any florists out there?

Sounds like fun!

I found this on the Wild poppies website:


Arranging Flowers

Arranging Flowers
Flower Arranging Made Easy
Step one
When choosing flowers for your home/office always select flowers with strong hard stems and flower heads, to ensure they are as fresh as possible. Flowers with tight blooms that are not too blown will of course last a few days longer.

Another good idea is too check the stems where they have been sitting in water to make sure they are fresh. The stems should be clean and firm, definitely not slimy from sitting for a few days in dirty water.

Wild Poppies have a large range of flowers and gifts available online. We only use the best stems to ensure or arrangements arrive at your door in the best condition, and last. Click for a sample of the flower arrangements we have to offer.

Flower arranging is a little like cooking a fabulous meal. The best ingredients will give the best results. So choose your flowers carefully. Don't think cheap either, you get what you pay for. Sometimes it's better to spend a little more to get a much better result.

Step two
Find the most suitable vase for the flowers you have chosen. For heavy stemmed flowers you will need a solid vase with a bit of weight. Flowers will need to match the height of the vase as well, to be both pleasing on the eye and to look balanced.

Step three
You can greatly enhance your fresh flowers by a quick trip to your backyard garden, where you can often find some great greenery and twigs, this will compliment your flowers and will often make your display much bigger and more interesting.

Some very good ones to use for greenery are listed below. They are both strong and green in colour and they last very well in a vase. Camellia, Magnolia, Geranium leaves, Boxus, Ivy trails , Berries can look very cool, as long as the stems are long enough to use, you can incorporate them into your arrangement.

Twigs can add another dimension and add height to all the same flowers in a vase. For example, Lilies arranged with tall branches of twigs will look and great and last very well, from boring to artistic with no extra expense.

(Note You can experiment by testing other types of foliage. Just pop a cutting into a glass of water for a few days to see how long it lasts. There is no point in using foliage that will die the following morning (believe me some will).

Step four
Clean stems of flowers by stripping any leaves that will be below the water line. Cut the flowers to the length of the finished arrangement height. Prepare greenery the same way, to ensure that everything is ready before commencing the arrangement.

Step five
Decide on whether you want the flowers to be front facing (sitting against a wall) or all round, (so that they can be placed in the centre of the room and will look good from any angle).

Place flowers in either a random style to give a garden look. If a formal look is required flowers can be stacked in a more dynamic and structured fashion. This requires a little more care, but generally there is no wrong way. The rules are simple - if it looks attractive then that's great.

Colour and simplicity are important - its easier to make a vase full of all the same flowers look great, rather than trying to work with lots of flowers that have a totally different character and style. You then have to keep the look balanced by placing the variety evenly throughout your vase. Definitely try to not have the look lop sided by having all the same flowers clumped in the wrong place.

Another good way (with a little practice) is to master the skill of making the flowers in your hand first, then tying them off with string and placing in a vase. Make a base with your greenery leaves by cutting 5 to 7 pieces at the same length to make a circle shape. Then place your flowers attractively into the greenery. Tie off and pop into the vase. A bunch of say 5 flowers now looks like a vase of flowers and so much more interesting.

The advantage is that the greenery will help to hold your flowers in place and to position them for the best display. You can easily move the flowers until you are happy with the look.

Finally remember
It's mostly common sense, and the need to feel relaxed and confident while arranging flowers. Practice makes perfect in the world of flowers, you will definitely improve after practice, (but your practice looks can still look very cool). Just be confident and go for it.




Edited by rubydooby

Check on the good morning site on tvnz, astar was doing flowers last week,a nd made it look EASY PEASY for a wedding.Good luck!

No idea, but good luck - take some piccies for us!