How to Display Cut Flowers
You’ve now reached the stage of full creative license. It’s time to display your cut flowers. While there are no wrong ways to set up your arrangement, a few tried-and-true methods can lead to stellar results every time. Here are eight tips for setting up displays that get second looks.
1. Choose the Right-Size Vase
There’s no limit to the kinds of vases you can use for cut flowers. But beyond their design, you need to pay attention to proportions. Visually, floral arrangements tend to be the most aesthetically pleasing when the flowers are two and a half times the size of the container they’re in. For example, a 10-inch-tall vase looks best with a bouquet height of 25 inches.
While this might not be something you’ll notice in the moment, bouquets that don’t follow this rule tend to look “off.”
2. Make the Flowers Front-Facing
If your bouquet is going up against a wall, there’s no reason to design it from all angles. In fact, ensuring that all the flowers face one direction lets you use fewer per bouquet, so they go further.
3. Focus on Balance, Not Symmetry
The natural instinct when arranging a floral bouquet is to aim for symmetry by having each side look the same. That’s an effective method, but it can come off as boring and predictable. It’s also extremely challenging unless you have a large number of nearly identical flowers.
Instead, try to keep things balanced by offsetting one type of large flower with another. This adds visual interest and lets you use a wider variety of flowers as well.
4. Prep Everything Beforehand
The best way to create a beautiful floral arrangement is to let the flowers inspire you. This means it’s best to see exactly what you’re working with as you start. Freshly cut every stem at the start and have them propped up in buckets for easy access. That way, you can see the full potential of what you’re working with in front of you.
5. Don’t Forget the Greenery
Tempting as it might be to stick with only flowers, most bouquets look best when some foliage is mixed in. Not only does it add extra color and texture to the display, but greenery tends to be hardier and can help keep the bouquet looking fresher, longer. So, trim some ferns, boxwoods, and even evergreen branches to add some personality to the display.
6. Think Through the Flower Supports
The secret to a beautiful flower arrangement is support. Many florists use a specialty foam you can stick each stem through to keep them in alignment. Other options include making a grid with clear tape or placing rocks along the bottom to secure them. Any way you can add structure will help the arrangement look intentional.
7. Force Blooms if Necessary
If you’ve picked a few flowers prematurely, it’s possible to force them to bloom to give your arrangement a more cohesive look. First, put the flowers in a glass of warm water for one minute. Move them directly into cold water and leave them in place for 20 minutes. The temperature shock should cause the blooms to open fully.
8. Stick to a Color Scheme
Ensure your floral arrangement looks intentional by sticking to a few main colors. Too many colors may look chaotic rather than cohesive. Keeping things all one hue is also an option, but consider incorporating different textures to add interest.
