet and fabulous photos as a study in the colour.
• Along with displaying flowers traditionally in vases, think about using glasses, bowls and jars for different effects.

Hopefully these hints and tips will help you with your home displays and give you plenty of photography opportunities too. Floral canvas prints can look lovely around the home and make great gifts too. To really step up your flower arranging game why not research local evening classes in your area? You could soon be combining your love of photography with a flair for flower arranging. Check out our flower photography post for further hints and tips.
SW_Pamela+Webb

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