How to arrange flowers for a centrepiece
Want to make a flower arrangement to live on your coffee table or dinner table? We call this type of hand-tied bouquet a 360 flower arrangement because it’ll be seen from all angles. So it needs to look perfect from all angles! Our Florist Harriet is here to show you how to create perfect flower arrangements with any flowers you have at home.
Harriet’s top tips for making a hand-tied bouquet at home
What you’ll need
A vase filled with clean water
A pair of sharp scissors
Any flowers you have (Harriet has used our Spring Meadow)
15 minutes!
STEP 1
Condition your flowers
The first thing you want to do with all flowers is take off any greenery that’s going to be below the rim of your vase. Otherwise they’ll drop off into the water and start to rot. And that’s not good for your flowers!
STEP 2
Trim your stems
Cut your stems at a 45 degree angle about 3-5cm above their bottoms. We do this because the ends of the stems are dry and so have air blocks, which stop water going up to hydrate your blooms. By cutting at an angle it gives a better surface area so more water can get up!
STEP 3
Criss cross a base layer in your vase
In any flower arrangement you have focal flowers, which have interesting shapes and colours that draw the eye in, and you also have filler flowers. which have lots of little heads and are flouncier. Start by placing your filler flowers into the vase in a criss-cross fashion, creating a tipi shape.
STEP 4
Play with heights
As you start adding your focal flowers, you might want to play with heights! Use your vase as a ruler and cut some stems quite low, keeping others quite high. Pop the taller, sturdier stems in the middle and the shorter ones on the outside. Just have fun, there’s no right or wrong! Go with the flow, it’s nature, it’s fun so don’t take anything too seriously! Flowers aren’t serious.
STEP 5
Keep spinning your vase
As you arrange, just keep spinning your vase as you’ll see it from every angle. Don’t let the flowers be cramped. You want to let each flower shine and have movement.
STEP 6
Create waves
Something I like to think about is waves. So if you’ve got a high colour or specific flower at the top, bring another flower like that to the opposite side of your arrangement to bring your eye down. You want to bring your eye up and around the flower arrangement. I like to think of it like a wave. I’ve got some high colour so i’ll bring some colour lower down at the bottom.
STEP 7
Fill any gaps
Just keep jiggling your flowers around and turning your vase, building your flower arrangement up. Use the shapes of your flowers so some tumble outside the vase to create this big, flouncy look. Fill in any gaps but let every flower have room to shine. Constance Spry, who was a pioneer in the floristry world once said, “always leave room for the butterflies” and I always think about that.
And that’s it! We hope you’ve enjoyed flower arranging with us today. Don’t forget to read our tips on how to make flowers last longer to get the most out of your diy flowers! Or if you’d like to treat someone to a flower delivery, don’t miss our collection of hand-tied bouquets here.