DIY Floral Arrangements

It’s easier that you think to DIY fancy florals! I’m sharing my top tips and tricks to shop, arrange and help keep them alive for longer!

I’d love to connect with you on Instagram, where I share home, health and lifestyle tips!

As Kon Mari says, “ I regularly keep fresh flowers in my home …They serve as reminders to live in the moment and to appreciate beauty as it comes.”

Even small and simple arrangements can cost $50-$100 delivered from places like Bouqs and Farmgirl. You can DIY for a lot less and get more premium flowers.

Here are the steps to get fancy-looking floral arrangements for less AND make them last longer!

HOW TO FIND FLORALS:

Trader Joe’s usually has one or two types of florals that work and I have even found really special and beautiful flowers at Safeway (big name grocery store), although they will cost a few extra shekels.

If you are wanting to kick it up a notch and make an arrangement for a special occasion, Google search “Wholesale flowers + Your City” to find places that carry more variety. You can ask if they sell to the public, or have public hours. In the bay area, I really like California Flower Shippers and they sell to the public.

A typical arrangement will include FOCAL flowers (showstoppers), FILLER flowers (backup dancers) and GREENS.

FOCAL FLORALS: hydrangea, anemone, poppies, dahlias, and ranunculus are some of my favorite focal flowers.

FILLER FLORALS include stock, snap dragons, spray roses and cumquats (if you can find them!).

GREENS: It’s hard to go wrong with eucalyptus. I also love to use carnelian greens if I can find them!

SELECTING A VASE:

You want to bless someone with a gift, not a chore. If you deliver florals without a vase, your recipient now has to go search for a vase, cut the flowers, and fill with water. I recently went to the thrift store and bought 6 clear glass vases for $1 each to have on hand for when I want to give flowers (the floral stores can really gouge you on vases).

In general, I like opaque vases, because they look a bit more clean and you don’t see all of the background work. You can also use wet floral foam in them.

I like to pick opaque vases in general, because you can use wet floral foam and it looks a bit more finished.

STEP ONE: PREP

To begin, prep the florals and greens by unbundling everything and removing all of the green leaves that will be below the water line.

If you are using WET floral foam, soak it in water, then place into your vessel. If you are arranging in the vessel, you need to trim all your flowers and greens so that they are 2-5” longer than your vase. If you want to arrange in your hands (then you can zip-tie to keep them together), you can keep stems longer and trim at a 45 degree angle the end.

Remove all the green leaves that will be below the water line, which will prevent bacteria from accumulating.

Think about if this is going to be in the middle of a table or against a wall. If it’s for a table, you want the whole arrangement to look good from every angle. If it’s going to be in front of a wall (like for the bathroom), you can focus on having one view be the ‘front.’
Start with your GREENS and evenly place into the foam or into your vase. If you have two kinds of greens, finish placing one kind, then move on to the next.
Next, place your FOCAL flowers evenly into the vase. In general, ODD NUMBERS are pleasing to the eye, so three or five large flowers like dahlias or peonies would be a nice amount.
Lastly, add your filler flowers. Again, work with one kind of flower before moving onto the next (snapdragons are a nice example of a filler flower).

IMG_4118 2.jpg — VIOLA: My finished arrangement!

You can evenly distribute, or try to do more of the ‘heart’ shaped arrangements, where there are bunches of flowers at each end (see photo!).

If you were arranging a hand-bouquet, once you have your bouquet looking how you like it, cut each stem at a 45 degree angle (NOT straight across). You can then use a ziptie to secure them all together.

This is an example of the heart-shaped arrangements. Photo and arrangement by @ShopFlorVida.

FLORAL TLC:

BE SURE TO ADD THE PACKET OF FLOWER FOOD TO THE WATER!! You could alternately buy Flower Food so that you don’t have to collect all the tiny packets (plus I never seem to have one when I need one). You can also use Quick Dip ($12), which you dip the bottoms of the stems in before returning to fresh water.

To keep your flowers fresh for closer to a week or longer, make sure the water level stays well above the bottom of the stems, freshen water and trim the bottom half inch or so from each stem at a 45 degree angle daily if you can.