When you are lucky enough to receive a beautiful and fresh flower delivery, the next step is putting the flowers into a vase. In the ideal world you’ll simply remove the packaging before transferring the delivered flowers into a vase, keeping the bouquet’s shape and form, but sometimes this just isn’t possible.
Unless you receive a Posy in a Jar, arranging your flowers in a vase is often necessary when you have a flower delivery. If you don’t have a vase large enough, or you wish to split the flowers into smaller arrangements to enjoy them in more than one room, you’ll need to arrange the flowers to keep the bouquets looking professionally curated.
To help you with the fundamentals, here is a step-by-step guide for how to arrange flowers:
Step 1: Gather what you need to arrange the flowers
· Scissors to trim the stems
· Plant food (Court Florist flower delivery always includes a packet of plant food)
· Water
· Your flowers
Step 2: Fill the vase to just under half full of water. The water needs to be at room temperature before you add the flowers, so leave to stand until you achieve it. Leaving the water to stand also allows air bubbles to escape.
Step 3: Measure the flower stems against the vase and cut to size. If you are unsure, cut only a small length – it’s better to revisit a stem rather than cut too much off! Cut the stems on a diagonal to help with water absorption so they stay fresh for longer.
Step 4: Remove any foliage or leaves that will be below the water line.
Step 5: Add the plant food, it may need a stir to help it dissolve.
Step 6: Using the foliage, create a criss-cross pattern in the vase. It feels counter-intuitive investing time arranging the foliage as it is not the leading star of the show, but it is well worth it. You are creating a strong base to anchor the shape for your flower arrangement.
Step 7: Add the focal flowers ensuring they are spread out across the arrangement. Focal flowers are the ones you want to be centre of attention – perhaps the most bright and vibrant flowers, the largest or even simply because they are your favourites. Use odd numbers of flowers to make the greatest visual impact.
TIP: Always place the flowers in the direction they naturally lean. So, if your stem leans left, let it.
Step 8: Add in the remaining flowers variety by variety and work in a circle making sure they ‘round out’ the arrangement and look fantastic from every angle. Vary the length of the stems to add depth.
At Court Florist, we create bouquets for flower delivery (Christchurch NZ) that are vase ready, but should you need to split the floral arrangement, this guide will steer you on the right path to maintain floral excellence. For more details about our flower delivery service and the beautiful fresh flowers we source, contact us online or call 03 379 8255 today.