A floral arrangement is an excellent way to bring color, freshness, and nature into your home. Although you can purchase flower arrangements from a professional, its entirely possible to create your own custom arrangements! By making flower selections appropriate to the season, you can make beautiful, long-lasting arrangements with just a few simple steps.

Get Inspiration

Everyone needs inspiration to begin a creative endeavor, and flower arranging is no different. One source of inspiration can be from your surroundings. Take cues from the furniture or decor in various rooms of your home. Another option is to research professional floral arrangements to see what flowers, colors, and shapes you like. Make sure to gather inspiration from the seasons, too. Flowers will work best in arrangements when they are blooming in the appropriate season. Selecting in-season flowers will help keep the flower arrangement lasting longer.

Prepare Flowers

After you have collected your desired flowers, it’s important to prepare the stems for the arrangement. Proper stem preparation will make your flowers blossom and keep your arrangement looking beautiful for longer. Trim the stems of the flowers while submerged in water to help lessen the shock of the initial cut. A fresh cut at the bottom of the stem will help the flower gather more water once set in the arrangement. While working on the arrangement, continue to keep the cut flowers in water. For flowers with a tighter bud, such as roses, keep stems in warm water.

Start Building

Once you’ve prepared the stems, be sure to find an appropriate vase or container to hold your flowers and foliage. Be mindful of the size, shape, and height of the container. You want to select a vase, jar, or decorative pot that will best highlight the featured flowers. Start the arrangement by placing the most plentiful type of flower along the outside rim of the container and gradually work your way in. This will ensure that you end up with an evenly spaced and distributed arrangement. Continue to work inward, adding a mix of flowers. Be sure to give prominence to the featured flowers, or the flowers of the highest quality. Also, a good practice is to add height to the back of the arrangement, gradually lowering the height toward the front. This will help create an element of depth and drama to the arrangement.

Being able to create your own flower arrangements is a great way to creatively add a beautiful and natural element to your porch, yard, patio, or entryway. At Kudos, we are here to help you express your artistic self! We regularly offer flower arranging classes at our garden center. Please visit our garden center class schedule for upcoming classes!