4 Pro Tips to take Your Arrangement to Another Level

The only way to learn is to simply do. However, our designers love to chat about what works for them and what doesn’t. Here’s a couple of lessons they want to pass on to people engaging with the craft for the first time.

4. Skipping the flower prep. It’s so easy to just assume that putting your stems in water is enough. The reality is that a happy flower is just like a plant-- it needs some TLC to give you it’s very best. On arrival cut the stems, ensure your buckets or vases are clean, and add fresh water. Before you arrange, remove all leaves that might get into the water.

3. De-thorn your roses. Removing thorns on roses is a pain but it will save you a lot of pain handling them later. It’s not just about keeping you from getting floral injuries. When a rose has a lot of thorns, other stems scrape against them. This makes it hard to rearrange stems without getting them stuck on the thorns or breaking because of the damage.

2. Leaving space. Most new designers pack flowers tightly together. We get it! You want more of a good thing. However, it’s important to remember that the eye can only take in so much when it’s clustered tightly. Instead, try creating layers by letting some stems swerve, stand taller, or stay at an angle. It creates the illusion of movement just like flowers growing in the wild. More importantly, the empty space lets the eye take in each individual flower.

1. Revise but don’t get paralyzed! Sometimes being overly critical of your color, flower, or placement choices causes you to just stop the whole process. Flowers aren’t paints or writing calligraphy with an ink pen. You can always take it apart or shift things around. It’s better to just do it and revise later.