Guys, spring (or snowmer, as we like to call it since we've been known to get snow up until June) is finally here enough that we can gather some lovely blooms and bring them inside to brighten our space! I'd like to show you step-by-step how you can recreate the same kind of look with the flowers popping up in you yard (or your neighbor's...shh...I won't tell!) Below is my thought process when I throw together bouquets, so you'll find more details than you ever wanted about design and color. No offense if it's not your thing. Read on if it is...
But really, just for the record, all this greenery was found in our front flower beds. Let's begin, shall we?
| Gather your supplies |
You will need: tape, scissors/ shears, pruners, your fabulous flora, and your vessel.
| Pick your greens |
I like to find my show-stoppers first and then build around them. In this case, it's the daffodils. I wanted some smaller accent flowers and so I swooped down on a few hyacinths daring to peak out of the ground. I also added some grass-like leaves I trimmed from my grape hyacinths because I knew I wanted something that would cascade but not detract from my focal: those unbearably sunny daffodils. I also snipped some budding twigs from our red plum tree for taller accents so I could achieve the asymmetrical design I envisioned as well as some lovely wide leaves from our tulips for some denser supportive greens.
| Pick your vessel |
I keep a lot of vases around, most of which I threw myself or inherited from my sweet grandma. What can I say? I have a thing with shapes. I chose this tall chalice because I had the cascading greens and needed a vessel that was tall enough but that would look nice proportionally to the height of the daffodils. Plus, it reminds me of my grandma and I've been thinking about her a lot lately.
| Prepare your vessel |
I like to fill my vase with water to keep my flowers happy while I play around with placement, but not so much that I get H2O overflow when moving things around. Because this vase had a wide mouth, I used clear tape to create a grid to help me space my flowers better.
| Begin! |
I usually start with my focal flowers then add in the supporting pieces. I made sure to stagger the height of my daffodils so they weren't in an indistinguishable clump in the middle of the bouquet. Play around with height and placement. I constantly adjust placement until the flowers sing to me.
| Other stuff |
Next, I added the cascading leaves. I kept them mostly to the right side of the vessel because I wanted the display to be low on one end and high on the other. Since this was regrowth from last year, some of the little leaves were brown. No worries. I just trimmed off the brown parts. Then, once I had them all in place, I gave them a haircut. I shaped them with scissors just like I was cutting hair, for realsies.
| More stuff |
Not only do these tiny hyacinths add a detailed dimension that the daffodils don't really have, the color is a beautiful complement to the bright yellow. I kept these purple beauties snuggled next to the daffodils, but slightly behind and not nearly as high as the focal in order to support, not detract. Every flower needs a wingwoman. There's a lesson in that.
| Even more stuff! |
(When will the madness end, you ask? Soon, no worries! You almost made it through and if you've actually read this far I'm very proud of you.) I added some budding twigs to establish height, give a more substantial background for the daffodils, and achieve that lovely asymmetrical look. I also tucked in a smaller tuft to pull that burgundy color in some more so it didn't seem so out of place.
| Last but not least |
I found these crazy curly tulip leaves, and what a shape! I needed some broader leaves to keep the thin stems and sticks from getting lost in the bunch, so I tucked these between the daffodils and twigs to add a wall of green that would keep the daffodils front and center. Also, these leaves just so happen to have burgundy streaks in them, so it helped tie in twig color, too. Double duty.
And that's how it's done! Every bouquet is going to be different depending on the flowers and the vessel, so play around with things until you get them just right.
The house smells lovely, and flower buds on the twigs are slowly opening, and it reminds me of my sweet grandma. What more could I ask for? It brings me joy every time I see it.
So what about you? Any tips on how you like to arrange flowers?
Say, thanks!
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