There is no truth to the notion that to be any good at flower arranging, you’d have to be a Martha Stewart who has had years of experience gardening or creating crafts. You can now teach yourself the basics of flower arrangement with the use of simple tools and inexpensive fresh cut flowers.

It helps to look at photos of various flower arrangements in books and magazines, and once you are familiar with which materials are used, you can soon create any design you can think of.

Flower Arranging Equipment

Floral shears – a special kind of scissors for cutting stems. Notice how stems of cut flowers tend to close or wilt at the tips? These should be trimmed off before using the flowers for an arrangement. It is not advisable to use regular pairs of scissors because their blades are thicker and tend to partly close the stems when cutting, making absorption of water more difficult.

Paring knife – this is used to trim leaves, thorns, or small branches that go off at angles that might not look good in the arrangeement. It can also be used to cut off stem tips at an angle.

Containers – these can be anything from clay or ceramic vases to glass bowls to aluminum baskets. The great thing about flower arranging as a hobby is that there are no limits to what you can create. If you come across an old, beat-up container or an antique vase during your spring cleaning, arranging flowers in it can be very fulfilling.

In time, though, you will notice that there are certain floral arrangement shapes that go well with particular types of containers. The most common containers are bowls or spherical vases, rectangular terracotta pots, tall vases, and shallow dishes. There are some extraordinary containers, too, such as upright cubes or boat-shaped vessels.

Floral frog – also called a flower frog, it is a superb and time-tested trick of the trade. This device is similar to a pincushion which serves as a holder for your cuttings. They help make floral arrangements look fuller and rounder and prevent the stems from shifting in the container.

There are several kinds of frogs, but one that’s extremely functional is a metal one which retails for about $12. Simply lodge the flowers and fillers between or onto the sharp prongs when making an arrangement. You can reuse them again and again, although they may rust in time.

Floral foam – another handy material used to keep the stems in place. These are usually bought in bricks and are easily cut with a knife to the desired sizes to fit your container. Floral foam could not be used and reused, however, and if you’re a beginner, it would be best to first visualize the arrangement in your mind rather than to stick stems randomly and remove them, creating several holes in the foam.

Floral wires – these are very thin wires that you could use to lightly wrap around stems to keep them upright longer. These are also indispensable when making corsages and bouquets.

Floral tape – they come in various kinds, the most popular of which are green and clear. Its adhesiveness is brought on by stretching it. Use green tape to strengthen and lengthen stems. For corsages, they are pretty useful in holding tiny buds and branches together.

Clear floral tape, on the other, can be used in a criss-cross pattern across the container’s mouth as a grid. You can then insert the flowers through the openings in the grid that you made. Tape that comes over the sides of the container can easily be hidden from view with carefully positioned foliage.

Flowers and foliage

Those in the know can readily tell which flowers are in season and are most apt for floral arrangements. In winter, some hardy flowers are narcissus, tulips, hyacinth, and hellebores. In spring, you can include lilies of the valley, lilacs, florists’ brooms (Genista), cherry blossoms, and of course the bulbs available in winter.

In summer, you can have a burst of color in your floral arrangement with brightly colored chrysanthemums, peonies, sweet peas, sunflowers, foxtail lilies, and hydrangeas. Autumn doesn’t have to be bleak, as there are still some colorful blooms to choose from. There are late sunflowers, dahlias, globe thistles which come in cool shades, and Chinese aster. If you’re having a hard time finding enough variations, go for the classy “harvest mix” and throw in some twigs, seedpods, and berries.

Year-round, you can always find anthurium, birds of paradise, chrysanthemums, freesias, roses, carnations, and gerberas, to name just a few. However, they can cost more during certain times of the year as they could have been cultivated with added light and heat or imported from other countries.

“Fillers” are leaves, twigs, ferns, small flowers, and other natural materials used to make the flower arrangement look fuller. They also serve to break the monotony especially if you’re using just one type of flower. You’ll learn which fillers go well with which blooms as you go along, but in flower arranging, it helps to be inquisitive to get valuable advice from your local florist.

Basic floral arrangement shapes

The overall shape of your arrangement will depend on the container, the types of flowers and foliage, and balance.

Circle shape – used to decorate the central part of a round table, for instance. These arrangements have no fronts or backs and so it should more or less look the same when viewed from any side.

Arc shape – best used for rectangular containers. These are the arrangements that, when placed in the center of a long table, should also have no front and back. The invisible shape that outlines the flowers is similar to that of an arc or a rainbow – tall flowers are placed in the middle, tapering to smaller flowers towards the sides.

You can also find huge arc-shaped floral arrangements placed on the floor in front of a table. If this is the case, then the arrangement should have a front and a back. There is no need to fill the rear part of the arrangement with front-facing flowers.

Triangular shape – if placed against a wall, this can have a front and back. If in the center of a table, it should appear to be an inverted cone, with the tallest flowers placed in the center and the smaller ones radiating outward.

Right-angle shape – this is commonly used in ikebana, or the Japanese art of flower arranging. The flowers assume an L-shape, with tall ones at one edge of the container.

S-curve shape – looks best with tall vases. The arrangement exudes a blase and relaxed aura and can enhance any corner table.

Flower arrangement tips

1. Balance: When your arrangement looks like it’s going to tip over, then you haven’t achieved good balance. If you want to make a certain element stand out, leave some space around it. You can make either an asymmetrical or a symmetrical arrangement, as long as it isn’t overdone. Too many varieties of flowers can be dizzying.
2. Proportion: When using a tall vase, use flowers that are 1.5-2 times taller than the vase. For low flower arrangements, position the flowers in such a way that they extend a bit beyond the container. Always start with the tallest and widest foliage and flowers, all the time imagining your arrangement’s outline. Work around this with the smaller materials.

There are certain rules to follow to guide you in this fulfilling craft, especially if you plan on making a business out of it. Florists can easily aim for a 100% profit on a single arrangement. However, if you’re taking it on as a hobby, then the most important thing is that your work gives you happiness. Indeed, nothing brightens the start of a new a day like a whimsically put-together flower arrangement on the kitchen counter.