The beginner’s guide to floral design

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 It’s a term that sounds “professional” and hardly something that would be associated with a typical homeowner. However, as much as floral designs are something that can be left to the experts, when it comes to having flowers in your own home you can also take matters into your own hands.

For example, one only has to look at the story of Avas Flowers to see this in action. Their founder, Matt Neuenhaus, worked in the financial industry as he tried his hand at arranging flowers. Suffice to say, with Avas Flowers being thrusted into becoming the huge business it is today, it shows that amateurs can win when it comes to floral arrangements. To see the company’s efforts, take a look at the Avas Flowers Instagram page.

In terms of what you can do at home, it starts with the basics. Today’s guide will now take a look at some of these hard and fast tips.

It starts with the vase

Most of us will buy a beautiful bouquet of flowers and place them in anything we can get our hands on in the house. Suffice to say, such an approach is asking for trouble.

First and foremost, invest in your vases. Secondly, once you have a beautiful vase at your disposal, make sure it is clean. If it is not, bacteria will be lingering in there from old flowers and this can wreak havoc with anything else that you put in there in the future. There’s an excellent (although extremely scientific) journal on the subject here.

Fresh water is key

By the same token, fresh water is crucial. Again, from a purely aesthetic point of view, the sight of cloudy water is hardly something that will inspire anyone. Then, there is the science, and any budding floral designer will abide by this rule for the same reasons as above. If the water is dirty, there’s a high chance that bacteria is awaiting within the vase and your glorious new flowers will not last nearly as long as they should.

Always trim at an angle

Believe it or not, this isn’t an old wife’s tale. There is plenty of science in relation to trimming at an angle, as this means that your stems are not going to sit flush against the bottom of the vase. What happens in these situations? Water struggles to get to the base of the stem – and the rest is history. Avoid any such complications by cutting at an angle. You don’t need mathematical instruments – a rough guess is fine.

The key ingredient? Seasonality

Finally, while all of the above tips may revolve around the general “upkeep” and maintenance of flowers, this next one is all about how you deliver a powerful, imaginative delivery.

While roses might be your flower of choice, they are not always in season. Seasonality is key when it comes to flower arrangement and it really does allow you to bring the “outside indoors”. If you can’t find the flowers in your home outside, it goes against this mantra.

For example, during the height of summer, turn to peonies. Or, in the winter, turn to more branch-like decorations. There’s a full list of seasonal tips on this page.

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