Flower Arranging, Three Ways - Part 2

I hope everyone is having a great week so far! The kids and I have been enjoying going to the park daily in perfect mid-70's weather.

Today I'm following up my first floral design post with part 2 - arranging in a tall glass vase.

Often flowers come semi-arranged in a plastic sleeve like this:

If you just open it up and stick the bunch in a vase it looks like this:

Of course it would be better if you cut the stems shorter, but I like to separate the flowers (to see exactly what I have to work with) and start fresh.

If your flowers come with a packet of flower food, begin by filling the vase with water, adding the powder and stirring until it is dissolved. (I like to use a conveniently provided stir stick aka flower stem.) It will clear up in a few minutes.

I usually start the arrangement with the greenery, but these bunches didn't have any so I used the flowers that were not the main flowers. Hold the flower up to the vase to estimate how much you need the cut off to get it at the height you want.

Cut the stem at an angle, above or below, but not on, where the leaves grow out and remove the leaves that would be below the water line. Leaves decay quickly in water and will shorten the lifespan of your flowers.

Repeat this process and crisscross the stems as you add them to the vase. This will allow you to stand some of them up straight as well. Vary the heights of the flowers and create an overall round shape to the arrangement.

When you have flowers like roses, take a look at them before you add them to the arrangement. Often times the outer-most petals will be damaged or shriveled.

To remedy this gently grasp the petal at the base where it attaches to the flower and pull it off.

Add the main flowers, crisscrossing the stems and varying the height to continue the rounded shape of the arrangement.

Space them out somewhat evenly as you continue to add flowers.

Add the remainder of the main flowers and fill in the gaps with "filler flowers" (usually stems with lots of tiny flowers on them) if you have them to complete the bouquet!

Come back next time for part 3!

Part 1 - a simple arrangement in a low glass vase
Part 3 - a one-sided arrangement using floral foam

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