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how to arrangeflowers in a vase

Our easy flower arranging guide shows you how to create a gorgeous floral arrangement in a vase, including how to prepare your stems and top tips for arranging your flowers.

All of our flower bouquets are delivered beautifully arranged - just trim the stems and place in a vase with some fresh water and flower food.

What Equipment Will I Need?

  • A Clean Vase - Disinfected and half full with fresh, room temperature water
  • Sharp Scissors - The sharper the better!
  • Knife - For removing rose thorns
  • Flower Food - So your flowers will last longer

If you don’t have any blooms to get started, you can order some fresh flowers in a flash by visiting our range for next day delivery.

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR STEMS

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Stripping leaves

Carefully strip any leaves or foliage from each stem that fall below the waterline, this helps prevent bacteria in your vase and your flowers will look fresher for longer.
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If You Have Roses….

Please remove leaves and thorns with extra care, they can be sharp! Roses naturally grow hardy outer petals, called guard petals, to protect the delicate inner petals during delivery. If they look slightly discoloured, just gently pull them away from your rose head, to make your roses look even more beautiful.
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The 'Rule of Thirds'

Cut your stems according the height of your vase, so that your arrangement extends 1/3 or 2/3 the total height of the vase. So if the vase is 25cm (10 inches) then the overall arrangement should be about 75cm (30 inches).

Tips and Ideas for Arranging your Flowers

Be inspired by your vase! Let the vase shape inspire your arrangement. In our example we use a round medium height vase, this is best suited to round arrangements, but have a go at improvising according to the vase shape.

Flying Flowers Pro tip "If you have a small round vase, then the ideal floral arrangement would be more compact, for longer vases use the length of the stems, embrace the shape of your vase, don’t fight it.”

Where to Cut Your Flowers

Be careful to cut away from notches (nodules or nodes) in the stem. For even better results cut them at an angle, this will help them drink more water so you can enjoy them for longer.

Flying Flowers Pro tip "Keep the stem you’ve just cut – it’ll be a useful guide for cutting the rest of your bouquet”

Cut and Place into the Vase

Don’t let flowers dry out - make your flowers last longer by cutting each stem as you are about to place it into the vase. Roses are especially prone to sealing soon after they’ve been cut.

Criss-Cross Your Stems

Place the flowers at a slight angle in the vase, using a criss-cross method as you place in more stems, this creates a more professional finish and holds the arrangement in place

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Arrange Your Flowers In the Vase Using Layers

For best results, gradually build up your arrangement creating layers of flowers. This technique is perfect for beginners, as it will make arranging them much easier.
  • Greenery first - Anything without a typical flower at its head use these to build as a base first, this will give you a base to build from
  • Then smaller flower heads or more subtle colours - These are your 'filler stems', they will add shape to the arrangement
  • Colourful, large or most impressive flowers last - These 'focus stems' form the show stopping element to your arrangement, they may be the brightest, largest or simply the most stunning flowers that you have.

Use a Centrepiece Flower

This does not need to be the biggest or brightest flower, but the one which will show off the rest of your arrangement the best.

Flying Flowers Pro tip "Beginners often use a large headed closed lily as the central focus flower. When the lily opens it can cover and detract from the arrangement. Take this into consideration when selecting your centrepiece flower - we suggest you use the highest quality flower instead.”

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Odd Numbers Look Better

Especially in a round arrangement as they add balance. Don’t count your centrepiece flower though; for example the centrepiece rose can be surrounded by 3 other roses, this is perfect!

Arrange Colours and Flower Types Evenly

Spread colours and flower types evenly, so if you have lots of roses and lilies, try to make sure that all the roses are not on one side.

Flying Flowers tip "You can use your hand as a guide to create a balanced arrangement of colours and flower types. Don’t worry if you don’t get it right first time, you may need to move your flowers around to find the perfect combination."

More Flower Arranging Inspiration

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We've created an easy step-by-step wreath tutorial for beginners through to experts, so you can add joy to your door whatever your crafting experience.

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How To Make A Flower Cloud

Take your flower arranging to the next level with our step-by-step guide to making a flower cloud.

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How To Preserve Your Flowers

The joy doesn't have to stop when your flower bouquet isn't looking as fresh. Hone your flower arranging skills and give a second life to your bouquet.

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Inspired? View our range of blooms that can arrive on your doorstep tomorrow so you can create your own beautiful flower arrangement.