Flower Arranging Basics
The flowers from your gardens can make wonderful additions to your home. Learning to work with your flowers to make arrangements is going to be much easier than you think, even if you have not ever arranged flowers before.

Posted Wednesday, April 5, 2006

One the biggest things for successfull flower arranging is overcoming your fears about embarrassment; believe me, it is much easier than you think. A basic flower arrangement starts with just a few materials; fresh, properly cut flowers, greenery, a sharp knife or very sharp scissors, and a container you really like.

The container of your choice is one that should fit your idea of what a vase should look like, and it should fit the length of the flowers you are going to cut. For short flowers, a shorter container will be needed, but for longer flowers, (long stemmed flowers) a taller vase or container will be necessary and so on.

The cutting tools that you need to cut fresh flowers are important for your overall arrangement. Cutting flowers with a very sharp edge will be needed to keep the stems from ripping, and will prolong the life your arrangement. In addition to the container that you are going to put the flowers into, you should also have a few materials that will hold the flowers in place. Some of these materials include floral foam, pin holders, or even chicken wire.

When you are creating a flower arrangement one of the things that you have to keep in mind is that you are going to experiment. Experimenting with fresh flowers from your gardens, will be the best learning method for future projects. While a person can tell you that you need to use long flowers with a few short flowers and that you should include some amount of greenery, the final decision is ultimately up to you and what you prefer. The types of flowers that you can use in a flower arrangement are limitless. You can use seed heads, flowers in full bloom, stems, sticks, and even foliage in your arrangement.

Whether you find inspiration in your greenhouse or in your gardens, you can creat beautiful flower arrangements for your home or office.