It’s All Been Arranged: DIY Flower Arranging

One of the greatest things about late spring and early summer is that flowers are blooming all over the place! Just last week, my neighbor’s field was full of gorgeous red, white, and pink poppies. It’s gotten too warm for them now, but they made the drive home from school a lot prettier. I wish I could’ve gotten a vase full of them! If you happen to see flowers that you love just as much, it’s tempting to cut some of them and shove them in a vase under a window. But I encourage you to be a little more creative than that, and to make a beautiful flower arrangement for yourself. Flowers also make good gifts if you’ve got a birthday or anniversary coming up!

Arranging flowers isn’t that complicated, and sometimes you don’t need floral supplies at all. You just have to have an eye for colors that go together well, and for shapes that look really pleasing to the eye. There are three basic color combinations for you to choose from: Monochromatic, or flowers that are all in shades of one color; complementary, or choosing only a couple of coordinating colors; or you could go all out and get crazy will lots of color!

With a monochromatic palete, it’s easy to do a big-scale arrangement. Choose one color, and pick flowers with large petals and buds for it. Tulips, hydrangeas, and large daisies work really well with this tactic.

When choosing to use a couple of coordinating colors, it’s easier to include some greens as one of those colors. Never be afraid to include non-floral elements like greenery, twigs, or leaves! Light-colored flowers look great with spring-y, bright greens, or really dark ones. Medium to dark-colored flowers looks best with dark-colored greenery.

If you’re going to go wild with color, your best bet is to keep the shape really asymmetrical. You shouldn’t ever create a perfect shape when arranging flowers anyways, but with loads of color, the shape needs to be more wild than usual. There isn’t a lot of rhyme or reason here, so pick colors, shapes, and textures you think look good together.

This is a short overview of how to arrange flowers, and while I hope it inspires you, there are more in-depth tutorials for you to read. Martha Stewart and Indie Fixx both have great tutorials, and you can check them out here: indiefixx.com, marthastewart.com

Good luck, and happy arranging!