Preparing a Vase
Start by prepping the vase you plan to put the flowers in. Fewer tall flowers will look better in a narrow vase, while a large bouquet will sit better in a vase with a wide mouth. Once you decide what vessel to use, fill the vase half-way with fresh water and add plant food (many bouquets come with a packet of food inside the wrapper). Stir in the food until it dissolves into the water. Use floral tape to create a grid pattern across the mouth of the vase. This will give you a guide for filling the vase and will help keep heavier flowers in place.
Prepping Fresh Flowers
Unwrap the bouquet and start to separate the stems. Sort the flowers any way that is helpful for you, but we recommend sorting to color, shape or flower type. That will make it easier to balance the flowers and spread like flowers throughout the arrangement. Pull off the excess leaves on each stem. They will get brown and mushy in the water, which isn’t a pretty sight in a clear vase, and will clutter the arrangement.
Assemble Layers of Flowers
When assembling a flower arrangement, it’s always good to start with a layer of greenery. It helps make the vase look more full and softens the look. If your bouquet didn’t come with greenery, you can use sprigs of eucalyptus or fern fronds. Next, add focal point flowers, which are usually the largest and most colorful in the group. Add accent flowers (which are smaller) around the focal point flowers. Then, use more delicate flowers to fill in the empty gaps. If you have flowers left over from the bouquet, create smaller arrangements to match the larger floral design. Fill small vessels and bud vases with water and add one or two flowers in each. You can create a centerpiece by arranging all of the vessels with each other, or you can space them out around your home or event.
