Flower Arranging Tips from a Novice

I love fresh flowers in our home.  I don’t know that I’ve met many people that don’t.  Is there anything better than a clean house, a good smelling candle and fresh flowers!?  Noooot much in my opinion.  I tend to always have them during the summer because often times I can cut them from my yard.  I am certainly NO expert in the flower and florist world, but I just thought I would share a few things that I have learned and seem to work for me.  Once again, total NOVICE and highly unprofessional over here!  Haha

Often times when I first started making arrangements I would stick to 1-2 colors and then greenery. As I did it more often and got more comfortable, I started adding more color.

I love to choose a “statement” flower, which often times for me is a hydrangea.  It is just so big and can make a statement all by itself.  Then you can choose a smaller accent flower to work around your statement piece and then add your greenery to fill in holes.

Hydrangeas, spray roses and these (???-I’m not sure of their name) are my go-to flowers.  They all seem to last a long time.  As for greenery… eucalyptus and clippings from my yard are favorites. Yes, you read that correctly… I often grab greenery from my yard as fillers. Around Christmas time, I love to clip greenery from my holly bushes.  The red berries are perfect for all your Christmas arrangements.

Trader Joe’s, Publix or Costco are typically where I buy flowers.  Trader Joes is by far my favorite with their variety.  Another tip I would say is work with a smaller container rather than a big one at first.  If you want to make a big statement on a table, consider making multiple arrangements rather than just one big one.  Then as you feel more comfortable, you can work with bigger containers.

I try hard to change my water every 1-2 days.  Any time I do this, it’s always a good idea to clip the stems.  This will make your flowers healthier and they will last a lot longer.  As flowers die, remove them and downsize to smaller containers.

Have the best weekend, my friends!  I hope it’s relaxing, fun and full of all the sweet little things that make life BIG!