5 Tips for Floral Styling
Whether you are looking to spruce up the occasional gift bouquet or want to take your home floral styling to the next level, here are a few tips.
I come from a long line of flower lovers; my father and his mother before him much appreciated their beauty and fragrance. Growing up in a sleepy town in Vermont, the seasons were delineated by the change in weather, sure, and the gardening cycle. Cold winters were forgotten in the warmth of our greenhouse, perusing seed catalogs and planning the spring bouquets. March was the seedling season when the greenhouse was put to work preparing the vegetable and flower gardens for their blooms. Once everything went into the ground, we would enjoy the colors and scents until harvest time. We had a beautiful row of purple lilac trees hedging the back yard and a full pink peony bush glowing on the side of our barn. Inside our home, there was greenery galore, and fresh-cut blooms showcased almost every week.
These days I find a fresh bouquet will help lift my mood, so if I am feeling a little down or lonely after school drop off, I will swing by the local market and pick up different bunches to arrange at home.
Forget the Fern
Every FTD, 1-800 flowers, and order by phone bouquet I have ever received has used a fern as a filler. A simple style trick to up-level your floral bouquets is to take out the fern and replace it with a more modern filler. Eucalyptus, myrtle, and gum tree are a few of my favorites. I don’t currently have a garden or yard in our Manly home, but in Atlanta, GA, and California, I would walk outside and trim greenery from whatever was growing *mostly* in my yard.
Extend the Bloom
To get the most out of your floral arrangement, I recommend purchasing flowers before they bloom. You may not know precisely the hue of the petals (you usually have a pretty good idea, though), but you will enjoy the arrangement while the blooms open and then for a week to ten days after. I love lilies for their classic look and longevity; I have maintained a lily arrangement for two weeks! To extend your flowers' life, make sure you add water to the vessel every day or every other day. You also want to change your water every three or four days and recut the stems. Adding edible hydrogen peroxide to arrangements adds oxygen to the water and will also help extend the life of your flowers.
How to Select the Right Colors
Flowers are a way to add a splash of colour and drama to your home in a non-committal way. When selecting the flowers for your arrangements, you need to keep the basic colour rules in mind. You will most likely include a filler, and while most are green, you can also use a white filler. Select colours that are all the same hue but in different shades of pink, for example – or coordinating hues. One of my favorite arrangements to create includes white kale (which is more of a creamy white than pure white), white or pink lilies, and pale pink peonies. Keep all of your colours the same tone; choose a pale spectrum (filler, primary color, accent colour) or go bold with a lush green filler, bold pink, and purple. Carnations have gotten a bad rap over the years. Still, they are an excellent accent flower that can bring extra colour and volume to your arrangement and are often available at a reasonable price.
How to create a beautiful arrangement
Instead of buying a pre-arranged bouquet, I buy 3-5 bunches of different flowers (one bunch of my “hero” or main flower, 1-2 accents, and 1-2 fillers). The final product is one large arrangement and 1-2 smaller ones. Pick your hero flower first, and then select one or two accent flowers, either in a similar hue or corresponding hue. For example, if your hero flower is a blush pink lily, you can accent it with pink peonies or a lavender dahlia. Then select one or two fillers, such as kale, eucalyptus, or gum. To start putting your arrangement together, gently place all of your stems in a sink filled with water or laid flat on your counter. Place water in your vessel add your edible hydrogen peroxide if you are using it. Start with your filler and place it in your vessel in a crisscross fashion to create your arrangement's basic structure. Next, add your hero flower. Weave these blooms through the stems of the filler. You want your filler and your blooms to be approximately the same height. Continue to add your hero and accent blooms in the vessel in a crisscross fashion to give the flowers space to bloom. When placing flowers, gently use the left hand to move flowers out of the way, place them, and then use the left hand to pull the stem down to avoid damaging bloom. The final arrangement should have a balanced and symmetrical shape.
Styling with your floral arrangement
A bouquet of fresh flowers is a gorgeous statement piece to add to an entryway, creating an inviting space to welcome your guests. A dining table or eat-in area is also a perfect home for your arrangement. I like to have one arrangement in my entryway and then another in my kitchen. Most of the day, it is on the kitchen table, but during meals, we move it to the counter to see each other and converse about our day. Whatever is leftover from my main arrangement goes into smaller vases that I sprinkle throughout the home in my bedroom or bathroom, and I will often place a few blooms in my cutting board area near the stove. Flowers are also an easy way to add a seasonal touch to your space or create a styled holiday vignette.
I’d love to hear from you! What are your favorite flowers and how do you incorporate them into your home decor and styling?
