Floral Arrangements

Flower Arranging:

Anyone can make an attractive bouquet either with home-grown or bought flowers. No fancy equipment or special classes required. All you need is pruning shears, household scissors, a bucket, knife and and a container to hold bouquet.
You can use just about any container to hold an arrangement.
Outside I used watering cans, pickle jars and whatever I have handy.
Indoors I re-use clean jars, vases, watering cans etc.

In the winter when flowers are not so abundit I use baskets lined with plastic and floral foam. If my vessel is too big for the amount of flowers or they are flopying everywhere, I just we a small jar to hold some of the flowers erect in the large container and fill in the large jar around the rest of the flowers.
For a more shapely arrangement, I use floral foam, a florist's frog or marbles to hold flower stems in position.
If I am using candles on my arrangement I use floral form. I soak my floral foam in water, cut holes in my floral foam and insert candles.

When to Pick Flower Bouquets for Home Decor:

Instruction says "to pick them in the morning when it's cool".
I pick them at the end of day, before coming in to cook supper.
I don't do anything fancy. I shake out the spiders and bumble bees. Remove leaves that will be submerged in the vase.
Fill a container with warm water and a teapoon of sugar. My flowers have a sweet tooth too.
I try to prolong the vase life of some of my flowers (gladiolus) by changing the water every day.

Natural homemade Preservative :

I got this from my gardening book:
1/4 teaspoon of bleach.
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 gallon of water

Which Flowers do I pick?:

I pick whatever is in season.
That way I can cut a fresh bouquet every second day, sometimes everyday. I always have enough room for just one more bouquet.
There isn't any need for me to condition my flowers, although I have tried many times with lilacs. Now I just bring them in, enjoy them and then go back and get more.

Flower Styling Priciples:

Styles in flower arranging vary for me, depending where I want my arrangement to be. I usually use the cut and drop in water method.
Most of the time I use either the "round or triangular shape"

Round Styles:
Round arrangements are the easiest to make and are viewed from all sides.
The stems of the flowers all point to the central spot, from which the appear to grow.

Triangular Styles:
Use spiky flowers to establish the points of the triangle and then fill in with rounder flowers. I use this shape if my arrangement is going against a wall.

Horizontal Styles:
Horizontal styles are ideal for the centre of a dining table.
Start with round flowers in the centre and then add spiky stems on either side.
Low enough arrangement that you can still see your kids feeding the dog their brussels sprouts.
I like using this style for the holidays with candles.

Vertical Styles:
To me; this my cut and drop in water style.
To make a vertical arrangement in a tall, deep vase, start with one tall spike-shaped flower, bud, or leaf. On each side, put progressively shorter spikes to form a tapering outline. Use rounder, fuller flowers and foliage near the base.

Good to know: Styling Principles

Balance:

A balanced arrangement seems secure and stable. Balance your arrangement by putting the heavier-looking flowers forward the centre and lower parts of the arrangement.

Rhythm:

Rhythm are how your eyes are led from the focal point throughout the arrangement. Get rhythm with repetition of shapes and colours.

Scale:

Scale is the size relationships of various elements. A basic guideline is that your arrangement should be 1-1/2 times as high or as wide as the container.

Colour:

Color contributes to the balance, rhythm and scale of an arrangement.
Dark flowers look heavier and farther away.
Pastels will seems lighter and closer.
You can use variations of one colour, complementary colours, or contrasting colours in an arrangement.

Author: canadian-gardening.ca
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