Who dosent love a fresh flower bouquet with a menagerie of colors and textures? It is like a little pot of heavenly beauty sitting right on your counter or table. It is one of the many joys of growing flowers right in your own garden. Every bouquet is different based on what is blooming that season. However, even if you dont have your own garden of flowers at your fingertips, or if it is the dead of winter when nothing is growing, you can still enjoy beautiful bouquets that you put together at home.
One of the most helpful books I found on this subject was Floret Farm’s A Year in Flowers by Erin Benzakein. You can find it here on their website https://www.floretflowers.com/a-year-in-flowers/ . It provides so much valuable information on designing as well as ideas for bouquets that you can create all throughout the year, and not to mention the photography is absolutely gorgeous! It really became sort of my flower arranging bible.
According to Erin Benzakein in her book, there are few design tips that anyone wanting to make a beautiful arrangement should follow. The below tips are ones that I put into practice every time I design a bouquet.
-Consider the view point: Is your arrangement going to be the centerpiece on a table, or sit high up on a mantel, or in a corner where only one or maybe two sides are visible? Knowing where your arrangement will be on display will help you figure out where to place your flowers. For centerpieces that will be seen from all sides, it is recommended to use a lazy susan that way you can easily spin your vase and arrangement as you work.
-Pay attention to proportions: One of Erin’s rules in her book, which is such good advice, is to keep the ingredients of your arrangements to only 1 to 2 times the height of your vase. For example, if your vase is only 1 ft tall then the height of your ingredients should only be 1 to 2 feet tall.
-Work around the perimeter: Erin recommends working from the outside of your vase and slowly layering your ingredients as you move inwards.
-Pace yourself: Basically, she recommends taking your time and taking plenty of steps back to view and take in your arrangement as you work. Allowing yourself to adjust the elements if necessary.
-Know when to stop: This was an important rule for me! More than likely, you will have flowers left over as you build your arrangements, and if you’re like me you will have to fight every urge to use all of them, just because they are there. You do not want to overstuff your arrangement, although the good thing is you can always remove flowers if your bouquet starts looking too tight and full. Knowing when you’re finished will just come with practice.
One way to add a bit of charm and make your arrangement fun and unique is to start with a unique or interesting vase or flower container. Vases that utilize different materials or colors naturally bring interest to your bouquet.
There are plenty of tools and supplies that Erin recommends in her book, however I generally keep it simple and use either chicken wire or floral tape (or sometimes scotch tape), a rose stripper, flower snips, pruners and scissors. The more flower arrangements you do you might want to invest in more supplies.
Now that you have these general tips down, let’s examine the different elements that should be included in each of your arrangements, in order to provide plenty of visual interest and make a floral centerpiece!
For this arrangement I used a chicken wire pillow. To make a chicken wire pillow, just cut out a piece of chicken wire that is a little bigger than the circumference of your vase. Carefully fold the edges under to create a little pillow out of the chicken wire and then place inside the vase.
Working from the outside perimeter inwards add each of the below elements:
- Structural Foliage – Acts as the framework and determines the ultimate size of your arrangement (woody accents, shrubs, trees, etc)
- Supporting Ingredients – Shorter than structural foliage. This foliage element can be from just about any plant. Their job is to assist in creating a sort of nest for the other ingredients. Examples could include boxwood, eucalyptus, mint etc.
- Textural Ingredients – This set of ingredients help to add dimension and movement. Foliage with a weeping or curving habit are good to use, such as ferns, berries, vines etc.
- Supporting Flowers – Typically flowers with sprays of blossoms or clusters to add color and interest.
- Focal Flowers – Large showy flowers that serve as the featured blooms of the arrangement. Could be anything from roses, dahlias, zinnias, tulips, or peonies etc.
- Airy Accents – These accent stems serve as delicate finishing touches to your bouquet. It can include grasses or tiny flowers.
The finished product:
The combinations are endless and really you just have to keep practicing by mixing elements and trying new combinations until you find ones that you love.
~Love Kristen