Formal Floral Arrangements

Save money and create florist-quality arrangements with our tips.

These two flower arrangements were made with greenery from ordinary houseplants mixed with flowers bought from a florist.

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

Figure D

Figure E

Create beautiful arrangements for Mom this Mother's Day by combining purchased flowers with home-grown greenery.

Roses and Greenery

Sometimes fresh-cut flowers can look "lost" in a large vase. Cuttings from household and backyard plants can help fill in and beef up an arrangement. For our demonstration, for example, we started with asparagus fern (figure A) to add filler and ivy leaves to soften the overall look of the arrangement. We used these in conjunction with a half-dozen fresh long-stemmed roses.
Strips of green florist tape can be used to create a grid at the top of your vase (figure B) to help support and space out the long-stemmed flowers and other elements of your arrangement.
Strip away the excess leaves from the bottom of your rose stems. Using scissors, trim the bottom tips with the ends of the stems submerged in water (figure C) to help prevent air from entering the capillaries of the stem. This will help the rose stems take up water more efficiently. Use caution to avoid getting stuck by the thorns!
Tip: To help prevent bacterial growth, add a few drops of bleach to the water in your vase before adding any flowers.
Begin placing your rose stems in the grid, spacing them fairly evenly and uniformly (figure D).
Once all the roses are in place, fill in with long stems of asparagus fern. Strip the excess foliage from the bottom of the fern just as you did with the rose stems. Continue filling in the arrangement with strips of ivy. The extra greenery supports and accentuates the look of the roses while helping the color of the roses stand out (figure E).

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