Simple Flower Arranging Tips From A Pro Floral Designer

I recently had the opportunity to attend an event where an experienced floral designer on the North Shore of Chicago (by way of the Netherlands) shared her best tips for flower arranging. Her simple flower arranging tips were not only helpful and practical, but she also shared easy ways to make a small arrangement feel lush, lively, and pop with color. Perfect for a spring or summer floral arrangement!

By incorporating these flower arranging tips, you’ll be able to save so much money and impress your guests with simple, yet stunning DIY floral arrangements.

(Bonus: be sure to check out the DIY flower arrangement recipe at the end!)

*Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. All opinions and recommendations are my own.

Why You’ll Love Flower Arranging At Home

Before we get into flower arranging tips and tricks, let me tell you why you’ll love flower arranging at home. First of all, anyone can do it! You don’t need to have any experience in floral design to make a spectacular arrangement.

And if you have a black thumb, you don’t need to grow these flowers either! Anyone can go to a local flower shop, pick out a few of their favorite flowers, and use these tips to create a beautiful floral arrangement at home.

By creating a DIY floral arrangement, you’ll also save so much money! If you go to a big name grocery store to buy flowers, most of the time their floral arrangements look pretty mediocre (not to mention the flowers also die by the next day!). Or if you go to a floral designer you’ll be paying a hefty price tag for their floral design work. However, creating a beautiful floral arrangement at home allows you to choose your favorite flowers, save money, and still have a lovely bouquet in the end.

If you’ve followed along, you know how much I love flowers and gardening. There’s something so calming and grounding about working with flowers, and there’s something so rewarding and satisfying about the creativity that comes along with arranging flowers. Piecing flowers together truly creates a mini work of art. Not to mention, flowers just make people happy!

Simple Flower Arranging Tips And Tricks

Consider A Small Vase Size To Start!

Sometimes, if we try to do floral arrangements in a large vase, it can be a bit overwhelming (especially if you’re a beginner)- there’s more space to fill, more flowers needed, more questions about flower height, etc.

However, if you start with a small, wide-mouth vase, let’s say around 5 inches in height and 5 inches in diameter at the opening, it’s easier to work with. You can use shorter stems, a few varieties of flowers and greenery, and can make this small flower arrangement feel very lush and full.

5 inch vase surrounded by tulips and hypericum berries

properly clean your vase between arrangements

It’s so easy to go from one bouquet, toss the flowers out when they’re wilted, dump the water, and fill up the vase again. That’s what we’re supposed to do, right? Not exactly. Well, when you hear “use a clean vase” this means you actually need to wash out the vase with soap and hot water to ensure that no bacteria from last bouquet’s decay is left behind. If bacteria growth lingers, it will ensure a shorter lifespan for your new fresh florals.

Refresh The Water Each Day

Life gets busy, and sometimes tending to our cut flowers isn’t the first thing on our minds when their just sitting pretty in a vase. But in order to keep those blooms looking their best, and to fend off any bacterial growth, it’s important to refresh the water in the vase each day. By doing this extra step, you’ll actually prolong the life of your pretty blooms!

Cut Flowers At An Angle

Trimming flowers (with sharp pruners) at an angle exposes more of the stem’s surface, allowing the plant cells to absorb more water. And when cut flowers absorb more water, they last longer and look much healthier.

Buy Fresh, Local & Seasonal

If you’re able to buy flowers from a local floral shop, chances are, they’ll be of much better quality than the flowers you’ll find at most big name grocery stores. Yes, grocery store flowers will most likely be cheaper, but because a pro florist specializes in flowers, they’re more likely to have better quality flowers from suppliers, and these flowers are more likely to last longer in their vase. And that’s what we want, right?

That’s not to say you can’t find great flowers at a grocery store (I often find lovely flowers at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods). But if you want consistent top-notch quality, consider buying from a local florist.

Buying seasonal flowers will help keep costs down, while the flowers will naturally compliment the current season. You won’t find lilacs in July, nor will you find peonies in September, but that’s okay! There are so many gorgeous blooms to choose from, and chances are you’ll learn about some unique flowers that will create a seasonally-inspired flower arrangement.

Remove Any leaves that are below the surface of the water

By removing any excess leaves that are below the surface of the water, it will help keep the water fresh and clean, fending off bacteria from decay, and keep the blooms looking healthier longer.

Choose One Bold Color (IF You Want Color!)

One of my favorite floral designs is a simple and classic white and green floral arrangement (check out this post on winter floral arrangements– I love to use some of these tips year-round!). But I also love a floral arrangement with a pop of color!

If you’re going to choose a bold color, like a brighter pink, choose one bold color. This color can, however, be on multiple types of flowers. For example, in our arrangement here, we have 4 bright pink tulips and 2 bright pink carnations. They work in the same color family, but add some different visual interest and texture.

While multiple bold colors may work together, if you’re doing a DIY floral arrangement, it’s a good beginner step to have just one bold color have the spotlight, and then add in flowers with lighter hues to compliment and soften (ex: light pink, white/cream, peach, etc.). Just because you love a deep purple, red, bright pink, and bright yellow doesn’t mean they should all party together at the same time 😉

Cut Your Flowers ~Double The Height Of The Vase

As an easy rule of them, cut your flowers so that the flower equals about double the height of the vase. For example, if using a 5 inch vase, cut flowers to roughly about 10 inches. This doesn’t need to be perfect, in fact, it’s nice to incorporate some variation. Cut some flowers at 9 inches, some at 10, and cut your greenery to be 12 inches or so. The goal is to have about 4-5 inches sticking out of the vase (as the stems criss-cross each other in the vase).

(Did you know? Tulips actually continue to grow in the vase- so it’s recommended to cut them a tad shorter than you normally would, because in a day or 2 they’ll end up taller than the rest of the bouquet!)

Start With Greenery

Greenery does wonders for a floral arrangement. You can take a simple, small vase, add a few flowers, and by adding a few stems of greenery it really takes the floral arrangement to the next level.

Eucalyptus leaves and variegated pittosporum are 2 favorites as they create a full, lush arrangement with just a few stems. You can cut the greenery stems 3-6 inches longer than the florals, and have them spill over the sides of the vase. Test out different lengths for different arrangements and see what you like!

By starting a flower arrangement with greenery, it simplifies the flower arrangement design process. You already have a beautiful, lush green backdrop to work with, so adding flowers then feels easier and more organic/intuitive in placement.

add structured blooms & “filler” blooms (if you wish)

Add your bold or more structured blooms (ex: Tulips, Roses, Peonies, etc.), and then play around with the “filler” blooms (ex: Lily of the Valley, Queen Anne’s Lace, Baby’s Breath, Forget-Me-Nots, etc.), if you choose to add them. Filler blooms tend to be lighter/airier in nature and serve to fill in blank spaces or gaps in the arrangement while also softening the arrangement.

consider berries for texture

Add different textures, such as Hypericum Berries (Hypericum Berries are a great year-round addition to any flower arrangement, and can make a stunning winter floral arrangement!)

Tease Out Garden Roses

Another great trick to take a floral arrangement to the next level is to tease out garden roses. You take a simple garden rose and gently tease out the outer petals with your fingers and this creates a very full bloom, similar to an English rose in appearance.

(If you love roses, be sure to check out this post about White Garden Roses and this post about Pink English Roses!)

extra tips:

An arrangement doesn’t have to look symmetrical, but it should look beautiful from all angles! For example, in our floral design below, we may see the bright pink carnation, white lisianthus, and pink tulips where on the other side of the arrangement we may see the pink tulips surrounded by the softer-colored hypericum berries and garden rose.

Play around, be creative, give your arrangement some movement, some structure, some softness, and nestle filler blooms and greenery in between blooms until the flower arrangement appears lush and full.

Do you like your flower arrangement to feel more whimsical? Dramatic? Light and airy? Structured? More/less color? Trust your instincts and creativity to find your own personal floral arrangement design style!

DIY Flower Arrangement Recipe

Here is the exact recipe for the bouquets we made at the flower arranging party!

3 stems Variegated Pittosporum
2 stems Hypericum Berries
4 Bright Pink Tulips
3 Astrantia
2 Bright Pink Carnations
5 Lisianthus (with multi-blooms)
1 Garden Rose

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