Flower Arranging for Beginners

If you want to get the most out of your cottage garden flowers and want to know how to use every last one of them, I have the perfect flower arranging trick for you.

This trick works for any kind of container you want to use as a vase. It is best for containers that are not transparent. It is especially useful if you want to use a wide mouth vase or container like a can, basket or for instance a vintage soup terrine….

How to Arrange Flowers in a Wide Mouth Vase

Use chicken wire to easily arrange flowers in a wide mouth vase or container. With snipping shears or wire cutters, cut a generous piece of chicken wire that is larger than your containers’ base.

Crumple the edges inward or fold it loosely into a ball and put it inside your vase, underneath the rim.

Start arranging your flowers and foliage. It is best to start with a base layer of foliage as a filler.

Then randomly place your flowers and additional greenery until you have a flower arrangement you love.

See! It only took me a few sentences to explain it all.

But let me show you how I did it too.…………………………..

Some heavy rains and winds were in our forecast so I decided to cut a generous amount of flowers from my garden that were at risk of being damaged.

I ended up with an eclectic bunch of pink and purple flowers that I normally probably wouldn’t combine.

I also cut a generous amount of green ivy branches to use as my base layer.

Since some of my flowers had really short stems and others had very bendy stems I opted for a low flower arrangement and decided to use a vintage soup terrine as my flower vessel.

To make that work I pulled my trusted floral arranging hack out of my bag.

Flower Arrangement in Three Easy Steps

When you are making a really large bouquet in a wide container like a bucket, or as in this case a very mixed bouquet in a soup terrine, chicken wire makes it sooooo easy.

Just form a cover in your container to help the flowers stay in place. Fill the container with water and let the fun begin.

I started with some greens to tone down that wild combination of all those pinks and purples. The chicken wire really helps to keep every stem in its place and it supports weaker stems.

And then just fill her up. Hold every flower next to your container and see how long the stem should be.

Cut every stem with florist shears at a 45 degree angle.

Turn your container from time to time to see it at different angles.

Really fill up your arrangement. You will find there is always room for one more flower.

Don’t think too much about the rules, but if you have too: remember odd numbers, go for a round shape (so slightly higher in the middle than on the sides), and try to distribute the flowers evenly.

If you like my way of flower arranging (the super easy, laid back way), you will also like these ideas:

Grocery Store Flowers Arrangement

Luscious Fall Centerpiece

I am usually one for very loose and informal bouquets. But on occasion I can really enjoy this more formal arrangement too. This flower arrangement for beginners is the perfect way to combine different flowers together. Or to use up the last flowers from a grocery store bouquet by combining them with blooms and greens from your garden.

How to make a floral arrangement in 3 easy steps.