End of Summer Floral Arrangements

With the end of summer fast approaching, the final days of some of the beautiful flowers that bloom in the summer time are also drawing near. Before these blooms come to an end, it’s nice to use them in floral arrangements to prolong that summer feeling. Floral arrangements are such a fun way to explore your creativity while using what is readily available to you. You could, of course, go to the store to purchase flowers to use in an arrangement, which would then give you a much more uniform display, and would allow for more control in the types and quality of the flowers you use. I love using what I can find in my yard, along with foraging in the woods for greenery and other plants to use in arrangements. It’s such a beautiful way to bring nature inside and brighten a room. It, again, is like a treasure hunt, and makes me a feel a bit like I live in a cottage, and when I am picking the flowers I feel like I’m living off the land (lol). Of course, it’s only the plants around the yard that we already have in our landscaping, but a girl can dream. Anyway, my point is that you don’t have to have the fanciest flowers to make a beautiful centerpiece. This bouquet was made entirely of flowers and greenery that we already had in our yard. Snipping a few flowers from the landscaping doesn’t effect the overall look, and at this time of the summer, these plants may not be in bloom much longer, so they might as well be used in an arrangement. Plus, it’s such a relaxing activity (personally I find it relaxing), and is just overall a fun outlet for creativity. The best of all is that if you use what is already available outside, it is completely free! 

In my senior year of undergrad I took a floral arts course, which was by far one of my favorite classes I took during my time in college. Each week we came in and learned a new style of arranging, with little tips and tricks on how our professor, a professional wedding floral designer, puts together her own arrangements. Of course, after taking one class on this subject I am by no means an expert, but I did learn some really great tips for elevating your own floral arrangements and improving your skills. This is such an art, and it absolutely takes lots of practice and artistry to create the elaborate displays that professional floral designers make, but I think because it is an art, you can really just let your own creativity flow. Nothing has to be perfect, and as long as you like it, it is perfect. And now that I’ve rambled for far too long, let’s get started!

Any vase, jar, or container will work. I used this pitcher, which I love the rustic vibe of, but you can use whatever you have on hand. You do want to make sure that the opening of the vase is the correct size for how many flowers you have, as the wider the opening is, the more flowers and greenery it will take to fill the vase and make the display look complete. Fill the container with water and then you are ready to begin!

A great trick that I learned during the floral design course was to use tape to section off the opening of the vase and create structure within your arrangement. Depending on the color of your vase, you could use another type or color of tape that you have on hand, but simple, clear scotch tape works very well for any vase and is typically something most people would have. You will want to cut pieces of tape that are long enough to go across the opening of your vase, and then cut these strips lengthwise down the middle to create two, slimmer pieces. Then, use these strips to create a grid pattern on the top of the vase, as shown below. The number of grid spaces you create is entirely up to you and how large the opening of your vase/container is. Really, you just want to make sure you create enough sections to comfortably fit all of your flowers. 

The next step before you can begin putting your arrangement together is trimming and preparing the stems. There are two parts to this, with the first being stripping the stems of the extra leaves and smaller stems, and then snipping the bottoms properly to allow for the best water intake into the stems. Starting with stripping the stems, you will need to separate out each individual stem and remove the excess leaves and smaller stems. You want to remove these to make it easier to insert the flowers into the arrangement and create a cleaner looking display. The best way to strip the stems is to take the stem in one hand, and with your other hand, pinch lightly at the top of the stalk, and with your fingers or a closed palm, drag your hand down the stem (against the way that the leaves are growing). This should very easily remove any leaves on the stem. Depending on the type of flower you are using, you will need to be careful! Flowers like roses of course have thorns, which should be carefully cut and removed prior to stripping any leaves to make sure that you do not cut yourself. Some flowers have a lot of small leaves and petals growing on the stem, which may be a characteristic of the plant that you want to leave in tact. The purple flowers shown below are different from the others in that they have a lot of small leaves leading up to the petals, which I think is very pretty and is kind of a defining characteristic of these flowers. I chose to leave some of the leaves on the stem and only strip about 2/3 of the stem. Of course this is all personal preference, but I enjoy the extra bit of greenery on these flowers. When you take the smaller stems (sometimes containing blossoms or other smaller flowers) off of the main stem, make sure you save them! These are great for filling in small gaps around the base of the container. Once you have cleaned up the stems, they should look like this!

Now it is time to snip the ends of the stems. This gives them a fresh cut, which you will want to do to each stem just before you place it into the arrangement. Each time you place a new stem, or move an old stem to a new place in the arrangement, you will want to give it a fresh cut. The cut should be done on an angle so that the stem stands on the point of the cut when placed on the bottom of the vase. This allows the water to travel up into the exposed end of the stem, hopefully prolonging the life of your flowers. If the stem is cut straight across, it will sit flush with the bottom of the vase, blocking any water from getting into the stem. This will lead to a shorter life for your flowers. Ideally, you would want to cut the flowers with a floral knife, as that cuts cleanly through a stem without crushing it and closing up the pathway for the water. However, since this is just for our own happiness and enjoyment, kitchen scissors or any sharp pair of scissors will work just fine! The picture below shows the difference between the two cuts, with the righthand side having a fresh cut and the lefthand side having a blunt cut that is not good for the stem. 

Now, all that is left is to fill up your vase! I would recommend starting with your filler pieces, which would be the greenery. This could be anything that you have, which in my case was (what I think is) switchgrass. In the end, I also ended up cutting some small pieces from a holly bush to fill in gaps around the rim. These filler pieces help to make up the shape of the arrangement you are going for. Of course, as the name suggests, they also help to fill in gaps between the flowers that are usually more of a focal point, so you won’t want to put them all in at first. Start with a few to help you map out the shape, size, and height of the arrangement, and then use that as a guide while putting together the rest of the display. As a base rule, you want the height of the arrangement to be about one and a half times the size of the vase, at most being no more than two times the height of the vase. Of course, you do you, because this is all about what you like, but the designers use this rule to make the most visually pleasing arrangement. I would say I loosely follow these rules, and go with whatever feels best. (Or maybe I just say that to cover the fact that I am obviously not a pro!) Overall, I do try to keep within this range, but if it gets a little out of hand, or is a bit too big or too small, who really cares. There’s so much more to the technical design of floral arrangements, but when it all comes down to it, really you should just have fun! 

From here, you can fill in the vase with the flowers however your heart desires. I filled the vase one type of flower at a time, evaluating along the way whether or not I needed more or less of that variety in the arrangement. You can see the progression below, and as I filled the vase I went and cut more flowers when I felt I needed more of a certain type. Do whatever feels natural, and fill the spaces with the flowers that fit best. I try to vary the types of flowers so that there aren’t too many of the same variety in one area. I also try to make the heights different to fill the gaps in a more seamless way.

Once you feel that you have filled the vase to your liking, make sure that the rim of the container has not been neglected. This is when I like to bring in the scraps from the other flowers and greenery, along with some of the smaller stems that I had stripped from the flowers earlier. 

After all of this is done, evaluate one more time and make sure that it looks good! By now, I am sure you arrangement looks beautiful and is ready to be a wonderful piece of decor in your home. Make sure to add fresh water to the container when the flowers need it, and if any of the flowers look like they could use a pick-me-up, remove them from the vase, give them a fresh cut, and put them back. They should perk up and last a little longer! 

I hope this has inspired you to put together your own floral arrangements at home. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect! Let you creativity flow and have fun with it. Whatever you create is your own masterpiece, and as long as you love it, that is all that matters.